.22 Revolvers Should Not be Overlooked by Gun Owners!

AmmoLand ^ | January 8, 2023 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Semi-automatic pistols have come to dominate the handgun market in the United States of America. In 2021, 6,751,919 pistols were manufactured in the USA. Those numbers include single shots, double-barreled, and bolt action pistols, but the vast majority of them are semi-automatics. There were 1,159,918 revolvers manufactured in the United States. The majority of the revolvers were .22 caliber.

The ATF reports 737,374 pistols of .22 or smaller caliber were manufactured in the USA in 2021. The same report says 781,246 revolvers of .22 or smaller caliber were manufactured in the United States in 2021. 2021 is the last year in which individual manufacturing numbers have been reported to the public by the ATF. .22 caliber revolvers are holding their own in competition with semi-autos.

Here are the companies that are making .22 revolvers in the USA and the number they reported making in 2021.

1. Heritage Manufacturing Inc., 100 Taurus Way, Bainbridge, Georgia. This wholly owned division of Taurus, USA,  makes the revolvers in the large, new Taurus manufacturing facility in Bainbridge. In 2021 they reported making 491,882 .22 caliber revolvers.
2. Sturm Ruger & Company, Inc., 529 Sunapee St., Newport, New Hampshire. Ruger, seeing how successful the Heritage line has been, has brought out some competition with their Wrangler revolver. Ruger has a complete line of quality .22 revolvers from the LCR in .22 to the GP100 to the new version of the Single-Six, the Single-Ten.  In 2021, Ruger reported making 209,258 .22 caliber revolvers.
3. North American Arms Inc., 2150 S 950 E, Provo Utah. The mini-revolver is offered in many variations by this long-term revolver manufacturer. They reported producing 57,142 .22 caliber revolvers in 2021.
4. Standard Manufacturing Co. LLC, 100 Burrett St., New Britain, CT. The company has increased its presence in the revolver market with a five-shot .22 mini-revolver.

[marktwain]

More .22 revolvers are made in the USA than semi-automatic .22 handguns. Most of the revolvers made in the USA are .22 rimfire. Surprisingly, Smith & Wesson only made 10,300 .22 revolvers in 2021.

[riverrunner]

I have shot many tens of thousands of rounds .of 22 through revolvers and semi-autos.

They are very fun, useful and a delight to use and own.

[spincaster]

I have both and enjoy shooting them.

[unread]

.22 revolver, nice for sub-sonic ammo.

[atc23]

No matter who the “star” of range day is, whether its the SW 637, 686 Uberti 45’s or whatever - the Heritage .22 always goes too. Very fun to shoot and cheap ammo - the granddaughters love it as well

[bert]

One wonders, what caliber is smaller than .22?

My Ruger revolver is .22 caliber

[Dutch Boy]

There are some pistols in 17 HMR. It looks like both revolver and semi-auto.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I’m rather fond of my Ruger MKII semi-auto. Larger capacity and it looks sexy.

[T.B. Yoits]

Be forewarned that the manufacturers' lawyers appear to have ordered them to make .22 revolvers with very high weight trigger pulls.

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/gun-review-ruger-lcrx-3-22-lr-revolver/

[snoringbear]

Agree. Have the stainless bull barrel. Everyone in the fam loves to shoot it.

[metmom]

I’m regularly seeing signs for jobs at Ruger posted around the area.

[JimDaniels1867]

I have put one of these kits in all my S&W revolvers. Well worth the price and time. https://tkcustom.com/collections/revolver-spring-kits

[T.B. Yoits]

Thank you for the link to the trigger kits (Post 12).

[AppyPappy]

There were two people killed on my street growing up and both were killed by a .22

[Migraine]

Those MK IIs are fantastic.

[Disambiguator]

I just looked at Ruger’s website to see what kind of Single-Sixes they offer.

MSRPs are around $900! Used to be a Single-Six was a pretty affordable piece.

The Alaskans are $1500. Those have always been pricey, though. Griz protection doesn’t come cheap.

[telescope115]

If I was to buy another handgun, it would probably be one of these.
I like some of the features on these, and the longer barrel on the NA Arms version. One more round in these.

[Lurker]

I’ve got an old Hi Standard 10 shot .22 revolver in my Get Home Bag.

L

[Texas resident]

I have a Heritage .22 revolver. When I bought it the price was somewhere around $160. Cool part is that when you cock this thing, it makes 4 clicks like the firearms in the old western movies.

[CA_soon_gone]

One problem. You can get a useable .22 semi for around $200 (Kel-Tec P-17) where the cheapest carry sized revolvers are almost twice that.