My 1st CCW: Ruger’s SR22

So many years ago, I wanted to get my conceal carry license. I hadn’t shot a gun in a long long time. I had several large caliber guns but was worried about the qualifying portion of the CCW test. My understanding was we’d have to have a 90% accuracy with a time limit. The thought of acquiring my target 9 out of 10 times with a stopwatch clicking after my gun kicked every shot seemed nerve wrecking.

The answer: why not qualify with a .22? I shot those as a kid and if the 8 year old me could handle it, the “38” year old me should have no problem. So, I started looking at semi-automatic 22s. Hands down, the Ruger SR-22 jumped out.

There were several reasons (and these reasons usually always apply when I’m looking at a new gun for my collection):

Price: I believe I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $350.00 for the gun – fair enough.

Capacity: 10 + 1. More than enough so I wasn’t reloading under pressure to qualify (We had to center mass 27 out of 30) – so 3 mags and I’m good. HUGE PLUS – the gun came with two 10 round magazines.

Sights: Very visible adjustable 3-dot sights.

Action: Super smooth. Light double action with a nice crisp SA trigger pull.

Hammer: External hammer (I really like an external hammer as opposed to not having one or striker fire – more on this in future posts!)

Safety: I like having a safety on my guns. This gun has an ambidextrous thumb safety AND a de-cocking lever (also one of my favorite add-ons).

Recoil: Practically non-existent!

Lastly, the gun is pretty small and lightweight. It weighs 17.5 oz (unloaded) and had and overall length of 6.4″; height of 4.9″; and, width of .97″. A wee bit too big for a pocket carry but easy enough for other ways to carry. (Yes, I realize 22LR is not really anybody’s choice caliber to carry – but hey, if you had to …)

Needless to say, I bought this gun, used it to qualify and LOVE to take it out and plink at the range every once and awhile. It’s a great overall gun. This is the gun I let friends who have never shot use. It llets them get used to the mechanics of firing a weapon without the jolt of a .357 or .45. It’s the gun I use to teach my daughter with and HIGHLY recommend getting one if you’re looking at 22s.