Okay, accuracy testing a revolver at 25 yards? Who shoots a revolver at that distance? Hard to believe with so many people thinking revolvers are only 3 or 7 yard self defense guns or may 10 yard action shooting guns, but if you are old enough, you might remember when 25 and 50 yard formal pistol/revolver bullseye competition was popular or when using handguns for hunting at much longer distances was all the rage and let's not forget rimfire handgun silhouette out to 100 yards. So, yes, there was a time when revolver accuracy was tested at 25 yards.
In this testing protocol, a 5 shot group from a rest under 2" at 25 is considered very good hunting accuracy. That's actually a pretty tough standard for a great many big bore magnum revolvers or even 22 LR revolvers. It also takes experience and no small amount of skill on the part of the tester to get the accuracy needed for comparative testing. After all, revolvers are not made to be shot from the bench.
Even more demanding is to shoot a 5 shot group of an inch or less from a rest at 25 yards. This is considered match grade accuracy and it thins the herd, quick. This is where the vast majority of 22 LR revolvers lose ground to 22 LR target semi-autos. Formal bullseye shooting in rimfire is almost exclusively the domain of refined 22 semi-auto pistols, now. There was a time, though, when some target revolvers were used. Oh, I've had 22 LR revolvers that qualified as match accurate, but very, very few.
So here's yesterday's lineup of 22 revolvers for 25 accuracy testing.
The top is my S&W 617 with an Ultradot red dot. This was my most accurate revolver when shooting at 12 yards. Given I've had other 617s, I predicted this one would be the best bet for match status. Indeed, the S&W 617 is considered to be the accuracy champ of current 22 DA revolvers. I agree.
The middle gun is another 22 revolver I tested at 12 yards that also looked promising. It's my 1976 Ruger Single Six. For this testing, I added a Burris Fastfire red dot. Had high hopes for this one to qualify as under 2" hunting accurate, since almost all Single Sixes I've shot fall into this category. Still, I have actually owned two Single Sixes that were match grade accurate. Could this be another one? Still my favorite 22 revolver after all these years.
The bottom gun is my recently acquired vintage 1937 Colt Officers 22 LR Target. No way to mount an optic on this old timer and it would be criminal to even try, so just factory open sights used on this one. I really brought this old Colt along to enjoy its superb fit and finish and incredibly smooth shooting action. To say they don't make them like this anymore doesn't do this fine 22 revolver justice. Believe me, holding and shooting this superb old revolver is a shooting experience in itself. Any accuracy would just be frosting on the cake so to speak.
So, any predictions? Which 22 LR revolver is your favorite?
