My first .22LR pistol was a Ruger 22/45 Mark III. When I bought it, was favoring my right handed side when it came to pistol shooting. So it really didn't matter to me that it is totally a right handed pistol. Now after I've made my transition to fully left handed shooting, this pistol drives me crazy.
The positives of the 22/45
This is a very accurate pistol. The bull barrel adds some nice weight to the gun, along with the accuracy. The sights are nice, and it's drilled and tapped for the included Weaver scope base.
Installed the base, and with it installed, it doesn't block the sights, which is really nice. I put on a BSA 30MM Red Dot .22 scope on this. When installed it rides a little to the side, but it really doesn't matter once you get it sighted in.
You pull the trigger, and it shoots a bullet.
General PITA problems of the 22/45
This things is a pain to strip and reassemble. There is almost a Rube Goldberg set of instuctions to get this thing apart and and put back together. After a while it got harder, and I found the main problem. You need to clean, and re-grease the mainspring in the handle. If you don't, the bolt doesn't seat properly, and I am also assuming it leads to extraction problems (of which I've had many).
I was told (incorrectly I assume) to only run copper plated bullets though this pistol. The problem with this is most copper plated bullets are hollow point, and this helps with feed problems. I had a lot of hollow tip rounds get stuck on the feed ramp. When I moved to lead only round nose bullets, my feed problems almost completely stopped.
Oh, and cleaning all the nooks and crannies is pain too.
The lefty PITA problems of the 22/45
Every thing is on the wrong side. You have to use your trigger finger to do everything. Release the magazine, release the bolt. Don't even try to you your left hand to access the safety, you'll have to use your right hand. Most of all, the slide lock isn't under magazine pressure. You have to push down the slide lock to release the bolt with a new magazine. You can't simply rack the bolt back and release it like on many other handguns.
Aside from all the problems listed above, it's still fun to shoot. Just be prepared to do a lot of work afterward.
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