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“It’s like Jersey Shore in a gun.” Or so Nick cracked when he saw the new gold, yes gold finish on Ruger’s latest, the 22/45 Lite. Not that hosing up a venerated gun is sacrilegious or anything – hell people do it every day. It’s your gun and your money. Do with it as you will. How light is Lite? The “aircraft-grade aluminum” slide on the Lite saves you about 13 oz. over the standard gun with about the same barrel length. So if you’re packing one into the back country, that could be an important difference. If not, not so much. Rumors that the new .22 tastes great and is less filling appear to be false. Specs after the jump . . .

 

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34 COMMENTS

  1. So it takes away one of the reasons for the target pistol’s accuracy: It’s heavy. I of course am not the target audience for this gun. That would be people with precious metal dentition wanting to rent a gun to shoot at the range. In fact, I’m going to mention this gun to the owner of my FLGS as a good idea for a rental gun.

  2. I’ll be standing at Ruger’s booth, camera in hand, waiting for someone to try to rack the barrel using the serrations come tomorrow.

    Mark my words – I won’t have to wait long.

  3. I picked up a new Sig P238 last night, and it’s beautiful in all the ways this this is butt-ugly.

    • +1

      Really Ugly.

      The heft is what makes this particular model balance so well IMHO.

      Stop screwing things up Ruger.

  4. Why are the sights on the top? They should be on the side of the barrel, so you can aim gangsta-style.

    • Wow… I bet there would be a huge market for that, if people who shoot like that had any interest in aiming.

  5. Ruger is merely capitalizing on what the accessories market has done for years with the Mark II and now Mark III (ala Tactical Solutions). Hopefully they will also take notice that TacSol didn’t beat its product with the ugly stick before bringing it to market.

    • Agree. I’d buy a Ruger semi-auto .22 if they were made easy to breakdown, clean, and do basic repairs to in the woods. I’m thinking Browning .22 semi-auto handgun for use as my camping and rabbit gun.

      • Mark series pistols and the 22/45’s really aren’t bad to field strip at all. The bolt stop pin can be difficult to lineup the first few times, but everything loosens up nicely. After swapping out the silly mag disconnect safety for a hammer bushing, field stripping and detail stripping are a breeze.

      • You need to carry 2 different size allen wrenches with you into the field if you want to field strip the browning while you are camping or something. Of course, if you have a Ruger 22/45, then you will need to carry a rubber mallet into the field just to get the barrel off the frame.

  8. I will not consume a beverage, nor own a firearm, which has the non-word “LITE” on it. No way.

    • Same here. The gun looks like a friggin advertising billboard for a cheap mass produced beer. If Ruger was more market savvy they would pay TTAG a nice hefty fee to do market research using this site.

  11. I’m a proud owner of a 22/45 stainless bull barrel model. I absolutely love shooting that pistol, especially with the VQ trigger group parts. This model will sell well to the crowd that likes shiny objects with slide serrations. This same crowd consumes massive quantities of Adderall. Good job Ruger for alienating your loyal customers and grabbing onto to the ADD generation.

  13. Not everyone drives to where they shoot. I spend a lot of time hiking and hunting rabbits with a Browning Buckmark. Something a little lighter would be nice.

    • As long as it doesn’t say “LITE” on it. If you buy one of these, promise me you’ll remove the “LITE.”

  14. I go back and forth on my old Ruger Mk I, 1965ish vintage. It’s the target model, it weighs at least 12 pounds, and the barrel is at least 24″. Perhaps I exagerate a bit, but if you own one of these, you know what I mean. It may be accurate, but I haven’t shot it for ten years or so. I should shoot it one more time and decide to sell it or keep it.

    • I’ve one of the same vintage and model as yours. It is certainly isn’t as light on its feet as other .22’s but I love shooting it. My Dad gave me mine so it isn’t going anywhere. I’m a sentimental sonovagun.

  19. I don’t care what the damn thing looks like. This gun was made for those that want a backpack pistol for popping a grouse or two for the pot and it is perfect for that. I did the same thing with the Tactical Solutions Pac-Lite barrel at much greater cost. It is a great idea for those that want a backpack gun. It is even nicer that it is suppressor ready. In my state we can use suppressors for hunting and this is nice so as not to disturb other backpackers.

    Ugly is in the eye of the beholder. I think things that work are beautiful and this does. I admit black would be better than gold but that wouldn’t stop me from getting it if I didn’t already have a Pac-Lite. Two of my friends have already ordered the Ruger 22./45 Lite. Of course those of you that don’t backpack wouldn’t understand. Hey, it is not for everyone but there is a definite market for it, just not for most of you apparently.

  20. I was talking to one of the engineers in the booth today. Seems there are some “options” on the horizon for his gun. Made it sound like colors were one of those options.

    • The gold color is all that is keeping me from immediately buying one of these. I realize that Ruger wants to differentiate the new aluminum pistol from all “normal” black steel pistols, but gold is just too gaudy for the task. I’ll take one in matte black, please. Also please make fixed sights an option.

  21. I got one for the weight, not feeling the gold but since I’m sending some other stuff off to be cerakoted I decided to add this to the pile, I’ve had a target mark II and the weight got bothersome. This saves anyone looking to spend money on a PAC-LITE
    after getting a 22/45 which would have been me.

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