Top Five .22 LR Pistols

Beretta Model U22 Neos Semi Auto Handgun

U22 Neos, has the distinct design, which can be best described as strange. Often mistaken as prop from sets of sci-fi movie, U22 neos is a solid plinker from the beretta stable.  U22 neos comes with a 10 round magazines and features ambidextrous safety and top rail for optics. the rake angle on the grip might give an impression that it would take time to adjust to this pistol, but it doesn't. U22 neos, like all plinking handguns is lot of fun to shoot. The retail price of U22 Neos is round $250, making it a good pistol to explore the sport of precision pistol shooting.  

Ruger Model 22/45 Semi Auto Handgun

Ruger 22/45 comes from the same pedigree of the Ruger MkI/II/III pistols with a twist, it has the feel and same control locations of a 1911. Ruger22/45 has the same renowned precision as the mark III pistols, with aluminium action on a polymer frame and retails for about $300.    

S&W Model 22A Rimfire Handgun

Smith ans wesson 22A is a contemporary of the beretta u22 Neos, and treads on the similar look and feel, but slightly humble on the sci-fi appearance. It's a light weight, long barrel plinkster featuring 10 round magazines, top mounted rail for optics, One of the advantage over the U22 Neos is the ambidextrous mag release.  The aluminium alloy and steel construction 22A retails between $280 to $320 making it a serious contender in the .22LR pistol world.

Ruger SR22 Semi Auto Handgun

Sr22 is a single action/double action offering from ruger, featuring 3.5 inch barrel, 10 round magazine and adjustable sights. It draws from the same ruger reliability and precision. Light weight aluminium on polymer construction with a price tag of $330 makes it a good buy. 

SIG Sauer Mosquito Semi Automatic Pistol

Sig sauer fans will remain Sig sauer fans! And there is a good reason for that, the quality, precision, reliability of Sig's line of products have remained unmatched and this little offering from them is no different. Mosquito features slide mounted ambidextrous safety, polymer frame, internal locking device and integrated frame rail for mounting lights or laser. Sig Mosquito retails for about $330 to $360. 

Honorable Mentions 

Ruger Mark III Standard Semi Automatic Handgun

S&W Model M&P 22 Semi Automatic Handgun

Chiappa Firearms 1911-22 Semi-Automatic Handgun

Chiappa M9-22 Semi Auto Handgun

Bersa Thunder 22 Semi Auto Handgun

MP-443 Grach/Yarygin Pistol

MP-443 Grach/Yarygin Pistol

MP-443 Grach (Russian: Грач, "Rook"), is the latest Russian standard military-issue side arm. It was developed in response to Russian military trials, which began in 1993. In 2003, it was adopted as a standard sidearm for all branches of Russian military and law enforcement, alongside GSh-18 and SPS.

Viking variant

GSh-18

The pistol's name is derived from its designers—Gryazev and Shipunov, and the number 18 denotes the magazine capacity. It is also designed to fire the new Russian 9x19mm 7N21 and 7N31 (Cyrillic: 7Н21 and 7Н31) +P+ armor-piercing rounds.

Smith and Wesson M&P series

Smith and Wesson M&P series

The Smith & Wesson M&P (Military and Police) is a polymer-framed, short recoil operated, locked breech semi-automatic pistol introduced in the summer of 2005 by the American company Smith & Wesson. It uses a Browning-type locking system. While targeted at law enforcement agencies, the M&P is also available on the commercial market.


Smith & Wesson M&P9L Pro Series C.O.R.E.

Caliber:     9mm
Capacity:     17+1 Rounds
Action:     Striker Fire (Double Action)

For more info
http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Category3_750001_750051_757781_-1_Y]M&P Handguns - Smith & Wesson

CZ 52

CZ 52

CZ 52 remained one of the most popular Western bloc sidearms for law enforcement and military alike for a very long time. These days occasionally you do find a few CZ-52 as surplus pistols in gun stores. The 7.62 x 25 Tokarev round does pack a punch and also contributes to an entertaining muzzle flash.

The CZ 52 utilizes a fairly uncommon short recoil operating system in which two vertical rollers are used to lock the barrel and slide together, via a cam block. This is similar to the system used in the German MG 42 machine gun, which itself hearkens back to a Polish patent of the 1930s. This arrangement results in an unusually strong lockup which, conventional wisdom holds, allowed the Czechs to load ammunition for it to higher pressure levels (and therefore, higher velocity and energy) than compatible ammunition manufactured in other Warsaw Pact countries. This oft recited "fact" is, however, debatable. The bottom of the CZ 52 chamber measures 0.058", whereas the supposedly weaker TT33 Tokarev pistol measures 0.125" at the bottom of the chamber.

Steckin Pistol auto

Steckin Pistol auto

The Stechkin pistol was originally chambered for 7.62×25mm Tokarev. Stechkin changed the pistol to the 9 mm caliber used in the new Makarov pistol (PM), as it became clear that this cartridge was set to become the new service ammunition for handguns of the Soviet Army. In 1951, both the Makarov and Stechkin were introduced into the Soviet military arsenal, replacing the aging Tokarev TT-33. They have little in common except for the simple unlocked blow-back mechanism.
In contrast to the Makarov, the Stechkin APS has an automatic fire mode, which is selected using the safety lever. In burst or automatic fire, the pistol should be fitted with the wooden or metal shoulder stock; otherwise, the weapon becomes difficult to control.

Makarov pistol/ PM ( Pistolet Makarova)

Makarov pistol/ PM ( Pistolet Makarova)

Semi auto, firing the 9x18mm Makarov,  resulted from a design competition for replacing the Tokarev TT-33 semi-automatic pistol and the Nagant M1895 revolver.[2] Rather than building a pistol to an existing cartridge in the Soviet inventory, Nikolai Makarov utilized the 9x18mm Makarov cartridge designed by B.V. Semin in 1946. For simplicity and economy, the Makarov pistol was of straight blowback operation, with the 9x18mm Makarov cartridge being the most powerful cartridge it could safely fire. Although the nominal calibre was 9.0mm, the actual bullet was 9.22mm in diameter, being shorter and wider and thus incompatible with pistols chambered for 9x19mm Parabellum cartridges. Consequently, Soviet ammunition was unusable in NATO firearms and, in the event of war, NATO forces would be unable to use ammunition from Soviet sources.

TT pistol/TT33

TT pistol/TT33

This 7.62 X 25 Tokarev, Semi auto handgun, is very similar to John Browning's blowback operated FN Model 1903 automatic pistol, and internally it uses Browning's short recoil dropping-barrel system from the M1911. In other areas the TT-33 differs more from Browning's designs - It employs a much simpler hammer/sear assembly than the M1911, with an external hammer. This assembly is removable from the weapon as a modular unit and includes cartridge guides that provide reliable functioning. The Soviet engineers also added several other features such as locking lugs all around the barrel (not just on top), and made several alterations to make the mechanism easier to produce and maintain, notably a captive recoil spring secured to the guide rod which does not depend on the barrel bushing to hold it under tension. Production even machined the magazine feed lips into the receiver to prevent damage and misfeeds when a distorted magazine was loaded into the magazine well.

Keltec PMR 30

Keltec PMR 30

Very interesting little gun, but then again, most things made by keltec are either quirky or interesting. This pistol is chambered in .22 magnum and has a hybrid blowback locked bolt mixed kind of action. Now most people are skeptical of the 9mm, wouldn't let .22 magnum ever stand a chance to down a human size target in one shot. Now thats where the PMR 30 shines, this pistol chambers 30 ROUNDS! hence even if your target doesn't drop by a tiny .22 wound, you still have 29 more almost recoil-less followup round to put down your target.

The CZ-75 Family, cousins and relatives.

The CZ-75 Family, cousins and relatives.

The CZ 75- The BOSS

The CZ 75 is a semi-automatic pistol made by Česká zbrojovka Uherský Brod (CZUB) in the Czech Republic. First introduced in 1975, it is one of the original "wonder nines" featuring a staggered-column magazine, all-steel construction, and a hammer forged barrel. It has a good reputation amongst pistol shooters for quality and versatility at a reasonable price, and is widely distributed throughout the world. It is also the most common gun in the Czech Republic

The Italian Connection

Tanfoglio TZ-75
Due to politics the Czechs could not market their pistol in the United States and because CZ failed to secure world patent protection for their design, a number of firms copied it. Foremost Italian firm Fratelli Tanfoglio made good business marketing the pistol to the West with the design being so solid, that two shooters, US national Doug Koenig and Frenchman Eric Grauffel, have won the hard fought IPSC World Championship using pistols based on CZ 75 design. That was tremendous endorsement for any handgun design because all other World Champions up to the time had used pistols based on the John Browning 1911 format.

Tanfoglio TZ 75

The Israeli Baby Eagle / Jericho 941

The original Jericho 941 was based on the well-respected CZ-75 pistol designed and produced by Česká zbrojovka (CZ) of the Czech Republic and built using parts supplied by the Italian arms house Tanfoglio, which had been making their own CZ-75 clones. Using a well-tested design allowed IMI to avoid the teething problems most new pistol designs experience, and subcontracting much of the basic fabrication work to Tanfoglio allowed IMI to quickly and economically put into production a pistol that would have enough Israeli content to satisfy government contract requirements.

The Turkish Relative SAR - K12

Based on the classic CZ-75 pattern, which has to be the most copied pistol design in the world, these are hefty, accurate pistols. Essentially this is a new generation steel framed CZ clone with extreme reliability.

Magnum research - Baby Eagle

Closely based on the Israeli Jericho, Magnum Research Baby eagle derives it's fame from it's parent companies big bore sibling the Desert Eagle although there is no similarity between the two.

New gen CZ 75 SP-01 Poly frame

Beretta 92/M9

The Beretta 92 (also Beretta 96 and Beretta 98) is a series of semi-automatic pistols designed and manufactured by Beretta of Italy. The model 92 was designed in 1972 and production of many variants in different calibers continues today. The United States Armed Forces replaced the Model 1911A1 .45 ACP pistol in 1985 with the military spec Beretta 92F, the M9.
Although only 5,000 copies of the original design were manufactured from 1975 to 1976, the design is currently produced in four different configurations (FS, G, D and DS) and four calibers:
92 series in 9×19mm Parabellum
96 series in .40 S&W
98 series in 9×21mm IMI
98 and 99 series in 7.65mm Luger

Taurus Clone PT92

Glock family

Glock family

The Glock pistol, sometimes referred to by the manufacturer as Glock "Safe Action" Pistol, is a series of semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Glock Ges.m.b.H., located in Deutsch-Wagram, Austria. The company's founder, engineer Gaston Glock, had no experience with firearm design or manufacture at the time their first pistol, the Glock 17, was being prototyped. Glock did, however, have extensive experience in advanced synthetic polymers, knowledge of which was instrumental in the company's design of the first successful line of pistols with a polymer frame. Glock introduced ferritic nitrocarburizing into the firearms industry as an anti-corrosion surface treatment for metal gun parts

Calibers:
9×19mm Parabellum
10mm Auto
.45 ACP
.40 S&W
.380 ACP
.357 SIG
.45 GAP

Glock 17 9mm

Glock 22 .40 S&W

Glock 20 10mm

Glock 37 45GAP

M1911

1911/ M1911,

Popular caliber: 45 ACP

Designer : John Moses Browning

Action Type: Single action Semi Auto

The M1911 pistol originated in the late 1890s as the result of a search for a suitable self-loading (or semi-automatic) handgun to replace the variety of revolvers then in service.The United States was adopting new firearms at a phenomenal rate; several new handguns and two all-new service rifles (the M1892/96/98 Krag and M1895 Navy Lee), as well as a series of revolvers by Colt and Smith & Wesson for the Army and Navy, were adopted just in that decade.

Of the six designs submitted of 1906 trials of pistols from six firearms manufacturing companies (namely, Colt, Bergmann, Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM), Savage Arms Company, Knoble, Webley, and White-Merril; three were eliminated early on, leaving only the Savage, Colt, and DWM designs chambered in the new .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) cartridge. These three still had issues that needed correction, but only Colt and Savage resubmitted their designs. There is some debate over the reasons for DWM's withdrawal—some say they felt there was bias and that the DWM design was being used primarily as a "whipping boy" for the Savage and Colt pistols, though this does not fit well with the earlier 1900 purchase of the DWM design over the Colt and Steyr entries. In any case, a series of field tests from 1907 to 1911 were held to decide between the Savage and Colt designs.Both designs were improved between each testing over their initial entries, leading up to the final test before adoption.
Among the areas of success for the Colt was a test at the end of 1910 attended by its designer, John Browning. Six thousand rounds were fired from a single pistol over the course of two days. When the gun began to grow hot, it was simply immersed in water to cool it. The Colt gun passed with no reported malfunctions, while the Savage designs had 37.