Although reliability is crucial for firearms, certain models often find themselves at the heart of debates due to malfunctions or subpar performance. This does not exclude the .22LR caliber, which is often praised for its affordability and recreational use, but is not immune to such issues. As a military affairs editor, my responsibility is to provide an unbiased examination of these firearms, highlighting the potential drawbacks that have sparked such discussions.
There is an entire well-written article by Christian D. Orr, himself an accomplished marksman and serving as defense editor at that time, who looks deeper into the issue by analyzing various .22LR handguns notorious for being anything but reliable. It shows the credibility right from his personal experience through testimonies of others in the discipline.
One of the guns under scrutiny is the Davis Industries D-22 Derringer, a weapon that symbolizes flawed design and lousy materials, according to Cope Reynolds of Southwest Shooting Authority. Orr raises the facts that account for the derringers’ flaws: they’re inaccurate, not very ergonomic, and minimally equipped with a two-shot capacity.
Joining the ranks is the Jennings J-22 and its successor of poor reliability, the Bryco Arms. In “The Rimfire Report” series provides a damning assessment, stating, “Overall, I would rate its reliability as poor. With that many types of malfunctions regardless of ammunition type, it’s honestly not very good at all and a huge red flag for any sort of defensive-oriented pistol.”
Yet, even the prestigious Glock brand name is burdened with the G44, according to Orr—who describes it as a gun ravaged by issues of reliability, saying that his colleagues have aired their complaints to him, and he has had hands-on experience with the said issues. “I’ve seen and heard more complaints about reliability issues with G44 than any other product offering from that company,” he laments.
But neither will the Browning Buck Mark walk on water. Orr tells of his misadventure with a well-worn rental model at a range: feed jams, failures to fire, lost rounds galore; finally, he traded it in for a Taurus 942 revolver.
Accuracy was a little better with the Taurus 942, still yielding a 20 percent failure rate because of misfires both in double-action and single-action modes. Orr relates his experience quite candidly, underscoring a point: Reliability is paramount, even in rimfire guns.
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