TommyGunn

As far as .22s are concerned I have a Winchester 9422 and inherited a Remington 550-1, so for rifles I am fairly set. A few years back I bought a Walther P22. Although I like it well enough I was never really happy with it; small grip .... the zinc slide, and the fact the barrel assembly can loosen.

Today I bought a Browning Buckmark. $350 + tax from Academy Sports. It has good rubber grips and the front sight is comprised of a horizontal green plastic rod that picks up light and I think will make for a good sight. I really like the grip; it is much nicer than the P22. In fact I like the whole gun better. Has a nice thick barrel, good trigger, great ergonomics, nice hefty weight.
I do believe this is going to be a nice, valued addition to my collection!

ArmyCPT

Buckmarks are awesome pieces of equipment. I had a "Plus" model in the early 90's that I wish I still owned. Congrats - you'll enjoy having it.

BTW, mine really liked Dynamit Nobel subsonics.

I'm a Ruger guy, but I love the buckmark and have zero negative things to say about the buckmark line.

I still want an 'old school' supermatic high standard... the ones i've shot were from the early 40's and can still group better than I can hold it at 100 yards... and yes I shoot my .22 pistols at 100 yards..

Twenty years ago I remember eyeballing a 14" Silhouette Buckmark at the San Francisco Gun Exchange. Impractical for most anything except plinking but still a gun I regret not buying.

TommyGunn

14" ! A semi auto .22" Buntline!

Well, mine has @ 5" barrel. I think that's a tad more practical!

Casual, I might have gone for the Ruger. It was a close decision. Rugers are good too!

DaninDayton

Mine was finicky about ammunition and around the 3000 rd mark the trigger return spring stopped returning the trigger. I replaced the spring, sold it and bought a Kimber converstion and haven't looked back.

Danindayton
ilurkalot

V-Man

A while back, I bought my daughter a Buckmark and a P22 for myself. After a few range sessions, I traded my P22 for another Buckmark. This is possibly the only time I've gotten rid of a gun and did not regret it.

The P22 was nice, but just didn't fit my hand as well as the Buckmark. The only thing I didn't like about mine was that it was camo colored (my daughter's is black with a gold trigger). We are thinking of having her name engraved and inlaid in gold on the barrel on hers. I've had only minor problems shooting both of them and it seemed to be ammo related (the cheap bulk .22 ammo doesn't always go boom) rather than anything to do with the guns. I heartily recommend the Buckmark .

TommyGunn

That is my experience as well. P22=cute gun but a tad too small grip.
Buck Mark =

shep854

+1 on the Buckmark. I wish the safety was placed a little farther forward, but otherwise a sweet gun. Well, except when trying to reinstall the buffer and recoil spring/guide; it is something of a trial then.

I have the 5.5" barrel as well. At some point I want to get a shorter tube; replacement seems dead easy.

t-star

overpriced when i was trying it and way too heavy- don't know if it was the length of the barrel,but it "felt funny" but i'm left handed- the ruger was just plain overpriced, period, anddidn't care for the heel-catch mag, even though i have one on the beretta- ended up getting a neos( another beretta) and i'vebeen happy with that, in spite of getting the "duck dogers" comments

TommyGunn

Well, IMHO I'd say the P22 was overpriced (for what it is). IIRC I actually paid more for the P22 than the Buck Mark. The Buck Mark is definantly heavier but it is real metal and atleast in my opinion, a far better pistol, irregardless of price.
I have nothing against Rugers. Frankly I don't remember how the magazine eject works on them .... but I too don't really care for the heel type. In fact I don't really like the trigger guard style the P22 uses either!
Man .... I'm just finding new reasons to like the Browning pistol!

Al Thompson

I've had one since 1994 or so. Excellent handgun. Mine loves CCI Mini-Mags. Buddy of mine has purchased a couple to use as trainers - the controls are very close to what you would find on a 1911.

The CCI SGBs group exceptionally well in my particular Buckmark.

TommyGunn

[center:2flr5egx]UPDATE:[/center:2flr5egx]

Well, after much too long, I finally got the Buck Mark to the range.
I only had a couple misfires. Examination showed hardly any firing pin mark, so I reloaded and the cartridges went off fine. I suspect this will work it's way out as the gun is used ... which at the rate I'm going so far may be 2015.
However, I am very happy with the gun overall. It's plenty accurate and easy to use, and the grips are far superior to the Walther P22 which is my other .22 handgun.

Mik3e

I had the same light-strike experience with a new Buckmark. For the first few months I put a drop of gun oil on the firing pin face just before shooting. You will want to visit:

Welcome - chim

to learn more about disassembly, and then you can also oil the back end of the firing pin. Disassembly takes 2 allen wrench's, one for the barrel and one for everything else. It's not altogether necessary to remove the barrel for cleaning, which is good because it's a #@*!!.

Good shooting.

Skeptic49

I miss the old Challengers and Nomads. Which shows how old I am. The take down on the Buckmark seems unnecessarily complicated. Something like the old Hi-Standard, push in the pin, pull the barrel assembly off the front push the slide assembly off the front and clean seems better than the Ruger dis-assembly on my T-514.
Geoff
Who shot his cousins Challenger when he was just a young'n.

CaptainGyro

I couldn't agree more, Geoff. I got this old Nomad back in the seventies, and it's always been a good shooter and a ton of fun. It's accurate, simple, and has a great trigger.

I only wish mags were easier to come by.

Kevin Gibson

First handgun I ever fired looked exactly like that. Watched my friend slice open his thumb with the razor sharp back of that slide when he held it with his off hand thumb over the back of his shooting hand. Great little pistol you have there.

IrishCop

That is a nice one, Cap'n! Looks kinda Woodsman-esque to me.

I just picked up a Ruger MKIII 22/45. Used, with 4 magazines and a Tru Glo heads up optic. Cheap but servicable.

But Gosh I HATE cleaning the durn things. Taking them apart is easy. That turn upside down hold at an angle reassembly almost always drives me nuts.

(See Snake! That's why I hesitate to do any sort major surgery on a gun. I have the mechanical ability of a chimp with brain damage.)

Kevin Gibson

Yeah I'm a died in the wool fan of the Ruger design. I've had several over the years and they have always done me well. My current one is the 4" 22/45 with the factory threaded barrel. Lights out accurate, reliable and just fun to shoot. Now if we can clear up this .22 ammo situation so I can actually enjoy it.

shep854

Terry, EVERY Ruger design I'm familiar with has some sort of 'Gotcha' in takedown or reassembly!