Top .22 Pistols for "Bullseye" shooting

Found this while reading links from the latest "Shooting Sports USA", the NRA's e-magazine for competitive shooters.  Thought it might be useful for anyone wondering what .22 to use for Precision Pistol.

Link:  https://www.ssusa.org/articles/2015/9/15/the-best-22-caliber-pistols-for-nra-bullseye/

NOTE:  The Browning Buckmark is #7 of 8 "Also Rans".

The NRA and SSUSA continue to under-impress. IMHO

This was 5.5 years ago, for whatever that's worth

The article says all the ranking came from a poll that Larry's Guns put on their website. Enough said I do believe. They didnt walk the line at Perry or the sectionals.

NRA and SSUSA are vital ... but I agree unfortunately also have a vital need to improve.

The Buckmark pistol they listed has a fiber optic front sight. I thought this one would be better. What do you think?

https://www.browning.com/products/firearms/pistols/buck-mark-pistols/current-production/buck-mark-field-target-suppressor-ready.html

The only problem I can see is from the review, it comes with a 3.75 lb trigger pull, which is too high for rimfire.

A buckmark is an excellent choice for a 22. The trigger easily can be made lighter (spring flip).

I thought the spring flip trick was just for the Ruger MK series?

Search "Heggis Spring Flip buckmark". My buckmark's trigger weight is just over 2lbs.

Ok, well that makes the purchase of that pistol much more practical for an EIC match. The weight limit is >=2 lbs.

I don't know if I like the $1400 MSRP price of the new Model 41. That's a lot of money.

CO1Mtn wrote:The Buckmark pistol they listed has a fiber optic front sight. I thought this one would be better. What do you think?

https://www.browning.com/products/firearms/pistols/buck-mark-pistols/current-production/buck-mark-field-target-suppressor-ready.html

The only problem I can see is from the review, it comes with a 3.75 lb trigger pull, which is too high for rimfire.

I have this model of Buckmark although mine is 25 years old.  It’s not threaded and mine had a screw adjustment for the trigger weight.  I had a roll trigger job done on it and he sealed up that adjustment screw so I’m not sure how well it works.  I have shot a 290 twice in my life and both times it was with this gun.  I think it’s a capable bullseye gun. 

John

I'm considering buying that Buckmark.
I read that I can easily remove the magazine interlock safety.
I would want an overtravel set screw.Volquartsen no longer manufactures the upgraded trigger that has the overtravel set screw so I'd have to drill and tap it myself.
The spring flip trick is supposed to reduce the pull from 4.5# to 2.5#.

I just wanted a backup pistol in case something happens to my Nelson conversion/1911 unit. I've been shooting rimfire only for over a year now. I have eight points toward the rimfire badge and I'm not going to move up to centerfire again until I go distinguished in rimfire. Better to chase one rabbit at a time, I think.

I'm espeically interested in Jon Eulette's opinion on my idea to get a Buckmark. What would you buy for Bullseye? Maybe I will even request to hire you to do some gunsmithing on it.

I'm not sure if I'm being too picky about this, but I balked at the $1400 price tag for the new S&W Model 41. It better be really good and ready to shoot bullseye right out of the box for that price. Maybe a Hammerli would be better. Buy once, cry once? Can anyone share their opinion please?

For not much more than that you could get a matchgun MG2 with a fully adjustable trigger and good accuracy

impalanut wrote:For not much more than that you could get a matchgun MG2 with a fully adjustable trigger and good accuracy

A buckmark is in the ball park of $500, I doubt a matchgun is close to that in price. I also have not been impressed by the reliability of matchguns I have seen on the line.

If you go with a Browning look at the Hunter. They have been making target grips for Brownings for 50 years. But they don't fit all models. They do fit on the Hunter. This set of Nills would fit a 30 year old just as well. I did the spring flip. They are also very accurate. My .02

Should I get a 7.25" or 5.5" barrel? Is there going to be a problem with follow-through if I get a barrel that is too long?

Get the shorter barrel, it will be more forgiving.
Jon

The longer barrel will give you an ever so slight advantage on the long line, though you will get little if any benefit on the short line, some may argue the longer barrel is a detriment. If you ever plan to put an optic on, the shorter one is probably better.

Rimfire Central has a pros and cons discussion about the Buck Mark and the Higgis Flip. I bought an older Hunter and switched my Bullseye barrel to it. Using TAC 22 it is just as accurate as my 41s using CCI SV.

I went to a gun store today and the owner said he can't get any Buckmarks in stock. He showed me the computer screen and it said "0 available" for all Browning and Ruger pistols.

By the way, the wholesale cost of the Browning Buckmark Field Target is $460.

When I bought my new bullseye gun, I wanted it to be able to out shoot me.

I went to YouTube and looked at ISSF slow fire and rapid fire international competitions, Olympics.

Nearly every single shooter at the highest echelons of .22 precision pistol iss shooting a Pardini SP.

Heck, the German national team, Germany, where they build Walther and FeinWerkBau, were all shooting Pardinis. The Italians are shooting Pardini, not Morini.

That was enough to convince me to spend a little more on an SP over a GSP or SSP or AW93.

Now, every time I don't shoot a 300, I can only blame what is holding the gun, not the gun itself.

YMMV.

mikemargolis wrote:When I bought my new bullseye gun, I wanted it to be able to out shoot me.

I went to YouTube and looked at ISSF slow fire and rapid fire international competitions, Olympics.

Nearly every single shooter at the highest echelons of .22 precision pistol iss shooting a Pardini SP.

Heck, the German national team, Germany, where they build Walther and FeinWerkBau, were all shooting Pardinis. The Italians are shooting Pardini, not Morini.

That was enough to convince me to spend a little more on an SP over a GSP or SSP or AW93.

Now, every time I don't shoot a 300, I can only blame what is holding the gun, not the gun itself.

YMMV.

ISSF also only shoots irons, IMO international oriented guns tend to not balance as well with a dot. I am not saying a Pardini is a bad gun, but the fan club seems to ignore the fact that not everyone shoots a Pardini well, their is a reason a multitude of different makes of 22 on the line at any given match. Just about any target quality 22 has the potential to shoot a perfect score, the person behind the trigger is the reason it doesn't happen every time.

chiz1180 wrote:

ISSF also only shoots irons, IMO international oriented guns tend to not balance as well with a dot. I am not saying a Pardini is a bad gun, but the fan club seems to ignore the fact that not everyone shoots a Pardini well, their is a reason a multitude of different makes of 22 on the line at any given match. Just about any target quality 22 has the potential to shoot a perfect score, the person behind the trigger is the reason it doesn't happen every time.

Yep, my mentor shoots a marvel to HM levels.

But then again, he is into the 2700's and I am into the one gun .22 events, so I don't care about the grip angle the way he does.

The gun is a small part of it. I have seen 290's out of a cheap gun and 100's out of a great gun.

My point was to eliminate the excuses that I would use to tell myself why I wasn't shooting well.

CO1Mtn wrote:I went to a gun store today and the owner said he can't get any Buckmarks in stock. He showed me the computer screen and it said "0 available" for all Browning and Ruger pistols.

By the way, the wholesale cost of the Browning Buckmark Field Target is $460.

There is a buckmark field target with Matchdot2 on GunBroker for 715 starting bid. That's close.

The .22 choice depends on what you intend to do with it! If you are thinking of shooting the full match and becoming Master or High Master you should choose the best available. Also the best will have the highest resale value. Most .22s are quite accurate being that the X ring is 1.7" the "Target" graded pistols will keep the group inside the X ring! Reliability is the next concern, having to shoot alibis is not good and best to have a gun that is reliable because your only allowed one in a string of 20 shots in each phase. What is most overlooked is trigger!! Trigger control is the difference between a poor shooter and a great one! Most of the High End pistols have adjustable triggers. My son Adam states he would rather have a pistol with a 2" group and a perfect trigger rather than one that can shoot one hole but lousy trigger!!! Simply put if while shooting you think about the trigger and how bad the movement is your not going to shoot a good score! Your mind is on the trigger not the sights where is should be! When you feel movement you don't like and begin to think about it your analyzing the trigger, the more you think about it the worst it becomes and soon that's all your thinking about. I don't think I ever been to a match when someone there isn't complaining about their trigger yet while talking to some of the best they never did!
 The 41 when I started going to Perry was one of the most used pistol there, all the military shooters had them. However as time went on S&W dropped the ball and they soon were lousy. My Friend Floyd Aikman was able to get them shooting very good but most of the shooter moved to the Hammerli 208. The Pistol Adam used in the AMU was a modified Hammerli 208. At first glance it resembled a 1911. However the AMU shooter have a complete gunsmith team that are a few of the best there are working on the pistols! I have been hearing good results from the .22 conversions. If cost is important I would think it best to get a conversion so you can use the 1911 being that the 45 is required to compete in a 2700 match.

Thank you for the information. I appreciate that.
I have a 1911 with a Nelson conversion. So I'm shooting rimfire only now. I wanted a backup pistol because I'm afraid of what Biden is going to do (probably tax the deuce out of everything and make everything illegal to buy and sue the gun manufacturers out of existence).

I checked another gun store today and they too have no rimfire ammo and cannot order any Ruger or Browning rimfire pistols. I asked about a Hammerli Xesse and they had never heard of it and it didn't come up on their computer.