Oh, and one really small cartridge: .22 LR.

Why build the combat-oriented 1911 in diminutive .22 LR? Cost, for one thing. .22 LR ammo costs much less than .45 ACP ammo, so shooters can send a lot of them downrange without breaking the bank. Thus a .22 LR 1911 can provide plinking fun, and you can also use one as a wallet-friendly training gun. Finally, .22 LR produces very little recoil, so young shooters can enjoy and learn on a .22-caliber 1911 more easily than they can a big-bore 1911.

This article pulls together info on the eight .22 LR 1911s in production today into one place. (Note: These listings feature complete guns and don’t touch on .22 LR conversion kits, of which a number exist.) Each pistol’s listing is an excerpt from its main-info page, which contains the full description, specs, more photos, pricing info, user ratings, editor ratings (when available) and links to online stores selling the pistol. To go to that pistol’s page, click on the link included in the excerpt (i.e., the word “here” in blue text).

The actual retail prices and price ranges listed below reflect prices seen recently in online gun stores. Those numbers certainly aren’t absolute—you might be able to find better deals at other online stores or brick-and-mortar gun shops.

I’ve organized these pistols alphabetically by manufacturer. If I’ve failed to include a model, please let me know via the Contact form at this link, or via the Comment form at the bottom of this article.

Finally, I’ve added a table showing the user ratings each pistol has accumulated so far (on the right). Note that most of them have very few votes so far, which renders their ratings statistically insignificant. Feel free to visit each gun’s page and rate them as you see fit! I’ll update the table periodically to reflect changing ratings and vote numbers.

Browning

Model: 1911-22

MSRP: $599.99
Actual retail: $509–$549 (approx.)
Click here to visit this gun’s info page.

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Chiappa Firearms

Model: 1911-22

MSRP: $299–$325
Actual retail: $258–$280 (approx.)
Click here to visit this gun’s info page.

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Colt

Model: Government 1911 .22 LR

MSRP: $399–$450
Actual retail: $353–$420 (approx.)
Click here to visit this gun’s info page.

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German Sport Guns

Model: Government 1911 .22 LR

MSRP: $364.95–$399.95
Actual retail: $305–$342 (approx.)
Click here to visit this gun’s info page.

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Kimber

Model: Rimfire Super

MSRP: $1,172
Actual retail: $1,103–$1,150
Click here to visit this gun’s info page.

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Kimber

Model: Rimfire Target

MSRP: $834
Actual retail: $699–$735 (approx.)
Click here to visit this gun’s info page.

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Rock Island Armory

Model: XT22

MSRP: $585.94
Actual retail: $450–$466 (approx.)
Click here to visit this gun’s info page.

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SIG Sauer

Model: 1911-22

MSRP: $399–$420
Actual retail: $360–$399 (approx.)
Click here to visit this gun’s info page.

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Jed Henson is the president of GunsGunsGuns.net.

Users’ Rating
Summary: The description, specs, pricing, photos and user ratings for the Nighthawk Heinie Signature Series Recon pistol.

Manufacturer’s Description

The Nighthawk Heinie Signature Series Recon pistol is a 1911-style semiauto built on a forged frame with a forged slide and a match-grade barrel. Nighthawk says Richard Heinie designed the Signature Series Recon model with the professional in mind who either prefers, or is required to carry, a handgun with a light mount. The pistol is chambered in 9mm (.45 ACP is also available upon request).

The Signature Series Recon model features the same proprietary thinned frame as the rest of the series. It’s designed to allow you to get a firm, steady grip, even with small hands. The barrel is crowned and the bushing chamfered to enhance the overall smooth appearance and feel of a pistol Nighthawk says has been meticulously gone over to remove each and every sharp surface.

The grips are custom-made thin grips, made from G10 with a very distinctive pattern. They include a thumb relief cut designed to give the shooter fast access to the magazine release.

The Recon model comes standard with Nighthawk’s new one-piece magwell that’s cut from a solid 2.5″ block of solid tool steel and features a rounded comfort heel. The front strap and mainspring housing feature Heinie’s scalloped cut, designed to make it comfortable for shooters of all types.

The rear sight is the Heinie Slant-Pro Straight Eight. The front is a red fiber optic. The rear of the slide is serrated at 40 lpi to match the serrations of the rear sight. The familiar Heinie logo is engraved behind the rear cocking serrations.

The Specs

MSRP: $3,495

Shop for this gun at Impact Guns, Buds Gun Shop or FirearmsLocator.com.

Users’ Rating
Summary: The description, specs, pricing, photos and user ratings for the Nighthawk Heinie Signature Series Competition pistol.

Manufacturer’s Description

The Nighthawk Heinie Signature Series Competition pistol is a 1911-style semiauto built on a forged frame with a forged slide and a match-grade barrel. Nighthawk says Richard Heinie designed the Signature Series Competition model with the shooter in mind who prefers the 9mm cartridge (.45 ACP also available upon request).

The Signature Series Competition model features the same proprietary thinned frame as the rest of the series. It’s designed to allow you to get a firm, steady grip, even with small hands. The barrel is crowned and the bushing chamfered to enhance the overall smooth appearance and feel of a pistol Nighthawk says has been meticulously gone over to remove each and every sharp surface.

The grips are custom-made thin grips, made from G10 with a very distinctive pattern. They include a thumb relief cut designed to give the shooter fast access to the magazine release.

The Competition model comes standard with Nighthawk’s new one-piece magwell that’s cut from a solid 2.5″ block of solid tool steel and features a rounded comfort heel. The front strap and mainspring housing feature Heinie’s scalloped cut, designed to make it comfortable for shooters of all types.

The rear sight is the Heinie Slant-Pro Straight Eight. The front is a red fiber optic. The rear of the slide is serrated at 40 lpi to match the serrations of the rear sight. The familiar Heinie logo is engraved behind the rear cocking serrations.

The Specs

MSRP: $3,395

Shop for this gun at Impact Guns, Buds Gun Shop or FirearmsLocator.com.

Editor’s Rating

Users’ Rating (Click a star to rate this gun.) Summary: Walt Rauch’s review of and rating for the Taurus Mini Revolver, including a range report, photos, pricing, specs, user ratings and user comments. (Click here to see all of Rauch’s handgun reviews.)

Editor’s Review

The new Taurus Mini Revolver 380 Ultra-Lite combines a legacy handgun action with a semiauto pistol caliber. The 380 is a close relative of the Taurus 905 revolver, which is chambered in 9mm. Taurus sent me a Mini Revolver to T&E, and I’ve written up my results below.

The Details
I once tested the 905 but no longer have it. That said, in handling the Mini Revolver, I get the impression the gun is somewhat slimmer in barrel and cylinder thickness. I also stuffed the gun in the same Del Fatti IWB holster I used when testing the 905 and now the gun-to-holster fit seems somewhat less restricting. In any event, the Mini Revolver’s official weight comes in at 15.5 oz., and my sample hits right on the 15 oz. mark.

The Mini Revolver is a five-shot, double-action-only revolver with 1.75″ barrel. A hand-filling, rubber, finger-groove grip encircles the round butt frame. The cross pin in the frame, which helps keep the grip from shifting, isn’t centered in the lower frame as you see in S&W revolvers. So, if you want to change the grip, you’ll need to figure out a workaround to use S&W grips.

The Mini Revolver has decent sights, uncommon with small-frame centerfire revolvers. It sports an integral ramped and serrated front sight, and the rear sight is a flat, black, smooth-faced metal blade that fits in a cut in the top strap. This sight is adjustable for windage by moving it in its slot using a very small slotted screw at the top right side of the frame. Such an adjustment is easy—if you have a very small screwdriver. Fortunately, my friend Ted Murphy (who was along to help) had one, saving me the embarrassment of using a knife point to do the adjustment and no doubt marring the gun’s finish in the process.

The trigger is smooth-faced and rounded, but its rear edges are abrupt. Not sharp, mind you, but with the slow trigger pulling needed for accuracy work, this became uncomfortable.

As noted above, the Mini Revolver is double-action-only, but it does feature an exposed hammer. However, Taurus has eliminated the single-action capability by removing the hammer spur. To the good, the body is contoured and polished such that its shape follows the curved lines of the top rear of the frame. This all makes Mini Revolver’s outline just that much smaller, with no hammer spur to catch on anything.

The unobtrusive Taurus Key Lock Safety is located in the lower rear of the hammer body. Taurus provides two hexagonal safety keys. Turning the key 180 degrees to the right (with the gun muzzle pointed away from you, of course) locks the firing mechanism but still allows opening the cylinder for loading, unloading and cleaning.

The fluted cylinder releases and moves easily on its crane when the thoughtfully-shaped and checkered cylinder latch is pushed forward. I particularly appreciate the lack of sharp edges on the latch because I invariably get nicked on my right-hand thumb due to recoil when firing a revolver of this size if it’s chambered for anything above .22 LR. To load the Mini Revolver, you insert five cartridges into the Taurus Stellar moon clip and load the package into the swing-out cylinder.

Read the Manual!
Reading the instruction manual should be mandatory for anyone who buys a gun. Sometimes it contains some critical but easily overlooked tidbits that will directly affect you or your new purchase. Example:Taurus warns that any attempt at removing the barrel from the frame will damage both. If you need to remove it, return the gun to the Taurus Customer Service Department following the provided return instructions.

Note how the bullet has pulled forward past its shoulder due to the recoil from firing other rounds. (The cracked case is due to faulty ammo.)

Another example: Taurus states the gun is built to withstand the regular use of +P jacketed (emphasis added) ammunition. Taurus does not recommend using +P ammo loaded with lead bullets because the case-neck tension on jacketed ammunition intended for use in semiautos is not tight enough to prevent the soft lead unfired bullets from becoming unseated and moving forward in their case when shooters fire multiple rounds. This jarring can move the lead bullet enough that it protrudes from the cylinder face. This then stops the cylinder from turning and causes difficulty in opening the cylinder.

Finally, the manual provides advice on what not to use for cleaning a handgun that has titanium in its construct, as does the Mini Revolver. The instruction booklet states that while normal care and cleaning procedures can be used, under no circumstances should you use any abrasive material to clean the front face of the cylinder or any other part of the revolver (emphasis added). The use of such an abrasive material can remove the gun’s finish, which is a protective layer. This can greatly reduce service life of the cylinder and the revolver. (Note: My pistol sports a matte-stainless finish; blue is also available.)

For those who don’t like the black rings that form on the cylinder face, with this revolver, you’d best learn to live with them. Think of them as a small price to pay for the weight loss derived from using titanium.

Range Report
At the range, accompanied by Murphy and AJ Stuart, and later by Bill Cassidy and Bill Beradelli, we did the zeroing. The rear sight needed only four clicks left windage to hit dead-on at 10 yards for most of the ammo tested. I think point of impact did vary slightly with different bullet weights, but no more than an inch or so, even at 15 yards. This observation is questionable, though, for despite having all the above-noted help, we all quickly got tired (and bored) attempting to shoot nice groups with the 15-lb. double-action trigger pull.

The consensus: The gun was more-than-okay to shoot and shoot well and get good hits on man-sized threats at 10 and 15 yards, with mostly good center hits. Cassidy opined he was quite taken by the little gun and said he considered buying one. Beradelli just busied himself shooting nice groups, while Stuart and Murphy recovered from the chrono work. They used a Master Chrony chronograph 300 feet above sea level with an ambient temperature of 60 degrees. They obtained these results with two five-shot averages:

• CorBon +P 90-grain JHP: 982 fps
• Federal Hydra Shok 90-grain JHP: 947 fps
  

  Bill Cassidy fires the Mini Revolver.

• Hornady Critical Defense 90‑grain HP/XTP: 944 fps
• Remington Golden Saber 102-grain BJHP: 792 fps
• Winchester Ranger SXT 95-grain JHP: 755 fps
• Winchester Silvertip 85-grain HP: 912 fps

Why does the gun feature such a heavy trigger pull? My best guess: Using a moon clip to hold the rounds cushions the hammer/firing pin strike somewhat, and the spur-less hammer is lighter than normal. Plus, the Mini Revolver has a frame-mounted firing pin (not hammer-mounted), which usually demands a heavier-than-traditional hammer blow. Taurus therefore correctly came down on the side of ensuring—as best as they could—that the user gets a “bang,” not a “click.”

Final Thoughts
There are pros and cons regarding the effectiveness of the .380 ACP cartridge for self defense, but many knowledgeable gun people are comfortable with it. Of course, the same can be said for using a revolver at all, and a snub-nose one at that. Weight, size and reduced recoil are driving forces. Just having one caliber also keeps life simple. If you already have a .380 semiauto, a revolver in matching caliber makes sense if someone else in your household isn’t able or disposed to learn the manual of arms necessary to effectively use the semiauto.

Other advantages also come into play, such as where laws or personal preference require storing your ammunition and gun separately. A standard revolver requires either fumbling around for loose rounds or digging them out of the box to then individually load them into the gun. With a full moon clip, this fumbling is minimized. Just grab the gun and full clip. With just slight fiddling with clip and cylinder, the gun is quickly loaded and you’re good to go. And of course, not everyone has the strength to control the recoil of cartridges more powerful than .380 ACP.

The Mini Revolver’s heavy trigger pull is a negative, and in my experience there’s no effective gunsmithing work-around. The best you can do here is consider using both hands on the gun, with both forefingers on the trigger. As a bonus, this will give you better gun control for shooting and protecting the gun from being taken away in a struggle.

Typical results obtained when doing accuracy work at 10 yards firing five rounds double action.

With all these things considered, though, the Taurus Mini-Revolver is worth a long look.

Walt Rauch received a BS degree from Carnegie Tech and completed service as a Special Agent in U.S. Army Intelligence. Rauch was a U.S. Secret Service Special Agent and a Philadelphia, Pa., Warrant Unit Investigator. He now operates a consulting company for defense-weapon and tactical training. Rauch & Company services include expert witness testimony on firearms use and tactics.

Rauch is also a writer and lecturer in the firearms field. He’s published in national and international publications including InterMedia’s Handguns, several Harris Publications specialty magazines, Police and Security News and Cibles (France). He is the author of a book on self-defense, Real-World Survival! What Has Worked For Me, as well as Practically Speaking, a comprehensive guide to IDPA defensive pistol shooting.


The Specs

MSRP: $461 (matte stainless)
MSRP: $430 (blue)

	Taurus Mini Revolver Matte Stainless (Able Ammo)	$367.79
	Taurus Mini Revolver Blue (Able Ammo)	$343.60
+ 1 others available from Able Ammo ↓
	Taurus Mini Revolver Matte Stainless (Buds Gun Shop)	$319.00
	Taurus Mini Revolver Blue (Buds Gun Shop)	$289.00
+ 1 others available from Buds Gun Shop ↓

Manufacturer’s Description

The Nighthawk Heinie Signature Series Compact is a 1911-style semiauto pistol built on an officer-size frame with a 4.25″ slide and chambered in 9mm or .45 ACP. It sports many of the Signature Series’ attributes, such as a proprietary thinned frame and mainspring housing that are scalloped to provide a positive grip without the abrasion some people feel from checkering. Nighthawk says the grips are a new pattern of G10 that are thinned to ease concealed carry, and feature a relieved area on the side to allow easy access to the magazine release. The barrel/bushing combo allow take-down without the use of any special tools.

The Signature Series Compact also features Nighthawk’s ultra hi-cut frame that allows shooters with very large hands to get that pinky finger to rest firmly on the frame while shooting. It also allows a more natural point when you extend your arm because your hand goes up into the frame much further, according to Nighthawk.

Other features include:

• A match-grade barrel;
• a lightweight aluminum Nighthawk custom trigger;
• a crowned barrel and bushing;
• Heinie Slant-Pro Straight Eight night sights;
• a scalloped front strap and mainspring housing;
• 40 LPI on the slide’s rear to match the rear sight; and
• a complete dehorn for comfortable carry.
  

  The view from the rear.

The Specs

MSRP: $3,195

Shop for this gun at Impact Guns, Buds Gun Shop or FirearmsLocator.com.