....or maybe because I have a lot more .22 ammo than anything else......regardless my last 3 gun purchases have been rimfire and I have been Jones'n for Mark IV Hunter model since i acquired the tactical model last year......But....they have been scarce except for the big gun auction board and those prices have been in panic mode.....Then one popped up on local AL and I was not going to be denied....1 owner...NINE mags...Altamont grip...and a more than fair price...I think I'm going to delete the pic rail and just use the irons since I have the Venom on the tactical model.....I am very happy.................................................................

__________________
witty signature goes here

I have lots of handguns, mostly pre 70 model Smiths and Colt's, and many calibers. That being said there is nothing more fun in my opinion than a 22 handgun. Revolver or pistol doesn't matter. We have a Tuesday afternoon shoot at our little club. When handguns are the venue the 22 rimfire events draw the best interest. Shooting stars and bowling pin events are a hoot. The 22 handgun was the only handgun for many families when I was growing up in the west. My dad had a Ruger Bearcat in a sock as our only self defense gun. I remember only a couple times it was withdrawn from the sock holster. Prior to that he had a K-22, which he lost in a deal with his brother, and he used it to kill 17 deer in 1 year, feeding 3 ranch families, during the late 1950's. I bought a well used Pre War Colt Woodsman 40 years ago and taking it to the ranch the day I bought it, was a passenger in my dads Cadillac. Seeing ravens on a dead cow my dad slowed down so I could get a shot. They took off before he could get stopped. I stuck the Colt out the window and on my first shot took a flying raven from a moving car. Since then that Woodsman and I are inseparable. In 40 years the things I have done with the Colt, would get me deemed a liar. I will say it has feed my family many meals. When I was 14 years old I went to the local gun shop and bought a new Ruger Mark 1, at lunch break at school. I proudly carried it back to school and was stopped by a teacher and was told to leave it in the principals office till school was out. I took it home on the school bus after the driver admired it and told me not to load it till I got off the bus. Different times they were. It was with me most of my youth. A safe queen it is not. Very little bluing left, stocks so bad they broke and had to be replaced and can say with confidence that that Ruger has been underwater longer than most peoples have been out of their safe. The TV program "The Rat Patrol" got me thinking I could jump an irrigation ditch with a Jeep. Wasn't to be. When I got enough people to roll the Jeep back onto its wheels the Ruger was my least worry. A month or so later I was looking for my one and only handgun and it couldn't be located. Then it dawned on me to check the irrigation ditch. After dredging it out of the water, the rest of its life has not seen much better tender loving care. I will never be out of reach of a 22 handgun. I love them and stories about them. So lets hear some real life 22 handgun stories.

Funny how that works.... As a kid, couldn't wait to get a BB gun. Then a pellet rifle, then a .22. After that, centerfire rifle and shotgun and handguns. Now some 50+ years later, right back to the ol' .22 and Air Rifles. Personally, I just enjoy it more than shooting my centerfire handguns, or rifles.

Ruger Mark IV 22/45 Lite


Browning Buck Mark 5.5 Field


Ruger 10-22 (well, what's left of the original)


M&P 15-22


Ruger 77/22 WMR (with Green Mountain SS Fluted .17 HMR .920 barrel)


Air Arms Pro Sport .177

__________________
SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS

13 years old, and many thousands of rounds of fun more than all my other guns combined.

__________________
John

OP, you did good! .22s are fun guns! And that one looks pretty good. Agree: eliminate the rail; you can always use it later if needed.

Me and my father were fishing on a lake in the Cascades. He was in a rubber raft and i was in a little 8' fiberglass rowboat. Rainy day and besides us there was one other guy on the lake in a float tube. A Deputy Sheriff pulls up and launches a 20' aluminum boat with a 150 horse outboard on it. The whole lake was like 5 acres. He fires up the boat and idles it over to my father. Runs the boat right over my father's line and pulls up next to him. Asks my father how the fishing is going. "Fine, until some idiot pulled a big *** boat on my line." The Deputy, obviously flustered, gets off of my father's line and then does a safety check. Decides my father in his six foot rubber raft needs a signaling device that can be heard for 1/4 mile. So it needs to be able to be heard 500 feet past the shoreline? Anyway, he gives my dad a whistle and a warning. He starts over to me. I reel in and he asks me if I have a signaling device that could be heard 1/4 mile away. Rather than shout to the guy in the float tube who is about as far away as you could get from me on the lake, I simply reach down into my tackle box and pull up my Ruger MKII by the grip with 2 fingers. I let him see it and then drop it in the box and go back to messing with my fishing gear. I say, "You can hear that 1/4 mile away, will that do?" Well, his eyes got big as saucers and his face turned white and then quickly went red. He mumbled something about gun safety and did I know that bullets ricochet off water and all that, then gave me a whistle and a warning, motored right over to the ramp and loaded his boat up and left. Didn't even talk to the guy in the float tube. Hell, the fish weren't biting. Had to have some fun.

__________________
The best I can with what I got

Great looking Hunter, nocents. I've always been a 22LR fan, and have more 22LR firearms than in any other caliber. I just picked up this one a week ago. I've been shooting more revolvers lately, so the Hunter stays at home anymore. And a CZ455 Scout is inbound. Great fun!

Attached Images

20210407_175140.jpg (89.6 KB, 82 views)

__________________
Μολὼν λαβέ
NRA Life Member

I have several center fire handguns & rifles but have always enjoyed my .22 rimfires . Lever action , semi auto & bolt action rifles . Revolver & semi auto pistols . I go through close to 5,000 rnds of .22 per year . They are a lot of fun .

I really miss reading stories by Bob Milek who wrote lots of articles about the usefulness of the 22. I have more 22's than all my other calibers combined. They are STILL fun to shoot, perhaps more with the ammo shortage.

__________________
NRA Endowment member

My only .22LR baby now that I treasure is a S&W 617-4 8 3/8" tack-driver. Yes, she helps develop the wrists with that barrel length but she hangs on target like a rock. LOL.

Appleseed gun:

Dedicated CMMG 22lr upper with a twenty dollar red dot and a polymer lower:

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Other than for my L.C. Smith shotguns, I have a .22 rimfire version or conversion unit for virtually every firearm I own.

Nice collection! My Buck Mark Light Contour is arriving at FFL tomorrow. Will be primarily used for rimfire steel falling plates. Will be posting pics when it arrives. Bob

I did not learn to shoot a handgun until I practiced Bullseye with my H-S Victor, in recent years I have fired my Browning HP more with my Ciener conversion unit than I ever did, and I wish I could find a conversion unit for my S&W M639. And practicing rifle shooting with a 22RF, yes, the skills acquired do carry over to center fire.
And in the "Good Old Days" Rimfire was easier on the budget. Rummaging through my closet, I found a brick of Remingston Thunderbolts-marked $9.99!

I've owned a bunch of 22's over the years. At one time I had a dozen rifles, and a like number of handguns. Back then I lived out in the country and could walk out on the porch and shoot if I wanted to. I usually waited until I got to the other side of the hog pen though.

Then I moved 'back to town" and the 22's got whittled down until I only had two. My wife's actually. A Ruger 10/22, and a Ruger Single Six.





Then one day while waiting for a background check to come back (I'm ALWAYS "delayed") I realized I didn't have a 22 of my own. Sure, I could use hers anytime I wanted but it wasn't the same. Right there in front of me in the case I was sitting by, were a bunch of Heritage Rough Riders. I added a 4" model to the paperwork I was waiting on. Heck, it was only $120.00.



Then I saw this Ruger 22/45 and decided I needed a good 22.



I guess I'm set for now anyway.

__________________
John 3:16 .

As a pup, I learned to shoot with a 22. Then I "grew up" and had no use for 22s. I thought 22s were "kid stuff" and gravitated to the big boomers. The more blast, recoil and velocity; the better. I discovered 296 and magnum handguns. Soon I had a .375 H&H, and then a .458 Winchester. I'm still fighting the acquired flinch.

Then I "matured" and rediscovered 22s. There was a place for 22s all of a sudden. These days, I gravitate to target 22s. I enjoy competing with 22s. Although centerfire remains interesting, 22s have a big role in my shooting these days.

Here's my latest acquisition - a MK III worked over by Volquartsen. It remains to be seen how well it shoots - probably this weekend.

Attached Images

852a8ffa52ee36af4cd0e577a3e41077d7033f0e-1.jpg (69.9 KB, 32 views)

Really into the rimfire myself lately. Nothing fancy just a R/A in 22 magnum with the 18 inch barrel. Accuracy was a great surprise with the Vortex Crossfire 2 scope. Makes for a great woods varmint gun for under $300.

.22 magnum is an interesting round....I had an AMT .22 automag long ago that was fun to shoot....even though .22 mag in a short barrel pistol is kinda pointless....but dang was that thing loud

__________________
witty signature goes here