All photos by the writer until in any other case famous
As a gun author in my seventh decade, I’m requested pretty steadily by my older acquaintances who’ve issues with arthritis about pistols which are simple to function. They’ve bother racking slides, so many have gone to carrying revolvers. I inform them they’ve choices. One possibility is likely one of the a number of “lite-rack” pistols made by Ruger, S&W, and others. An alternative choice is the Taurus 22TUC .22 pistol.
I suppose I might prevent, pricey reader, a number of time and conclude this assessment by including one sentence: “The 22TUC’s barrel flips up so you may load the chamber with out racking the slide”. There it’s, in a nutshell. However there’s extra to the gun than simply the barrel. Let’s have a look at it.
Flip-Up Barrel?
The thought of a pistol with a flip-up barrel is nothing new. Beretta makes them. There are 11 fashions within the .32ACP Tomcat collection and eight fashions within the .22LR Bobcat collection. I received’t argue concerning the effectiveness of carrying both of those calibers – that’s one other article. I’ll simply quote the outdated chestnut saying, higher to have a (.22, .32) with you than the 9mm or .45 in your bedside desk.
The latest, newest/biggest flip-up barrel pistol to come back alongside is the Girsan MC-14T .380. This bigger, 13+1-capacity gun appears a bit like one of many above Berettas after injections of development hormones. It simply appears like a Beretta. I’ll wager they promote a ton of them since I can’t appear to get one to assessment. Girsan weapons are made in Turkey and have an appropriate match and end, and those that I’ve had expertise with all labored as they had been speculated to… very dependable
So, if you’re arthritically challenged or are typically lazy like me, you might have choices. Select a .22, .32, or .380, and don’t look again. The smaller weapons every have an 8+1 capability, with the Girsan holding 13+1 as I mentioned above.
Taurus And The Flip-Up Barrel
The 22TUC will not be the primary flip-up barrel that Taurus has made. As soon as upon a time, I owned its predecessor, the PT-22. That little gun was like a cousin I’ve… actually fascinating, however with points. The gun carried out fairly properly for me, however on occasion it determined it needed break day so it give up feeding cartridges till I cleared it and switched the ammo model. It was extraordinarily ammo-sensitive. I’ve seen on-line video evaluations about this pistol that substantiated my expertise.
Two issues that my eye was drawn to when it comes to variations between the older and newer fashions are the plain frame-mounted security on the unique and the angular strains of the newer one. The PT-22 tends to be rounder, whereas the 22TUC has sharper angles and no thumb security. The sights are improved on the newer mannequin, as properly.
The big orange “sq. dot” is straightforward to see
Caliber 22 LR
Capability 9 Rounds (one 8-round journal included)
Entrance Sight Mounted (Orange Dot)
Rear Sight Mounted
Body Measurement Microcompact
Barrel Size 2.50 In.
General Size 5.00 In.
General Peak 4.35 In.
General Width 1.00 In.
General Weight 10.00 Oz. (Unloaded)
Motion Kind DAO, uncovered hammer
Twist Price 1:10-Inch RH Twist
Grooves 6
Body Materials Polymer
Body End Black
Slide Materials Stainless Metal
Slide End Matte Stainless
Barrel Materials Stainless Metal
Barrel End Matte Stainless
The place To Purchase
Why Would I Need One Of These?
Once I owned that PT-22 a number of years in the past, I found that it was excellent for sticking in a pocket holster when one thing like mild summer time shorts was worn. Let’s face it… in summery, light-weight shorts even a standard pocket-blaster .380 goes to weigh round a pound or extra and might be noticeable in a holster in your pocket, or worse but drag your shorts down. This tiny 10-ounce tip-up is not going to pull in your pocket and might be extra simply carried in light-weight shorts. Even absolutely loaded, it doesn’t fairly hit 12 ounces.
I received’t go into the suitability of .22LR as a protection spherical… as I mentioned above, the primary rule of a gunfight is to have a gun. For those who have a tendency to depart your bigger-boomers house since you don’t need to need to“strap up”, then perhaps one thing like this little man is indicated.
Right here’s one more reason to personal a gun like this. In case you are a reasonably regular reader of my evaluations and have ever examine my travails with our hen coop, then you know the way we wrestle with predators. We have a tendency to draw them. So far, we’ve had: 4 possums, 2 raccoons, one weasel, one hawk, one HUGE nice horned owl, and two,,, not one, however two… juvenile bald eagles get into the coop and do bodily hurt to our egg-layers. It occurs so usually that I maintain a .22 pistol and light-weight useful to dispatch no matter fauna has determined that uncooked hen was on the menu for that night time. (Aside from the federally protected species, after all. We simply scare them away with threats of bodily hurt).
This small, unobtrusive rimfire with its vibrant orange entrance sight marking is ideal for this use. I can maintain it prepared, with a full journal however nothing within the chamber. With its barrel open and up, I can stick a .22 cartridge in it, press the barrel down, and be prepared faster than a chubby child can bounce on a Twinky. Typically, time is of the essence – predators have a tendency to not stick round – and this gun would assist there, as it’s actually fast to get into motion from a secure situation. At across-the-coop vary, it might be lethal on possums and coons.
But one more reason to stay this gun in your pocket is what I name stump-kickin’ time. Dwelling within the woods as we do, with one in every of our sons and his household simply throughout the ridge from us, we are inclined to wander these woods infrequently. The 22TUC is at house on these little jaunts. You by no means know what you’re going to run into in our woods.
It’s not precisely the African bush, however we do have coyotes, bobcats, and even a mountain lion with a awful sense of path in our rapid space. (How can a mountain lion have a awful sense of path? He clearly hasn’t learn his territory boundaries and didn’t know that Indiana was not a part of it. However, he ran by means of our yard and has additionally been noticed by native legislation enforcement so we all know he’s right here). Although these critters actually don’t need to be chummy with people, I’d hate to shock one whereas it was consuming. It could not finish properly. Being armed is an effective factor, in our woods. At the very least we’ve no bears…
How Did It Shoot?
If you take a brief, stubby, featherweight .22 pistol to your taking pictures bench, you abandon nice expectations – you may’t take accuracy outcomes too significantly. So, with that thought in thoughts, I proceeded to unload the journal a number of instances downrange. I put targets up at 10 yards – that’s beneficiant, given the character of this little beast – and gathered a small assortment of .22 ammo. What helped, once I shot this gun, is its sights. The entrance is visibly orange and the rear is extensive sufficient however not too extensive. The entrance sight facilities itself in a short time and simply within the rear.
After I shot it pretty extensively, I’m relieved to have the ability to report that, with ammo that it likes, it ran like a champ. I had simply two failures to feed – not unhealthy contemplating how a lot I shot it. With extra experimentation, I’d discover a model of ammo that may give me 100% reliability – I’m not apprehensive about that. Ammo pickiness is nothing new to .22LR shooters – most weapons have a choice for one or two manufacturers of ammo that they do properly with.
Anyway, here’s a goal. I put three totally different masses onto this one goal – frugal is the phrase that involves thoughts.
The decrease left quadrant was shot by Norma TAC-22 (most photographs had been simply off the goal to the left); higher center is Aguila 40-grain, and proper is Fiocchi Vary Dynamics 40-grain. As I mentioned above, this gun might be good at chicken-coop-range.
If I had extra time and wasn’t recovering from a nasty fall I had a pair months in the past, I’d attempt to wring better accuracy out of the gun by attempting an entire lot of various masses. I do know it’ll do higher than this – its predecessor did. I acknowledged above about not having nice expectations the place accuracy was involved, however this may do in a “get-off-me” state of affairs.
Being a DAO pistol, the set off pull is lengthy and pretty stiff nevertheless it’s nothing you couldn’t get used to.
Summing Up
Let’s face it – the 22TUC will not be going to offer bullseye (or some other kind of competitors) shooters sleepless nights, dreading having to shoot in opposition to it. It was not designed for that function. Its purpose for being, its raison d’être, is as a close-in, last-ditch stomach gun. The opposite makes use of I discussed above are icing on the cake.
The tip-up barrel signifies that extra shooters will have the ability to use it since no slide-racking is required. So, if you’re like me and have arms that harm due to a go to by your Uncle Arthur(itis), then you definitely would possibly need to give this pistol a glance. For underneath $350, you get a decently constructed and accurate-for-its-purpose semiauto pistol that requires no slide racking. (Press checks are a distinct story. At the very least with this gun, you don’t want to do this… simply flip the barrel open and see if the outlet nonetheless goes all through, or if there’s a cartridge in the way in which…).
I do sincerely hope that the second model of the Taurus flip-open-barrel rimfire pistol seems to be a serious league winner. I like the texture of it in my hand and the good sights. Not like its predecessor, it has no thumb security. I do know, a lot of you want safeties – you’ll get no arguments from me, I see your level. But it surely works, in all fairness correct, and would match very properly in a pocket holster. One other level is that it does get observed on the vary – that flip-up barrel is fashionable. You would possibly need to examine one out at your native Taurus seller.
At a real-world value of underneath $300, it’s a bargain-in-the-making!
