Indeed, the first time I fired the Buck Mark, after having just fired both the 22/45 and the P22, the trigger broke well before I was expecting.Īs a target pistol, the Ruger has it all over the Walther. Interestingly, the Browning Buck Mark bested both of the weapons I was testing, but it did not beat out the Ruger by much and I found the hair-trigger of the Buck Mark a bit disquieting. Thus, Keith was for all practical purposes firing two unfamiliar weapons while still scoring better with the Ruger. This was especially instructive in that Keith had much less experience with the P22, having only fired it once before, and that was many months ago. Keith gave both weapons a try and his results mirrored my own. The Ruger 22/45 was much better as a target weapon. There simply was no comparison on this test. With no adjustment of the sights and absolutely no experience at firing the weapon, I achieved a much tighter grouping (less than four inches across), better accuracy, and I experienced better recoil control and faster times reacquiring the target. If I had any thoughts about being better with the Walther, they were quickly dispelled when I retrieved the target. Having much more experience with the Walther, I expected to out-shoot the Ruger at least initially, and the grouping of my first twenty shots was not bad-a ragged, more or less circular pattern approximately six inches across. I set the target at my normal practice distance of 21 feet (6.4 meters) and tried the P22 first. My good friend Keith McKay brought along his Browning Buck Mark target pistol as well. I put these two weapons to a head-to-head test at an indoor range this past Saturday. The more massive barrel gives the shooter a steadier hand and better controls what little recoil the. The longer sight-radius and high-visibility fiber-optic front sight makes it a dream to aim. The Ruger also has a straight single-action trigger-great for target practice, less so for defensive gun training, especially if you own a more traditional double-action/single-action weapon.īut being first and foremost a true target pistol, the Ruger 22/45 Hunter is outstanding in this application. The Ruger’s value as a training weapon is a bit more limited while the Mark III has an external safety, it looks and feels differently than on most similarly equipped weapons. So, when I recently drooled over a newer Ruger Mark III 22/45 Hunter with polymer frame, fluted stainless barrel, fiber-optic front sight, adjustable rear sight, and a grip modeled after the famous Colt Model 1911, Ursula whipped out her credit card and insisted I acquire it. Many years ago I owned a Ruger Mark II target pistol and had fond memories of it. The version I own is much closer in appearance to the P99. The P22 is currently in its second iteration, now more closely resembling Walther’s PPQ. The Walther P22 also offers adjustable sights for long-distance target practice and replaceable grip back straps to customize how the butt of the weapon fits in your hand. The ambidextrous magazine release built into the trigger guard further emulates current Walther designs, although the levers are much smaller and therefore more difficult to manipulate than on Walther’s full-size weapons.
It has a single-action/double-action trigger, an ambidextrous external safety that operates in the same direction as older Walther models, and a grip similar to more modern Walther products such as the P99 and the newer PPQ. I’ve owned a Walther P22 target pistol for several years now, and it makes a really great training weapon. Less recoil means you can better see if you’re flinching as you pull the trigger, and that makes for better control and greater accuracy later on when you shoot the big stuff. The recoil is considerably less than defensive calibers. The ammunition is cheap, making gun practice affordable.