The accurized .22 pistol is one of the greatest game-getters on the planet. What’s a “game-getter” you might ask? Well, it is a firearm that puts food on your table. Traditionally, these are .22 rifles, but when you travel further into the backwoods, the weight of a rifle and the space it occupies may discourage you from carrying one. I’ve adopted the .22 pistol over the years as a compromise.
Accurized .22 pistols can take small game at reasonable distances, and they can be transported easily with less of a burden than a rifle. A rimfire pistol with an attached suppressor is a smart combination, and when an integrated suppressor is available, it is foolish not to upgrade.
The .22 pistol featured in this blog is built up for backcountry performance, utilizing the best components on the market.
The Base Pistol
The .22/45 Tactical is a great pistol in its own right, with multiple models available for different shooter needs.
My concern with the pistol, stock keeping unit 40149, is the weight. Since this pistol would be carried in a pack, and we all know the adage “ounces become pounds and pounds become pain,” I wanted to lighten the load and keep its slimmer profile without a series of rails and add-ons.
From the factory, the complete pistol weighs 32.95 ounces, with 22.93 ounces being the weight of the upper alone. 69.5 % of the weight of the pistol is in the upper, which makes it the natural starting point to cut weight.
Tactical Solutions Replacement Upper
There is something oddly satisfying about having a .22 pistol that is integrally suppressed. There isn’t a need for a threaded barrel or an overly long profile.
The TSS Pac-Lite IV upper from Tactical Solutions measures 12.75 inches overall in length and weighs only 12 oz. without a bolt. It is designed to fit perfectly on a 22/45 lower with no modification necessary. The rate of twist is 1:16 inches, and the diameter of the barrel is only one inch.
This barrel creates considerably less noise using standard velocity ammunition than high velocity ammunition. The fiber-optic front-sight is easy to pick up against the solid black rear notch in low-light conditions. Even though the upper is drilled and tapped for additional mounts and optics, I wanted to keep this iron-sights only for the time being to keep the weight and bulk down.
The TSS upper features an aluminum body with titanium baffles. Swapping out the factory upper for the TSS from Tactical Solutions cuts the weight of the upper by approximately 24.4%. Pair this weight reduction with sound suppression, and you have two very good reasons to upgrade.
Volquartsen Parts
When a good opportunity presents itself, you’d be a fool not to take it. Scott Volquartsen offered to provide a 22/45 Accurizing Parts Kit and an install; I didn’t turn it down.
The 22/45 isn’t impossible to work on, but it can be challenging. The team at Volquartsen knows their parts and has installed countless kits. For anyone not fortunate enough to have Volquartsen provide the install, I’d recommend watching YouTuber Don Sootch’s install video, which is easy to follow with great video angles.
The Volquartsen Accurizing Kit eliminates the magazine disconnect, which could be life-saving for a survival .22 pistol, should a magazine be lost in an emergency scenario.
The parts combined produce a very crisp trigger press that has adjustable pre-travel and over-travel. The difference in the trigger before and after the parts kit install is night and day, with the kit causing a chuckle the first time the pistol was dry fired.
One of the components sent over from Volquartsen is their Competition Bolt. This bolt, like all VQ products, was designed for performance. The advantages it offers over the factory bolt include a superior DLC finish, an extended bolt racker for easier manual cycling, a VQ Exact Edge extractor, and a Surestrike firing pin for greater reliability.
Volquartsen is THE name for high-performance .22s, and their parts are used in many custom gun shops. Adding VQ parts to this build was a no-brainer, and the reliability they provide gives me confidence to carry this pistol into the field where it may be needed to put food on the table in a worst-case scenario.
When I started this project, I intended to cut weight, and with these performance parts, I did. The starting weight of the pistol from the factory was 32.98 ounces. When all the parts were swapped out and the upper replaced, the ending weight became 27.20 ounces. If you are not mathematically inclined, that is a weight reduction of approximately 17.5 %.
Weight alone isn’t the only factor, so I took it to the range and ran boxes and boxes of ammo through it.
Performance
For testing and evaluation of this pistol, I used multiple .22LR loads from Ammunition Depot.
40 gr CCI Subsonic round nose, 32 gr CCI Uppercut, and 29 gr Federal Punch Flat Nose were used and tested for accuracy, with Uppercut being the most accurate out of the bunch.
CCI Subsonic chronographed 901.8 feet per second, CCI Uppercut was 1080.1 feet per second, and Federal Punch came in at 1236.2 feet per second.
Accuracy
As a control subject, I packed my decade-old Tactical Solutions X-Ring rifle to compare the pistol against.
While the rifle was more accurate due to the longer sight radius, the pistol was incredibly accurate as the sight radius isn’t much less than the control subject.
Using the custom 22/45 from a kneeling position, I was able to keep a full magazine routinely in a group about 1.5 inches wide. The pistol is easily minute-of-squirrel with precise aiming.
Sound Suppression
Sound suppression is best achieved with subsonic ammunition. Standard CCI Velocity ammunition is listed at 1080 feet per second out of most rifles, and this prevents the noticeable sonic boom.
Out of a pistol, sound suppression is much easier as the barrel doesn’t offer a lot of burn time, and velocities are often lower with the same ammunition.
Without a decibel meter, it is difficult to gauge true sound suppression, but suffice it to say, the differences were noticeable to the naked ear. Using the custom 22/45 with subsonic ammunition, the firearm was safe to use without ear pro. Supersonic ammo was louder but not unpleasant.
It’s More Than a Range Toy
This fully customized 22/45 could easily fall into the category of “range toy.” You know the type; the firearms you only use at the range and never carry.
Well, this 22/45 is one you can pack away and trust your life to. I would recommend carrying spare ammunition for it in the original boxes inside a durable sealable bag like those from Loksak, and I would also carry one additional magazine just in case.
A .22 pistol will help keep you fed and work quietly and reliably when you need it to. It definitely has a cool factor, but it also has a survival factor, and that’s why it is an excellent addition to my collection.
Post Note: Now with $0 class III stamps, it is a good time to purchase upgrades that protect your hearing and give you an advantage in the field. In case you’re wondering, this class III item was approved in only 6 days. Compare that to years ago when wait times were upwards of a year or more.
