Alright, I’ll admit it. I only bought this gun because it looked cool and I had some cash to burn on a gun. Is that a good reason to buy a gun? That’s up for debate. My point is that we’re here now and I have the Ruger SR22 in hand. I have almost too many .22 caliber pistols to count sitting around in my safe. I last reviewed the Ruger LCP II and gave it a generally favorable review, but nothing was particularly fantastic. Hopefully, the SR22 mixes things up.

Like I said, I really only bought this gun because I thought it looked a little futuristic, especially with the stainless steel finish. It reminds me of the Magnum pistol from the Halo games. Aside from the good-looking angles, everything is pretty much where you’d expect. It’s fully ambidextrous including the odd safety/decocker that flips up for fire rather than down. It’s a single-action/double-action so you also get the exposed hammer and excellent trigger to go with it.

The SR22 is also an extremely comfortable handgun. It’s like settling into your couch after a long workday. The rubberized grips help you keep a good handle on the weapon even in hot and sweaty conditions with no problem whatsoever.

This pistol is a blast to shoot too. I know I say that with basically every decent .22 caliber firearm I shoot, but I just always enjoy my time with .22. What else can I say? The action is smooth and the pistol cycled everything I threw at it. Cheap and expensive (relatively) all ran fantastically. Zero malfunctions to speak of. It’s not something I usually expect out of .22 LR pistols, but I found myself pleasantly surprised.

Accuracy was pretty precise as far as .22 pistols go. I’m not taking this thing precision target shooting or anything, but it gets the job done just fine at ten yards and beyond for the most part. This is in part due to the good-looking sights. You can switch between two white dots and solid black. I basically always opt for the solid black.

I don’t use .22 for much other than range day. Sometimes I’ll grab a 10/22 to take care of pests, but for the most part, my .22 pistols sit in a safe waiting for me to throw them in the range bag. The SR22 might be one of my first choices for range day.

Ruger’s SR22 is something special. It’s not the most expensive, but it quickly became one of my favorites. It’s definitely a standout among some of the truly awful pistols I’ve shot in my time. With that being said, there are a lot of great .22s out there and the SR22 is among them, but it really just comes down to a matter of preference. And on range day, I prefer the Ruger SR22.

Richard Douglas writes on firearms, defense, and security issues. He is the founder and editor of Scopes Field, and a columnist at The National Interest, 1945, Daily Caller, and other publications.

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