Why are there no striker-fired .22lr pistols?

simonrichter

New member
it just occurred to me that apart from the several different Glock 22lr conversions, there are no striker-fired .22lr pistols I am aware of. Is that maybe because striker-fired ones lack the second-strike-capacity which is very desirable especially for .22lr? (yet, there are many single-action-only 22lr pistols as well)
 

IdahoG36

New member
There are many striker fired .22lr pistols available. In no particular order- Browning Buckmark, Ruger Mk series, High Standard models, S&W Model 41, Sig Trailside, S&W M&P 22, Walther SP22, Walther PPQ .22, Beretta Neos, several Colt .22's, etc. That's not even scratching the surface. There are tons of options available.
 

RX-79G

Moderator
The Buckmark and Ruger have hammers, as do many others you guys are listing. They are internal.

Strikers generally fight the recoil spring on chambering, which is a problem if the mainspring is really light, like on a .22. Hammers do not.
 

g.willikers

New member
It's probably easier to get good rimfire primer strikes with the hammer and mainspring design.
Yeah, a lot of those mentioned are hammer type guns.
Just can't see them without taking them apart.
 

marine6680

New member
Yeah... Most 22s have hammers, they are internal and out of sight.

The M&P 22 is even a hammer fired I believe.


The neos is a striker, I watched some disassembly videos. I liked its ease of disassembly, but dry firing one in store left me flat with the trigger. But the design looked solid.
 

Jim Watson

New member
The old High Standard Duramatic and Colt Cadet are striker fired.
The Galesi and at least one Bernardelli, too.
I don't guess you would count a Hammerli free pistol, being that it is a single shot.
 

ballardw

New member
I would think the question about no 22LR double stack magazine pistols. The Grendel P-30 and Kel-Tec PMR-30 manage with 22 WMR.
 

44 AMP

Staff
.22 Lugers are striker fired.

Also don't confuse the lack of a visible hammer with striker fired. Many of the guns that LOOK like striker fired guns actually have an internal hammer, and so are not striker fired guns.

I can so no advantage to a second strike capability in a rimfire pistol, and very little use to one in a center fire one.

My experience in the past half century is that if rimfire rounds don't fire, it is most often because there is no (or not enough to fire) priming compound inside the rim, where the firing pin hits it. Most "dud" .22 will fire when struck again, in a different spot on the rim. A "second strike" in the same spot as the first is unlikely to do any good.

In a center fire pistol, a second strike may be of some use, if the reason for failure to fire is an improperly seated primer. But if the reason is something else, its not likely to do anything more than go "click", again.

If YOU think second strike is important, by all means, get a gun that can do that. For me, its not a feature that matters.
 

IdahoG36

New member
Apologies for post #6. I was awake for about 18 hours at that point, and was reading some of the threads here. Totally forgot that many of the models I listed do indeed have internal hammers.:eek::eek:

I was thinking of them in terms of traditional pistols, where you either have an external hammer SA, SA/DA or DAO, or striker fired. So I then started listing many .22lr pistols that I knew had no external hammers haha.
 

ballardw

New member
The only rimfire pistol I've had excessive misfires, ie about 4 of 10 rounds, was a Grendel P30. Since the firing pin strikes were at multiple angles on the brass I concluded the firing pin was broke.

It was. Installed a hopefully better built replaces and no FTF since.
 

8MM Mauser

New member
um? ruger 22/45 and standard/MK series.

The Ruger MK series are NOT striker fired. They fire from an internal hammer. I have quite successfully broken them down into individual parts now and I can assure you a hammer is involved. I imagine the 22/45 pistols are the same way, but I have never so much as touched one so I can't say so with any real certainty.

See this page over at Midway. Ruger MK series schematic

It is part 43 in this diagram:

17-rugmk2.jpg
 
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