Ruger hit the ground running with the Ruger Standard Model .22. Originally selling for less than forty dollars the Standard Model was an immediate success. The Ruger MKII and polymer frame versions followed. Today Ruger offers a versatile lightweight pistol in the form of the SR 22. It isn’t a target gun or hunting gun like the larger Ruger but it serves a purpose. It is a neat little gun well worth its modest price.  The SR 22 is a modern handgun with a sleek look. While it fits the intended role well the double action first shot trigger isn’t to everyone’s liking. Be certain to understand the ins and outs of a DA first shot handgun. I simply ignore it when target shooting and fire in single action mode. The lightweight SR 22 is accurate enough for most chores but it isn’t a target gun. The pistol was available at Cheaperthandirt.com for $434.15 in early February with 4.5 inch barrel. The standard 3.5 inch barrel gun is twenty dollar les.

Fit and finish are good to excellent. The pistol is left hand friendly with dual safety and magazine release controls. The safety is a bit different than most but simple enough to acclimate to. The safety moves up to fire and down for safety. Unlike many small handguns the controls are large enough for easy manipulation. The pistol is compact but doesn’t cramp most hand sizes. If you are going to deploy the pistol for personal defense become familiar with the safety hammer and trigger operation. I wont fault you on that choice, quite a few bad guys have been put on ice by a .22. If you are able to use a larger caliber well you should. That said something is better than nothing and the SR 22 is certainly something.

The pistol features a changeable grip frame. The grip as delivered fits my hand well. Large size hands may find the grip sleeve a nice accessory. The grip sleeve isn’t easily changed and requires some effort.  The pistol is supplied with magazine base pads for the two ten round magazines.  The magazines are not difficult to load to full capacity. Take down is simple enough. A take down lever inside the trigger guard is pressed down to release the slide. Triple check the handgun to be certain it isn’t loaded and you will have no problem running the slide to the rear and up off of the receiver rails. It isn’t difficult to run the slide back into battery. This is a blowback design. The barrel remains fixed to the frame during disassembly.  

The slide is nicely machined from aluminum. You may wonder how the tiny recoil spring functions but an aluminum slide and the .22 LR cartridge don’t produce a lot of momentum. The guide rod is a simple plastic unit. The ejector and extractor are larger than needed for this cartridge and all parts are more than strong enough for the task of .22 rimfire reliability. That’s not a hasty conclusion the SR 22 has proven reliable in thousands of examples. The grips are nicely serrated for a firm grip. The slide features both forward and rear cocking serrations a nice touch on a rimfire handgun. The rear sights are fully adjustable allowing the shooter to sight the pistol in properly. The dovetailed front sight offers a possibility of adjustment with the proper sight pusher. Ruger makes some of the best adjustable pistol sights and they are found on even some affordable models. The SR 22 also features a light rail for mounting lights or lasers.  

Operation and manipulation

Lock the slide to the rear and insert a loaded magazine. Load the magazine and drop the slide. The hammer remains cocked. The safety may be applied to decock the hammer. This simply means the hammer is lowered without manual manipulation which is commonly applied by holding the hammer as the trigger is pressed. I sometimes fail to use the decocker, mainly on the range rather when making a pistol ready for carry. We should always use the decocker to lower the hammer as manually lowering the hammer sometimes short circuits the firing pin block. You may wish to carry this pistol hiking or for personal defense. The pistol may be deployed safety on or safety off. Learn to manipulate the safety quickly and properly. The double action first shot trigger is safety enough in the minds of many. The first shot both cocks and drops the hammer. The trigger is pressed to the rear and forces the hammer to the rear by use of a draw bar. The hammer falls and fires the pistol. The slide recoils and the hammer is then cocked for single action fire. Subsequent shots are taken single action. This mean that the trigger only drops the hammer. The double trigger is long and heavy and difficult to press smoothly. Cocking the hammer for a single action shot is indicated if precision is needed. The single action trigger demands about 5/8 inch of travel and then breaks at 6.4 pounds. My version is a relatively new offering with a 4.5 inch barrel kind of a long slide SR 22. The resulting balance is excellent. The pistol is only slightly heavier than the 3.5 inch barrel gun. Practical accuracy is good and the barrel picks up a little more velocity than the standard version usually 22 to 38 fps with assorted loads.

Firing the Ruger SR 22 4.5 inch gun over a period of several months I have fired more than seven hundred cartridges- not very expensive in .22 LR costs. Neither did I have sore wrists after the longer range sessions. The pistol is reliable as there were no failures to feed, chamber, fire or eject with .22 Long Rifle High Velocity. At 7 yards as expected the pistol put all the bullets into a ragged hole. For most uses including pest control and taking out an aggressive reptile on the trail this accuracy is encouraging- as long as you cock the hammer for a deliberate shot and press the trigger smoothly. At 50 feet the pistol exhibited several two inch five shot groups with little smaller or larger. The pistol is consistent and worth its modest price. I like the 4.5 inch pistol more than the 3.0 inch and it isn’t any more difficult to carry. As a general purpose spelunking hiking or house gun the SR 22 is a good choice. I do prefer the 4.5 inch barrel version. The SR 22 is reliable and accurate and will give you at least a fighting chance if you choose not to use a heavier caliber. I hope you use something larger. For those using the pistol as intended for training and fun shooting the SR 22 is a neat pistol that fills many shooters needs well.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Model: Ruger SR22
• Caliber: .22LR
• Magazine capacity: 10 rounds
• Materials: Aluminum slide, stainless steel barrel, polymer frame, railed dust cover
• Weight empty:18.7 ounces
• Barrel Length: 4.5″
• Overall length: 7.4″
• Sights: Three white dots, fixed front, windage and elevation adjustable rear, reversible rear insert
• Action: DA/SA, decocking safety
• Finish: Black anodized

All of the popular service pistols have been cloned. Some are made cheaper, some are improved over the original. The S&W SIGMA served a purpose I suppose for those unhappy with the High Point and was among the first Glock competitors. Today we have many striker fired clones of the HK and Walther with a mix of features present. Then there is the Glock. In their fifty generation Glock now offers a retro Glock reissue of the original. This means the Glock is now an official icon among shooters!  Aftermarket parts were first offered in the form of sights, then trigger groups, barrels,  modified frames and new production slides. I am leery of most. I don’t wish to affect the Glock’s hallmark of  reliability. Human engineering or ergonomics could stand improvement but reliability is not an issue.

Pistols with a steel slide and polymer frame are sometimes slide heavy. Everyone doesn’t like the factory grip design and feel the balance of abrasion and adhesion is far from ideal. Sometimes we add an aftermarket barrel. And sights- and so on. One maker has put all of this together in a high quality handgun that makes the best of the Glock system. The Shadow Systems MR920 is the same size as a Glock 19 and resembles the Glock handgun. Shadow Systems, like Wilson Combat as an example, began their manufacturing with Glock upgrade parts. They eventually began manufacturing the MR918 as a complete handgun, later upgrading to the MR920. The pistol comes standard with tritium front sight and other upgrades such as a highly modified frame  and slide design. This isn’t a modified Glock, but they manufacture their own components- the design is modified.  The Shadow Systems pistol features changeable grip inserts that differ considerably from the Glock including one that mimics the 1911 grip. With the addition of an elongated grip frame formed into a beavertail type grip this is easily the best handling Glock frame. Both inexpensive and custom holsters fit well as the dimension remain Glock. The trigger guard is undercut toward the rear a trick used by 1911 makes to lower the bore axis of the 1911 handgun. It works well with the Shadow Systems frame. The grip frame finish offers excellent abrasion and adhesion. The slide is a  nitride finished steel unit with custom cuts and flats. An improvement to most of us is that the barrel isnt a polygonal type but features a standard rifled bore. This allows the use of hard cast lead bullets. I am against the addition of an aftermarket trigger to a pistol destined for personal defense. The Shadow systems trigger is superior to the Glock. Since this is a factory handgun the trigger is standard issue and there is no concern the pistol has been tampered with. It is superior to the Glock trigger action but not terribly different and certainly not too light for personal defense duty. The pistol features a standard Glock type rail for mounting optics. The Shadow Systems pistol features a steel guide rod. As you add the features up it would be difficult to modify a Glock to this standard at anywhere near the price of the MR920. There is another feature as well- the rear sight is a well designed ledge type combat sight. The front sight is a green Tritium night sight. The action seems to use the Glock Generation Three Glock trigger bar. The connector is from Taran Tactical. The aluminum trigger shoe is a good step. The trigger face is flatter than the Glock.  A safety lever in the trigger face prevents the pistol from firing by lateral discharge. The trigger action breaks at 4.9 pounds in my example. Pre travel is slightly shorter than the Glock pistol.

This isn’t a modified Glock but an Americanized Glocks. They are manufactured to tighter tolerances than the Glock. Take down is accomplished by the usual Glock take down lever. With the pistol field stripped you will see a pistol that resembles the Glock in every detail. Anyone who has worked the Glock will be able to work the Shadow Systems pistol. The pistol features a flared magazine well that offers real speed in reloading. Since the pistol uses magazines with a slight base pad this magazine well doesn’t add to the footprint when the piece is concealed. There is a nicely designed detachable magazine well.  Since the grip design differ from the Glock other makers of aftermarket magazine wells will not adapt to the Shadow Systems pistol.

There is no issue of  parts interchangeability from the sights to the barrel and all internal parts. I wish Shadow Systems well but just the same if they close the doors you will not be left with a pistol without a supply of spare parts and magazines. The factory states the MR920 demands a two hundred round break in. The pistol also demands greater lubrication than the Glock which needs only a drop of lubricant on the trigger connector. Shadow Systems recommends lubricating the slide rails and barrel. In the case of my test pistol the pistol came out of the box running and has never failed to feed, chamber or eject with standard pressure or +P ammunition. I have experience with a half dozen Shadow System pistols- and no break is was needed. Just the same it could happen. And I use good quality ammunition for break in!

The pistol was delivered with a gun rug, gun lock, cleaning rod, and several back straps. The pistol features grip inserts Shadow Systems refers to as the NPOA or Natural Point of Aim. The H backstrap is for those preferring a muzzle high attitude. This is most similar to the Glock. The second insert is the neutral or mid range insert, marked N. For small hands and those that prefer the 1911 feel the L or Low marked backstrap is preferred. I find these backstraps superior to the Glock inserts especially when the extended tang is taken into consideration. The backstrap is changed by pressing a pin out, either right or left, and pressing the back strap down, then replacing a backstrap and re-inserting the pin.

The optics mounting system accommodates a number of popular red dots without resorting to plates. The optics cut features holes and a several wedges that conform to the individual sight chosen. I chose the relatively new The Holosun HS407CO X2. I had the Holosun mounted easily. The battery tray is side mounted.

Holosun 407CO Features & Specs

• 8 MOA circle
• 50,000 hours battery life!
• Uses a CR1632 battery
• Shake-awake
• Solar cell backup power
• 50 MOA of available elevation and windage adjustment
• 1 MOA clicks
• Waterproof, fogproof, etc.
• Comes with a picatinny rail mount plate RMR foot print

I loaded a good supply of Winchester FMJ including a flat point 147 grain load I have not tried previously. Loading the supplied Magpul magazines I also laid in a number of Glock magazines. The shake awake red dot came on when I wanted it to and proved easy to adjust to the point of aim. The solar power option works even with no battery installed, a neat trick. I began firing at 7 yards then 10 yards. The pistol is easily controlled and gets on target quickly. Combat accuracy is excellent partly due to the red dot, the trigger, and long experience with the Glock type trigger. I have fired more than three hundred cartridges in the pistol over the past two weeks. No problems of any type have surfaced. Most of the shooting has been at typical combat ranges. I also benchest tested the pistol using a credible carry load the Winchester 124 grain +P Defender. At 1199 fps- almost 1200 fps!- this is a hard hitting loading. The pistol consistently puts five shots into two inches at 25 yards. With burner grade FMJ loads the results were not quite as good at 2.5 inch, and 2.2 inch for the Winchester 115 grain Silvertip. This is a very nice handgun, a reliable handgun, and one that will serve well in service or personal defense.