Ruger 22 /45 pistol

This is from my posts to the “preferred 22 handgun” thread in February and early March.

You asked about the Ruger 22/45. Here goes.

On 2/14 I posted, “I'm using a Ruger 22/45 simply because I'm prejudiced toward the 1911 platform and, barring a .22 conversion, this Ruger is more or less similar in set up (stocking). I find it reliable and reasonably accurate. At least it’s a lot cheaper than .45ACP!”

And then added on 2/16, “Let me add a caveat. This pistol has a bull barrel with an OD of about 7/8"…The front sight is attached by a single small bolt. Not good. It tends (at least in my case) to work loose. You can imagine the disquiet on the range! Have solved the problem with some loctite. Seems to be holding.”

On 3/10/10, I posted, “Was out to the range again this morning, early – low 40’s, sunny, calm. In other words, ‘nice’. Pasted below is a sample of what the 22/45 can do. This 5-shot group was shot at 50 feet, from the bench. The 4-shot in-line group is roughly an inch across. The flyer to the lower left is about 1 1/8 inches below that linear group. Considering that’s shot from 73-year old hands, I think that demonstrates what the 22/45 can do, and does relatively consistently.”

You wrote “I bought one last year with fiber sights as my eyes aren't what they used to be” (tell me about it). The 22/45 I have has adjustable rear sight (elevation & windage). The front sight I’ve commented on above.

jbpmidas said:

Ed, where do you shoot? We need a good place in Monroe County!

Click to expand...

At the present time I shoot in N Lee County - Whitetail Ridge Outdoors and down at Hamilton, Mitch’s.

Yes, up to now there has been a real lack of a place to shoot in Monroe County. However, there is a light on the horizon.

A small group of us are negotiating right now for a reasonably nice, safe, place to shoot. While it might be safe to say that our little group is driven primarily by handguns, we are also going to be able, we think, to accommodate long guns.

Within the next two weeks we should have an answer.

If we will be able to go ahead, I hope to post something on this MSGunOwners.com website.

Feel free to send me your email and I'll let you know directly when we get an answer.

Ed

Re: Ruger 22/45 – MORE – “Lessons Learned” (or, “I shoulda knowed better!”)


This rambles some so you may be well advised to skip this and go o n to the next post.

Last weekend was the bi-monthly disassembly-cleaning-reassembly drill for the handguns. And, typically, with the adjustable rear sight on the Ruger 22/45 I take the time to check the point of aim. I’m somewhat fumble-fingered (it’s not unknown for me to drop the barrel assembly) so it’s the better part of caution that I re-sight the pistol.

So, this past Wednesday, while at the range, I decided to take time to check out the Ruger 22/45. First mistake – I used what amounted to a no-contrast target setup. The Ruger rear and front sights are black and I was using the standard NRA 25yd slow fire pistol target. While I was just shooting, from the bench, at 50 feet (I’ve explained my assumed privilege for the 50’ ‘handicapping’ before) that target was just a black blob out there. No contrasts.

First group was at 1:30 in the 7 & 8 rings. So I started messin’ with the rear sight (second mistake with that set up) trying to correct the point of impact. Things didn’t improve much.

Was out again this morning (mid-40's, overcast, set up at 50', from the bench) and used what I consider to be a high-contrast target (you’ll see it below). First five were grouped reasonably tight about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ inches at 5:30. Well a couple of adjustments later I had it back where I wanted. (See below – that’s a 1 inch grid on that target). Still got a flyer at 3:00, but not bad.

So the lesson I learned was that with my aging eyes I’d better rely on high-contrast targets if and when I decide to re-verify point of impact.

PS - More incoherent rambling - That's a drop of blood at the upper edge of the target. The slide on my .45ACP clipped my left thumb. That was dumb!

Re: From the Range, Today


Things have been a bit quiet in this topic through April. Thought I might give a little nudge.

Was out to the range this morning, Whitetail Ridge Outdoors (see at: http://www.whitetailridgeoutdoors.com/), high 50’s, broken clouds, and a stiff breeze from behind us. Was working withy the Mousegun and the STI 9mm, but took a little time to shoot the 22/45.

Here’s the result – 5 rds, 50 feet, from the bench. That’s a quarter.

re: Post-Cleaning Proof Target

(Some of this is a repeat from today’s post to “9mm 1911’s”)
A little background - Rightly or wrongly, my routine is a bimonthly disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly (whether they need it or not?) of the handguns. Now keep in mind I’m someone fumble-fingered, in other words severely mechanically challenged.

So this past week (it rained a tad at my house!) I gathered up my stuff, bellied-up to the kitchen counter, spread a pad thereon, and began what amounted to a production line operation.

If you are familiar with the disassembly of a Ruger pistol you may have a little sympathy for me. The owner’s manual reads, in part, “-With the mainspring housing, bolt stop pin, (as an assembly), bolt and magazine removed, a forward blow (with a plastic hammer) on the rear of the receiver will disengage the barrel-receiver assembly from the grip frame.”

There is the rub – “a forward blow”.

More times than not whilst providing “a forward blow” the barrel will slip through my fingers and drop on to the pad. And, as with a buttered piece of bread, the barrel will land adjustable rear sit down. And if that doesn’t happen, chances are I’ll drop it while I’m cleaning it.

All the above is just a lead-in to this morning at the range. Because my ham-handedness stands a good chance of buggering-up the adjustable sights, the first thing I’ll do at the range the first time out after the cleaning drill is to shoot a proof target to be sure the sights are still where they ought to be.

This is this morning’s result.



Five rounds, from the bench, at 50 feet. A nickel will cover four of the five; a quarter will cover the spread. I guess I didn’t drop the barrel this time around!

PS – Everything went downhill from here. Set up the Cannery Row (see in this Handgun forum, the Topic “Home, Home on the Range”, posting 4/1/10) and just did miserably.

4/8/11


This must be one of those nothing-better-to-do-than-post-to-MGO days!

I started posting to this topic a little over a year ago. About time to revitalize it.

I got my first Ruger .22 auto in 1962. My mom gave it to me, probably as a birthday present (yes, Virginia, they did celebrate birthdays in those days!).

My present Ruger is their 22/45.

Now, I’ve never been accused of being particularly swift on the up-take. However, I finally reached the conclusion that the Ruger triggers are a tad sloppy.

I did a little research on replacement triggers for the 22/45 and settled on the Volquartsen Target Trigger (you can take a peek at this at:
https://www.volquartsen.com/products/294-target-trigger-for-ruger-mkiimkiii

The trigger has both pretravel and overtravel adjustments.

So we made the change.



Shot the 22/45 with the new trigger yesterday (Thursday, 4/7). It was crisp. And I liked that. May have to play a bit with the pretravel and overtravel.

Downside? Still can’t hit the broad side of a barn!