Ruger SP101 in .22LR

Wouldn't you know it? Just after I buy a new Beretta Bobcat, I learn that Ruger is introducing a .22 caliber version of their SP101 revolver. At $600 list, it's $159 cheaper than the S&W Model 317 Kit Gun, and Ruger's quality is certainly right up there with Smith & Wesson's. (Ruger does the investment casting of the Walther PPK and PPK/S frames for S&W.) I've owned at least four Rugers in my time (three .22 auto pistols and an Old Army) and I never had a moment's trouble with any of them.

The .22LR revolver is the classic sportsman's sidearm, and before State and Federal laws made it difficult to do so, it wasn't at all uncommon for every hunter and fisherman to carry a pocket .22- just the thing for bagging a grouse, or a slow rabbit, for the dinner pot. But with the surge in "shall issue" laws across the country, it's now relatively easy to get a carry permit, and I suspect more outdoorsmen (and women) are carrying a sidearm in the field. While it's always been legal (in most states) to carry a sidearm exposed, in a holster, while carrying a hunting license, a lot of us prefer to keep it concealed for various reasons. Among other things, it's less confrontational these days, when you're increasingly likely to come across people in the woods and streams who aren't comfortable around guns.

Although I own a few semiauto .22s, I think the revolver has a lot of advantages for the sportsman. Accuracy (in single action fire) of a high quality revolver can be every bit as good as with an auto. A quality revolver is the most reliable handgun you can find, short of a single-shot pistol.

There aren't nearly as many quality double-action revolvers in this country as there used to be. H&R quit making their low-end revolvers years ago. There's Charter Arms, but their stuff is pretty low end. That leaves S&W and Ruger. The general consensus is that S&W guns are better finished, and the Rugers are stronger. S&W uses forging, which requires more machining and hand finishing, while Ruger uses investment casting, which produces a ready-to-assemble, but less highly polished, frame. Both make guns that will last a lifetime.