Whoa! I didn’t see THAT one coming. The makers of the world’s sexiest pistols (the SR9, SR9c and SR40) go all Walthar Glock on a .22. To my jaundiced eye (the right one), the new $399 msrp Ruger SR22 is the handgun equivalent of Kate Upton getting a sex change. Speaking of which, notice the size of that front site. Not exactly pocket compatible. Then again, unlike its svelte SR siblings, the Ruger SR22 has a LARGE ambi safety. Then again again, unlike the TTAG-approved DA-only Ruger LC9, the new SR22’s trigger is DA to SA esse. I’m confused. What marketing maven convinced Ruger to abandon its design language and trigger stylings? Perhaps the Ruger SR22 press release will shed some light on Ruger’s most recent line extension. Perhaps not. Check it . . .

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE: RGR) is proud to announce the new Ruger® SR22™ pistol, the do-it-all .22 pistol for the shooter who appreciates style and demands reliability. The SR22 is a rugged, scaled-down version of a full-sized pistol, perfect for plinking, target shooting and small game hunting. The lightweight SR22 has modern styling and is fun to shoot while using inexpensive rimfire ammunition.

“Ruger has built a solid reputation for excellence in rimfire pistols with the Mark III™ and 22/45™ product families, and the new SR22 will contribute positively to that reputation,” said Chris Killoy, Ruger Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “This pistol is feature-packed and an incredible value – consumers won’t find a similar product with everything the SR22 offers at a comparable price. It functions with all types of .22 LR ammunition for extreme reliability; once rimfire enthusiasts pick it up, they won’t want to put it down,” he concluded.

The SR22 has light double-action and crisp single-action trigger pulls. Its external hammer is designed with a rounded spur for easy cocking and single-action shooting. The SR22 features a polymer frame and two interchangeable (no tools required) rubberized grips with angled serrations, allowing shooters to select either a slim or wider palm swell option. The aerospace-grade aluminum slide has serrations on both front and rear for better grip and slide manipulation. The easy-to-use underside Picatinny rail features multiple cross slots for variable mounting of most popular accessories.

The 3-dot sight system has a fixed front sight and a rear sight that is adjustable for both windage and elevation. A reversible blade allows shooters to select two white dots or a solid black blade. Other SR22 features include a stainless steel replaceable barrel, an ambidextrous manual thumb safety/decocking lever, ambidextrous magazine release, plus a visual inspection port to determine the load status of the pistol. The SR22 includes two finger grip extension floorplates that can be added to the magazine for comfort and grip. Each SR22 is also shipped with two 10-round magazines and a soft case.

 

 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

43 COMMENTS

  1. I already have a 22/45, but I want to add another .22 pistol to the fold since my wife Bogarts the 22/45 at the range.

    I think this pistol would be a perfect choice.

  2. Looks like a Walther P22… IS it a Walther I wonder?

    What’s the point? If anything make a .22LR version of one of your other handguns for training like S&W did with their M&P.

  4. The Walther .22 is already everywhere, and Ruger’s decision to import or clone thousands more of them is a mistake. Like a Volkswagen Jeep or a Porsche minivan, this unnecessary gun will erode Ruger’s brand identity. They don’t want to be another Interarms, do they?

    • I’ll be really interested to see someone do a comparison of this to the P22.

      After watching the video at GunBlast, I get the feeling that this is a much better gun.

    • The Walther doesn’t fire all ammo reliably. It’s not lefty friendly. It doesn’t fit small and larger hands well. The slide material is weak. It costs quite a bit for a 22. Ruger fixed all those issues for less $$$ and will sell a ton of these. I bought one yesterday and the line was long.

    • Good to see that you know so much more about marketing than Ruger, Chris. If only they would pay you instead of going out of business.

      Just bought the Ruger SR22. Great gun!

  5. I wonder if Ruger will offer a threaded barrel for those out there who own 22 suppressors. They do hint that the SR22 features a “replaceable barrel” so maybe this is in the works already. They have also started making the 22/45s with threaded barrels so they have set some kind of precedent on the issue. If they don’t, they’ll certainly be giving up a lot of sales to guys like Tactical Solutions.

    It reminds me of the Sig Mosquito but everyone who has one of those complains about it being a jam-o-matic. If Ruger has this running well then it may become a very popular gun.

    • Not mine, I go through mag after mag at the range with not one ftf or fte. That being said, that was after around 200 rounds down range to loosen it up.

      • And a follow up. I owned a P22 but traded it for the Mosquito. Didn’t like the mag release or the small grip of the P22. Now it seems this one (SR22) has interchangeable grips and a normal mag release, so I would be interested.

  6. I see a role for Ruger here, because like it or not a reliable -and well built-.22LR that is small enough for concealed carry makes a great deal of sense. Right now states are recognizing their citizens’ right to carry , which is great news ;but we still have to deal with this “worst recession recent memory” business.

    Some people are lucky to be employed at all right now, much less be in a position to predict whether they’ll still have a job this time next year. Others just cant spend $600 on a 1911 without taking food from their kids’ mouths-and poor people can be robbed and assaulted too.

    Id rather have someone on hard times be able to buy and carry a reliable .22LR until they get back on their feet than pack a P22 with reliability issues, or a heavy & unwieldly target pistol, or a Sig Mosquito that can crack its slide at some point.

  7. Why they did not just design (copy?) a dedicated .22 slide for the real SR series is beyond me. Like CZ did with the 75 series Kadet. I love mine and it looks much better than this. At a I suspect sell of 349.00 this will move pretty well though.

  8. Well just watched the video of this new .22 on Gunblast and she looks much better and of higher quality construction than in the static shot. Looks like a shooter as well.

    • I watched that video too, sounds like it’s not picky at all when it comes to ammo, which is something for an semi-auto .22!

      And the photos there were much better, when I first saw it I thought it was ugly, but no so much now.

      • i third the gunblast video, this picture does not do it justice. it has a decocker too, a unique feature to 22 pistols, not too many have it, (the cz 75 kadet perhaps?) i know the mosquito and the sw 22 M&p lookalike don’t.

  9. If just the pic was presented, without any text I would have immediately thought Walther had made some design tweaks to the P22.The only way I can see this trumping its similar competitor, the P22, or Mosquito is if the frame is made of something more durable than Zinc alloy pot metal. And if it costs less than the P22.

    Edit: Bleah quickly glossing over the article, I missed the “Aircraft aluminum grade slide” plug. This might trump its market equivalents from other companies.

  10. I hope its better than the Walther, I have a walther and has jams all the time or fail to load the next round. To those who say why copy a walther, I say, to improve its design, if this doesn’t, then its a failure.

  11. SR-22, huh?

    First of all, is anyone at Ruger capable of making their own designs in lieu of stealing someone else’s? (LCP, SR-1911, etc.)

    Secondly, SR-22 is what we call “high-risk car insurance for DUI arrestees” where I come from.

    Nice x2, Ruger.

    John

    • SR40c? LC9? LCR? They’re releasing tons of new models right now and you’re saying they’re unoriginal? Which fanboy flag are you carrying?

  14. Doug-what area do you live it ? 310 is an excellent price. I just heard about this gun literally less than a week ago and HAVE to get my hands on one.I have has the sr9 and currently carry the sr40 and both where top notch. Really interested in this gun

  15. I bought one today for $295, but the dealer it came from always has the lowest possible price in this area for about any given gun. It seems to be of good quality. I am disappointed in the trigger – heavier and stiffer than I expected. Hopefully it will improve after a few 100 rounds. The sights are very nice and the fully adjustable rear is a big plus.

    • My wife and I put maybe 200 rounds through it today (mostly CCI Standard Velocity with a few Blazers). Function was perfect. Unfortunately I have to say the trigger feels very similar to the Sig Mosquito, both single and double action, although I believe the gun is more accurate and more reliable than the Sig. I think the Sig was more comfortable in the hand. The small Ruger grip is very small but the larger one has a large bump at the lower rear (not full length) which I don’t care for either.

  16. Are you sponsored by Ruger? Their autoloading centerfires are objectively horribly ugly.

    Also, a frame mounted safety where up is fire and down is safe? No thanks.

  17. I don’t understand the hype about the safety being backwards…..then again mine is never on safe to begin with.its like cars and trucks with a stick shift.on some reverse is over and up,some is over and down.you get used to it eventually

  18. Just looked today at the store,they were 319. hopefully the second week of Feb they will still have one because it will come home with me.

  19. I rushed out to be the first one on my block to get the sr22. Ooops. I first noticed
    slide would not lock back after last shot or even with empty mag. Then I discovered when the safety was disengaged all the way up, the slide would snag and not close all the way. Slightly depressing the safety allowed the slide to to into
    battery unimpeded. Then after breaking the gun down and giving the slide a light
    coat of Tetra Lube I took the pistol to the range. I shot about 200 rds of mixed
    standard velocity with no problems, just as advertised. I loaded a mag of “Stingers”. On the second rd the gun fired out of battery and blew the rear of the case away.Upon examining the pistol carefully,I noted the gun would fire
    about 2 match sticks width from battery.
    I must say Ruger was very helpful and the gun has been returned for repair/replacement. There was some confusion from Ruger however regarding
    Hyper velocity rds being used in the sr22. I got both you should not and a its OK to fire them. This is Not what I have come to expect from a Ruger pistol.

  20. anyone else having a problem with the mag release being really loose and needing to be pushed in past the point of the actual grip surface to release? it doesn’t happen when the slide is back only when I put a mag in and try to eject it again.

  21. Got home with mine and only had about an hour of daylight left so foolishly I took gun straight out of box with just a quick glance and began to fire. There was three of us wanting to see the results. I had the mosquito the other guys had Walters none of us were impressed with our currents plinkers so we all couldn’t wait to try out the pistol. After being shot 300 plus times it had failed to load about 10 times. I returned not happy but with the amount of grease in the gun I hoped that was the problem. Upon removing the slide I noticed the barrel just flopped around. The screw that holds in the barrell had back almost completely out. Well I cleaned the gun and tightened barrell but have not fired since. Plan to fire tomorrow but not at all happy with the gun so far. I bought this gun expecting the quality shot and reliability of my 22/45 but think its worse than my sub par mosquito.

  22. Got home with mine and only had about an hour of daylight left so foolishly I took gun straight out of box with just a quick glance and began to fire. There was three of us wanting to see the results. I had the mosquito the other guys had Walters none of us were impressed with our currents plinkers so we all couldn’t wait to try out the pistol. After being shot 300 plus times it had failed to load about 10 times. I returned not happy but with the amount of grease in the gun I hoped that was the problem. Upon removing the slide I noticed the barrel just flopped around. The screw that holds in the barrell had back almost completely out. Well I cleaned the gun and tightened barrell but have not fired since. Plan to fire tomorrow but not at all happy with the gun so far.

  23. I have fired my SR-22 1000 rounds with no problems. I am left handed so the controls are spot on. I cleaned and inspected my gun prior to use. I will later change the site system as they become available because I prefer night sites and I find them easier aquire. Opinions are many but I feel some obstacles listed above could have been eliminated my cleaning and inspection before use. I understand the excitement of a new “toy.” I feel a gun has to have favorable conditions to be evaluated honestly. This is a good gun and given a proper chance most will find that it does not disappoint. Nothing like a fun gun!

  24. I am having the same problem with my new LC9 which shot 28 times and then would not fire. The most frustrating thing with Ruger is their phone system. Can’t get through. I am done with this company and it used to be the only gun manufacturer I would buy.

  26. would like to know how sr22 compares to mk3 for accuracy at 25 yds . i have a buckmark 4″ that im happy with. would like sr22 to shoot as good or better than the old stanbys if possible. Mosquite and walters can’t do it. t/y

  27. I got mine last week (after shooting a friends – wow) to use for IDPA practice.

    I shoot 1911’s; so I hope the “backwards” safety and DA trigger first shot from the holster doesn’t give me any bad habits, but I’ll likely be just fine.

    I have @900 rounds through mine now; with the only malf’s experienced being from some 25+ year old bulk ammo’s occasional “duds.”

    Both the SA and DA trigger pulls improved dramatically after some range time and dry firing (finally; a .22 that is made to be dry fired!); but they were not bad to start with.

    The pistol’s about the same size as an M&P9c; but a little slimmer, and fits well in a leather pancake holster (made for the LC9) that I bought to use with a Kahr CM9.

    At IDPA practice today keeping all shots “0 down” out to 20 yards was pretty easy; even with the DA first shot out of the holster.

    Even though I reload; it’s great to be able to practice so inexpensively; and not have to worry about where your brass is going.

    I think it’s a great training pistol, carries well; and is plenty accurate enough for hunting small game, or shooting steel plates, for that matter.

    The only thing I had to buy to make it “practice ready” for IDPA was a third mag.

    I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a general purpose .22 auto.

    To provide some perspective; I’m not a Ruger-holic; and own 1911’s made by Colt, Baer, and Wilson Combat.

    I’ve been CCW’ing since 1987, and shooting competetively off and on for over 30 years.

    I’m thinking about getting another for my Dad.

    Rick

  28. I’ve had mine since Feb. 2012, and it is (was) my absolute favorite firearm….. until I started having a problem where the magazine began to lower out of the grip. It doesn’t drop out completely, and fall out, or cause any mis-feeds, YET. The magazine could be easily removed with thumb and forefinger WITHOUT pressing the mag release button. In December, I contacted Ruger, and they had me ship it to them for inspection and repair. They promptly returned it, apparently with a new (fat) grip (the SR22 comes with multiple grip sizes). Testing it empty, it appeared to have been fixed. Unfortunately, before I had a chance to take it to the range for further testing, the same issue appeared while dry-firing. I haven’t contacted Ruger as of this writing because I want to take it to the range and see if the “loose” mag causes any issues while firing actual rounds.
    As I stated, I really love firing the SR22, and would hate to have to avoid using it. However, the loose magazine has really lowered my confidence in it.

  30. Too bad the safety is backwards unlike most every other semi-auto out there. That’s a recipe for disaster. It’s a deal breaker for me..

Comments are closed.