First Look: Ruger 22/45 Threaded Barrel

First Impressions

I'm planning to go through the process this year of buying a suppressor.  I had pretty much planned on getting a Walther P22, based on a friend's positive experience with one, and shooting his with his can a few times.  When we were at the range shooting the Thompson over Christmas, I showed the Walther to my wife, and we also looked at the Ruger 22/45.  The Ruger felt better to both of us.

I'm a long time aficionado of the 1911, having owned at least five or six of them over the years, and I had a MKII 22/45 back when they first came out and were a one piece frame.  The new ones have removable grips that are slightly different than a standard 1911, but look like any of your custom grips could modified to fit if you were so inclined.  It is available with no sights, and a rail on top and bottom.  I got the version (Model 10150) with fixed sights, and is drilled and tapped for a rail on top.

Having decided on the one I wanted, I had my friend, Tim at Battleware Technology, order it for me.  It arrived right before he left for SHOT Show, but I could not get by there to do the paperwork.  I went last Monday afternoon and filled out my 4473 and the state InstaCheck form.  Nothing Monday.  Nothing Tuesday.  Nothing as of Wednesday mid-day.  My delays have been taking longer and longer over the years  I emailed the state police (Virginia does not use the FBI Brady check, they do it internally) to inquire.  I quickly received a reply saying that I had been approved, and that my delay was because of a false positive from some database, and "if they just had more funding from the legislature, they could hire more people to follow up on such events and get people cleared quicker."  Nice sob story from the civil servant, but enough about that, back to the gun itself.

I was finally able to get by there yesterday evening and picked it up.  It was Cub Scouts night, so by the time I got home, it was too late to mess around with it.

This evening, there was still a touch of light out when I got home, so with a quick safety check of the pistol, I loaded up CCI Stingers into the two 10-round magazines that it came with, and went out back to function test it.  I put five slow fire rounds through, then finished off that mag with fairly quick fire.  My second mag went with all 10 rounds as fast as I could pull the trigger.  Not a problem with any of it.  It functioned flawlessly.  I have no idea about the accuracy, as by then it was dark, and I just shot at a large tree a few feet away.

So, here are the Pros:

• it truly does have the grip feel of a 1911
• even with the alloy frame, it has a very nice heft and balance - the bull barrel really feels right
• the fit and finish are very nice, with just a couple marks from the molding of the Zytel-Polymer frame
• the rear sight appears very sturdy, and is drift adjustable
• the front sight is screwed on and also seems sturdy - both look like they'll be high enough to use with a suppressor
• came with two magazines
• a tremendous reputation for reliability in a proven platform

Things I don't particularly care for, but are just a part of the gun"

• the loaded chamber indicator - a silly feature designed by lawyers
• magazine disconnect safety - another silly feature designed by lawyers, and a big difference from the 1911
• the magazine does not drop free when released - not a huge deal since it is not a combat weapon, but can be annoying

The Con ---- the only disappointment with this gun was that one of the magazines has some rust on it... not a lot, but a little surface "rust dust" and a spec of hard rust about the size of the tip of a ball point pin. It's as if the guy who test fired it (just this past November) had sweaty hands when he put the mag back in the box.  It's not a big deal, and the mag functioned fine, just disappointing that they would let it slip through quality control .  I'm going to let Ruger know about it so they can watch for it in the future.

Soon I'll be doing a comparison test matching my Ruger up to my friend's Walther, both with a suppressor.  I'll do a video review for the If It Hits The Fan YouTube channel, and I'm writing an article on the test for a survival magazine.


 (not mine - from APD Firearms)