Browning 1911-22

75 shots, 7 yards, Browning 1911-22

Fathers Day and I got a Browning 1911-22.  These are very cool little guns which, by the time you read this you might actually own, are ideal for training children on the 1911 system pistols.  Being 85% of the size of the standard 1911A1 pistol, they are much, much smaller and being fabricated mostly of aluminum they are much, much lighter.  As noted previously, Browning seems to have produced a quality gun.

The results of my first 75 shots with the little gun are shown here.  Shot off-hand at 7 yards (give or take a bit), this was done just to break the gun in and make any possible faults known.  The first magazine more resembled a shotgun pattern than a group but as time went on it was clearly settling in and parts were more consistently mating to produce distinct groups.  Two makes of ammunition were used.  The first was a box of steel cased Russian Junior ammunition I think I bought in the late 1980s.  The second was a box of Winchester High Velocity RNs from about 1988 of which I have several thousand rounds and also use for rimfire silhouette shooting.  The first can be compared to the cheapest bulk .22 rimfire and the latter is pretty good stuff.  Most of the time I used a 6-o'clock hold on the center ring but for the last magazine I tried a 6-o'clock hold on the "X".  The sights are very small and copy the issue 1911A1 sights are so are very hard to see (especially as I'm developing cataracts right now).  I think the gun has potential.

Russian Junior .22 LR

Supposedly the same as the Surok ammo (?) just branded differently for export, the Junior .22 LR in the green (I'm told it is "seafoam" green) box with the rooster on it is steel cased. It has a plain (i.e. unplated) lead round nosed bullet which has some sort of waxy lubricant.  I have seen some of the lubricant melt in moderate temperatures, but not all of it.  That ammo was prone to duds.  If the lube hasn't melted it always goes off.  I have had failures to extract with this ammo.  It was NOT good in my nickel S&W M34 and my most recent failure to extract was in the 1911-22.  I had to rod out the case.  Accuracy can be very good in the ammo that has been carefully stored.  However, just as my experiences with it vary, so do the experiences of others.  Some curse and some praise this low-priced ammunition.