Ruger SR22 Pistol Review: Part 3

Ruger SR22 Pistol Review
Part 3 - External Features
February 5, 2012

In this part of the review I cover the externally visible features of the Ruger SR22 Pistol. In other parts of the review I cover disassembly and internal features so make sure you read those parts also.

The Ruger SR22 Pistol has a black polymer frame, black anodized aluminum slide and stainless steel barrel. It has a solid compact feel and white lettering to give it an attractive look. These next three photos and the one above give you some isometric views of the pistol. You can click on any photo to bring up high resolution photo giving you a better view of the details.

Figure 1

Figure 2 Figure 3

The SR22 Pistol measures 1.28" at it's widest point across the manual thumb safety and 0.94" across the slide.

Figure 4

The pistol height measures 4.76" with the flat floor plate installed. This was slightly different from the 4,90" per the specification. With the finger grip extension, it measured 5.06" tall so I'm not sure where the difference was unless Ruger is stating an average height of the two configuration. The pistol measured 6.50" in length with the hammer up which is slightly longer than the 6.40" per the specification. The right side of the slide includes the white block letters "SR22 PISTOL" along with "RUGER - PRESCOTT, AZ USA SR22P .22LR" engraved into the slide. One thing I find interesting is that the pistol's model name is "SR22", the side of the frame is engraved "SR22P" and the catalogue number is "SR22PB".

Figure 5

The left side of the slide has the Ruger emblem plus "RUGER" in white lettering. The slide is made from what Ruger calls "Aerospace Grade Aluminum" which is actually 7075-T6 aluminum alloy and both sides of the slide include four serrations on the front and six serrations on the back. The serial number can be seen on the left side of the frame and is engraved into the left side-frame insert housed in the polymer grip frame.

Figure 6

The front sight appears to be made from some type of polymer material and is dovetailed into the slide. The hole at the end of the slide for the barrel is slightly oval to allow for a slight tighter side to side fit on with the barrel while leaving a little more room vertically to ensure no binding at the slide-to-barrel area.

Figure 7

Although the front sight nests in a dovetail slot, Ruger calls this a fixed front sight and windage adjustment should be made at the rear sight. The rear of the front sight is angled and includes some ridges around the dot area. I think this front dot is white, although there are times when I would swear it looks yellow.

Figure 8

Figure 9

The rail on the polymer portion of the frame under the barrel is about 0.9" in length depending on how you measure. The distance from the trigger guard to the center of the first slot is about 0.50" and to the last slot about 1.15".

Figure 10

With the slide back, you see the business end of the 3.47" long stainless steel barrel. The outside diameter of the barrel measures about 0.463" and the inside rifling is 6 grooves with a 1:16" RH twist. An interesting note about the barrel is that in the owners manual Ruger makes this statement about barrel removal, "The RUGER® SR22^TM PISTOL barrel, although fixed, can be changed out. Threaded barrels are available from Ruger." I checked the ShopRuger.com website and none were listed at this time, but it is good to see that Ruger is planning ahead. Also shown below is the exposed portion of the polymer guide rod.

Figure 11

The rear of the barrel has a hexagon-ish shape with a brushed finish. The front of the slide has a matching shape and this gives it a geometric look.

Figure 12

In the photo below you can see the extractor and an inspection port in the rear portion of the slide just behind the barrel face.

Figure 12

The photo below shows a view directly into the inspection port without a round in the chamber.

Figure 13

The photo below shows a view direclty into the inspection port with a round in the chamber. You can see the bright edge of the rim.

Figure 14

The main body of the rear sight appears to be made from a polymer material. The metallic components seem to be made from steel and include the adjustment screws, blade and elevation pivot pin. Also note in the photo below the ambidextrous manual thumb safety. For this safety, down is safe and up is fire. When pushed up, you will see a red area exposed that is under the safety. This safety convention (down safe, up fire) is opposite from that of the SR9 and SR40 pistols.

Figure 15

The rear sight blade can be swapped from two white dots to a solid black blade by removing the windage screw and flipping the blade per the Instruction Manual. When turning the windage screw, the screw seemed to be adjustable in very discreet clicks at about each 1/4 turn. The distance between the front are rear sights is about 5.37".

Figure 16

The elevation screw also seemed to be click adjustable but in much finer increments.

Figure 17

I tried to get a couple of photos looking down the pistol and then the sight picture. The picture on the right does a pretty good job of showing what the sight will look like at arms length. You have a clear gap on both sides of the front post when lined up in the rear notch.

Figure 18 Figure 19

Clearly the SR22 Pistol is hammer fired. The skeletonized hammer includes a rounded spur with ridges for gripping when thumb cocking and is shown in the uncocked and cocked positions below.

Figure 20 - Uncocked Figure 21 - Cocked

These next two photos shows the hammer end of the firing pin and the decocker hammer stop (hammer block safety).

Figure 22 Figure 23

On the left side of the pistol you have the slide stop, manual safety and magazine release. You can also see the window through the polymer frame which allows you to see the serial number engraved into the metallic frame below.

Figure 24

The slide stop can be moved up manually or will occur automatically after firing the last round. Just like with the SR9c, pressing the slide stop down to release the slide is difficult, but possible. Most likely you will pull the slide back with our opposite hand to release the slide.

Figure 25

The SR22 comes with a steel trigger for strength that is ribbed on the back side to reduced weight. The double action trigger pull measured 10.9 pounds based on an average of 5 pulls from a Lyman Digital Trigger Pull Scale and the single action trigger pull averaged 5.1 pounds. The trigger feels like it is stacking up (increasing in force) in the double action mode and I could see this in the trigger pull scale, but the single action seems fairly crisp.

Figure 26

The trigger measured 0.40" inches in width which reduces pressure on your finger which makes it seem like the trigger pull is slightly lower than that of a pistol with a narrower trigger. The front of the trigger guard is squared off and includes some serrations for gripping if you prefer a hold where you put one finger on the front of the guard.

Figure 27

Figure A below shows the trigger in the double action starting position. Figure B shows the trigger moved back 0.07" to take up all the play (slack) in the trigger.

Figure 28 - A Figure 29 - B

Figure C below shows the trigger in the single action starting position which is 0.26" back from the double action starting position. Figure D shows the trigger 0.46" back from the double action starting position or 0.20" from the single action starting position. Figure D is the point where you are now pressing force to release the hammer.

Figure 30 - C Figure 31 - D

The SR22 Pistol comes with two different grip sleeves. The one on the left came installed on the pistol and is the small of the two grips. The one on the right is larger and gives me a better feel in my hand. Odd enough, my wife likes the feel of the larger grip also which leads me to believe that the smaller grip sleeve would most likely feel better for someone who clearly has smaller hands.

Figure 32

The grip is textured on the front sides and the back to give it some additional texture to reduce the chance it will slip in your hands.

Figure 33 Figure 34 Figure 35

The bottom of the grip sleeves includes a slight taper on the slides to assist with inserting a magazine.

Figure 35

I will discuss this more in the part of the review talking about disassembly, but for now, there is a takedown lever in front of the trigger which allows you to remove the slide.

Figure 36

The Ruger SR22 Pistol includes a magazine disconnect safety that will disengage the trigger and will not allow the pistol to fire when a magazine is removed. The photo below shows that the trigger will stay in the pulled position with no spring force causing it to return when the magazine is removed. When you insert the magazine, the trigger pops back forward to it's fire position which could be either single or double action depending on the position of the hammer.

Figure 37

The Ruger SR22 Pistol come with two 10-round magazines. The magazines consist of a steel body with polymer floor plate and follower along. The magazine also includes a polymer button on the follower to aid in reloading and this button can be swapped to the opposite of the magazine based on your preference. When you load the magazine, you will notice that the rear of the cartridges will form a slight double stack configuraiton.

Figure 38

The front of the magazine is stamped with the Ruger logo and ".22LR".

Figure 39

Figure 40

Figure 41

The Ruger SR22 Pistol comes with two floor plates for the magazines. The flat ones came installed on the magazines and the finger extension floor plates were in the box. These photos show both floor plates installed. Although both feel comfortable, I prefer the finger extension floor plate because of the added support it gives to my lowest finger.

Figure 42 Figure 43

The Ruger SR22 Pistol weighed in at 17.55 ounces with the smaller grip sleeve and flat floor plate and 17.85 ounces in the other configuration.

Figure 44 Figure 45

These next two photos show the Ruger SR22 Pistil with the larger grip sleeve and finger extension floor plate installed. This will the configuration of the pistol throughout my range testing and my guess is it will be the most popular configuration for most people.

Figure 46

Figure 47

Thoughts

The Ruger SR22 Pistol has a good feel and appears to be a quality made product just like you would expect from Ruger. It's ambidextrous controls make it immediately suitable to a right handed or left handed shooter. The replaceable and potentially threaded barrel has an intriguing aspect and will probably be another model option at some point in the future if this pistols proves to be a popular item. Between the manual safety, decocker, hammer blocker safety and magazine disconnect safety, I consider this pistol be packed with safety features. Since this is a rimfire pistol, I don't consider it to be something you would realistically use as your primary self defense weapon. Therefore, In my view this pistol is more of a training, range and plinking pistol and I consider these safety features a plus.

For more detailed photos and commentary, make sure you check out the other parts of this review and feel free to leave comments on my Reader's Comments page. The following links are provided to help you see other parts of this review.

Ruger SR22 Pistol Review: Part 1 - Introduction, Specifications and Summary
Ruger SR22 Pistol Review: Part 2 - What's in the Box
Ruger SR22 Pistol Review: Part 3 - External Features (this page)
Ruger SR22 Pistol Review: Part 4 - Disassembly
Ruger SR22 Pistol Review: Part 5 - Internal Features
Ruger SR22 Pistol Review: Part 6 - Range Test

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