Ruger SR22 Review 2022 [Best Pistol for Home Defense?]

The Ruger SR22 – accurate, compact, and an absolute delight to hold in your hands. But is this all that there is to this .22 handgun? You are about to find out in this detailed Ruger SR22 review guide.

Let’s get into it right now!

The Ruger SR22 is a .22 semi-automatic long-range handgun created by Sturm, Ruger & Co. It has a 3.5-inch stainless steel barrel finished with a black anodized slide. The slide holds the reinforced aluminum construction, while the frame includes a black polymer one.

What I like most about this gun is the fact that it’s an excellent choice for concealed carry. This is because it has a barrel length of just about 3.50 inches and an overall length of the gun of 6.40 inches. This gun can fit right into your waist belt or fanny pack and an added plus of it is that it only weighs 17 ounces, which really makes the Ruger SR22 a top-contender for your choice of a concealed carry.

Purpose of the Ruger SR22

The Ruger SR22 is the perfect ‘all-round’ gun. It combines a modern look and the ability to customize the pistol’s ergonomics, which in turn makes for the perfect pistol for target shooters or home defense enthusiasts.

The ease of use and simplicity of the SR22 make it the ideal pistol for the younger gun enthusiast to learn on

Customization

Being passionate about guns means that we are always trying to improve them here and there and have our eyes and ears open on what kind of customizations are out there that we can use for our guns.

The Ruger SR22 features a Picatinny rail that is great for holding flashlights, extra sights, and extra aiming gear.

Unfortunately, that is just about all the customization you can do on your Ruger SR22 and this is somewhat of a recurring theme for the majority of handguns from Sturm, Ruger & Co.

Notable Features

The material used to make the main grip frame of the Ruger is made from polymer blend – The perfect material for both resilience, a neat matte finish, and overall excellent performance and feel when handling this handgun.

It is extremely important to have a weapon that is durable on the inside and outside and this is why the barrel is made from stainless steel, while the slide is coated with aluminum. Combining those two elements makes the SR22 a contender for the title “most strong and resilient handgun”

Now that we’ve gone through what makes this gun great in terms of performance, let’s not forget to mention one other extremely important thing – the stylish appearance and comfortable experience

Once I got my hands on the SR22 a few things just stood up. It has a beautiful gloss on most parts and a matte frame. This is complemented by a matte and jet black outside, with a silver interior. The cherry on the top is the ergonomic design of the trigger that makes it a pleasure to fire.

The company creating this fine pistol really wanted to add value to it and the purchase comes with an extra magazine as well.

Moreover, the model of this gun is available in fifty different designs, giving you plenty of choices.

Disassembly

We’ve all had that one gun that is a nightmare to strip and clean – small bits and pieces, hard to disassemble and reassemble.

Luckily, that’s not the case with the Ruger SR22, which is made as simple to clean as possible. The engineers at Sturm, Ruger & Co put their heads together to come up with a handgun that you will need zero effort to maintain.

In order to disassemble this pistol, you need to drop the mag and lock the backslide which pushes the hammer out of the way

Then you snap the takedown switch to the six o’clock position which in turn, frees the slide.

When you pull the slide back and up, it lifts it away from the rails, and then you will easily slide forward to clear the barrel and have it completely removed – simple as that.

It has a steel barrel that makes cleaning extremely easy and removing residual gunpowder from this handgun takes a couple of minutes.

The interior of the weapon could easily be cleaned with a piece of cotton and ethanol applied to it.

Ergonomics

The Ruger SR22 is a very well balanced handgun. The frame is easy to hold and the trigger easy to fire, which is two of the most important things to look out for when buying a gun.

The grip of any handgun is also something that is really important and I was pleasantly surprised by how firm the grip felt in my hand. This is because the handle in the Ruger SR22 is made from a polymer blend, but more on this, below.

Overall, I try to stick to one important thing when considering purchasing a gun – how seamless and pleasant it is to shoot with.

This is especially true for this handpiece and the added benefit is that it’s an easy gun to fire from and one that can be carried as a concealed weapon. Think carefully, but I am sure that you are not going to find many other .22s that you can say the same for!

Field Performance

The first thing we need to say here is that the Ruger SR22 is best at single-action (SA) shooting and this is also clearly stated in the product’s intro.

This is clearly noticeable when you use it. The first shot feels almost natural and when you shoot the second shot you will feel that the trigger is relatively harder and more difficult to pull. The reason for this is to avoid accidental shooting but I have to say it’s rather discouraging.

The SR22 uses a three-dot sight system that you can fully adjust. The front sight is a fixed white-dot sight, while the rear sight is fully movable and the blade on the sights is reversible.

When you consider buying a handgun you should always look for one with adjustable sights.

Adjustable sights can help you change your field of vision and decide which position is best for shooting. Having the option to adjust those things will undoubtedly lead to better and more accurate shots.

Ruger SR22 Review – Final Words

If you have kept reading until the end, this means that you are a man that is looking for a handgun that is strong, portable, and most importantly – accurate. Hopefully, this Ruger SR22 review guide was informative enough for you to decide if it’s the right handgun for you. If you have any questions about this gun, leave them in the comments below!

Petko Minchev

A Bulgarian native law student, and a gun aficionado. I’ve graduated from a British International school and have successfully taken a number of Cambridge certificates such as PET, FCE, CAE, GSCE, IGCSE & IELTS. I found love in firearms early on in life when my father took me hunting for the first time. A few years later and an unknown number of rounds fired, I have the opportunity to combine my home defense & firearms expertise with the public.