“No other 22 LR pistol provides the feel of the classic 1911 pistol with the proven reliability and value of the Ruger® 22/45™ pistols,” the Arizona-based gunmaker asserts on the product page. I know I suffer from Late Onset Attention Deficiency Disorder but isn’t that a SIG SAUER 1911-22 in my gun safe? It’s been perfectly reliable and it costs $419 (vs. the Ruger’s $500 msrp). Never mind. It’s always nice to welcome a new newbie’s firearm into the fold, assuming, as we kinda somewhat have to, that this isn’t just a rejigged MK III. And, unlike the SIG, the Ruger 22/45’s slide doesn’t. Slide that is. And that’s a good thing: “Internal cylindrical bolt construction ensures permanent alignment and higher accuracy potential than conventional moving-slide designs.” Or a bad thing; if you’re shooting a 1911-style .22 to train how to run a more expensive .45-caliber 1911. Anyway, what’s not to like about an optic-ready 22.8-ounce .22 available with a threaded barrel [shown above]? Other than [maybe] the mag disconnect and the beer logo on the side . . .
I liked to old champagne color scheme better.
same.
Looks pretty good with a can, too.
Am I the only one that finds these guns totally unattractive? The champagne colored ones were kinda neat, I suppose, but still… they just always looked so… hybridized or something. Not good, in any case.
Great, now Ruger is acting like General Motors by “badge engineering” their products to market them. As RF strongly implies, this is clearly a Mark III with different sheet metal.
Ugh. Grips and mag release do not a 1911 make. I might be willing to cut them some slack if they’d put a 1911-style sliding trigger in, but no, instead they insult our intelligence by marketing a perfectly nice 22 pistol with a pivoting trigger as having the “feel of the classic 1911”. Sorry, no: the trigger alone makes this false advertising.
Uh . . . Alpha
I hate to break it to you but the plastic framed 22/45 has been around since 1993. All that’s new here is that it’s a lightweight variant. Ruger hasn’t just decided to “badge engineer” anything.
I’ve got non-lite version of the 22/45 with a threaded barrel, and I love it.
I didn’t love it as much when it had the magazine disconnect, which I fixed by replacing a bushing in gun. Doing so made the trigger even better.
I put a TacSol compensator on it, and it’s a tack driver.
I don’t really understand the need for a “lite” version, or why they billboard it so horribly.
Agreed. The heavy one balances better anyway.
Jeff
I have the threaded steel version and its not accurate at all. How is yours?
Don
I’m slightly more interested by the addition of an LCR in .22 Magnum
My 13 year old cousin received one of these for Christmas that is stainless. He loves it. The threaded barrel is a cherry on top of a very reliable and capable target gun.
But… A 1911 it is not. Bad marketing by Ruger
Perhaps if people learn to shoot with this, they will be eager to upgrade to a 1911 later, thinking the 45 is its big brother.
The 22/45 is my least fave 22, the grip really feels nothing like a 1911.
Buckmark rules the day.
Just as an FYI, GSG makes the Sig Sauer gun referenced above, and also produces the same pistol under its own name. I reviewed the GSG 1911 .22 here: http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/03/joe-grine/gun-review-german-sport-guns-gsg-1911-22/
I love my GSG-1911 and I have 3 of them 🙂
One for range practice, one for trekking in the woods and one I use in my Firearm safety course live fire portion. I wish I could get a few bucks everytime someone has gone through my class and then has choosen to also purchase a GSG-1911.
Wish they would update it a bit to some new components and release a new model.
I bought one as soon as it came out. My typical range session is a box of expensive 45 and 250 rounds out of my SIG branded GSG.
I am running a little experiment with it. After each session I swab the barrel and clean the chamber. I am up to 1050 rounds with no problems. I am going to see if I can get to 2000 rounds before I field strip it.
Couldn’t they have also fluted it under the rear sight, just before the ejection port? It could make it even lighter.
The Ruger 22/45 has been around for a couple decades, so this is not a “new” gun, but an update of an old one.
Its not really optic ready if it doesnt come with a rail. And more pistols need to come with cut slides (or barrels in this case) for a MRDS that will cowitness with the BUIS.
My 22/45 came with a rail and the necessary screws for attaching it. It’s just not attached stock, but takes 5 min out of the box to do so.
On the subject of .22 pistols: Whatever you guys do, don’t buy the Chiappa/Puma 1911-22. It is a total POS. I had to send mine out after the barrel bushing broke in half and sent my mainspring and rod down range.
Not only did they act like I was an asshole for their gun breaking, they took two months to get it back to me.
That’s the only gun of the dozen that I now have since I got in to shooting a few years ago that I regret buying.
Just a PSA.
I shot my buddies, at least 2 jams every magazine. Usually most rounds jammed.
Yup. It’s a great trainer for how to deal with FTE’s and jams.
First gun I ever bought. Should have just gotten a Mk2. But I wanted something cooler looking.
Looks real cool sitting in my safe being an embarrassment.
Also, you should probably stop shooting your buddies. It’s a good thing for you that it jammed when it did.
What we really need is a pistol that uses no ammo — because right now, there ain’t none available.
This weekend I had the sad duty of informing my kids that range time will be restricted to shotgun and .177 air rifle until future notice. After a respectful moment of silence they used this opportunity to lobby for a fresh delivery of airsoft ammo from Amazon, and an expanded set of targets for the back yard. Opportunistic little beasts…
Gota love’em ….. Just dont get’em started on paint ball you’ll be in deeper. Both feet.
@ Ralph
http://www.nextleveltraining.com/
🙂
I’m pretty sure Ruger is Connecticut based.
What is left in CT is Corporate and LEO sales. They are a shell of there former selves in CT. Most of the real work is done in NH and AZ.
I got one a while ago out of nostalgia–it was like the pistol that I qualified on for my first carry license. It’s a beautiful piece, but be aware that step six or seven in the disassembly process listed in the manual says, at this point, you may need a hammer.
Yup.
I’ve got the non-Lite version. Not really much in common with a 1911 except the safety’s position (but not shape). It’s not a bad gun, comfy to shoot, but you have to slam the mags home hard or they don’t seat right (great tap-rack-bang practice), you can’t easily unlock the slide with an empty mag inserted (too stiff), and after fourteen years, I still need the manual to reassemble the thing (and it won’t stay assembled until I rack the bolt once). I just got an SR22 which is much nicer to maintain (but damn that mag safety).
I’m a huge 22/45 fan. I have a worked over stainless hunter with the 6″ bull barrel. Drop the mag disconnect safety and LCI, swap the fire components with Volquartsen parts and it’s a bowling pin wrecking machine.
this hideous thing defeats one of the best characteristics of a MK3. The standard model on up are heavy for a 22. My bull barreled anchor absorbs what little recoil the rimfire has.
Have to agree with folks about the 22/45, I’m not a fan of the Ruger 22/45 model. Combining the best of both worlds, I had the 22/45 Lite upper fitted to my MKIII lower. After dumping all of the pita “features” of the MKIII I ended up an accurate, well-balanced pistol for half the price of the other guys light weight upper. I mounted a C-More 8 MOA sight and this combination tings the steel pretty fast!
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