Taurus TX 22 Competition

The thing about pistol red dot sights is it doesn’t matter where you put them on the gun. Whether on the back of the slide, or more forward like some type of Scout rifle handgun mutant, they just work. With optical sighting, there’s no such thing as sight radius or eye relief. The Taurus TX 22 Competition pistol takes full advantage of this footprint flexibility.

On the two sample models sitting on my desk, the Leupold and Holosun sight bodies are mounted just about smack in the middle of the pistols’ 8″-plus overall length. The optic lens itself is nearly 5″ forward of the rear of the slide. Part of the design choice is made permissible by the blowback action of the .22 LR chambering. With a fixed barrel, there’s no reason one can’t mount the optic platform right on top of the barrel itself, and Taurus did exactly that. The result is a rigid composition of barrel and sighting system bound together. Everything else, like the slide and operating controls, move about at will, but the two pieces that determine where the bullet lands are locked in place. This turns out to be most significant.

Twenty-Two Scoop

The pair of “Taurii” on my desk are some of the most interesting rimfire pistols I’ve had in my hot little hands in quite some time. An extension of the more traditional TX 22 rimfire handgun, the Competition model adds size, extras and a new slide and frame interface.
The slide is an open top design, reminiscent of the Taurus and Beretta 92 series. The open top of the slide forward of the optics mount allows full rearward travel of the slide during recoil, so the optic doesn’t move — at all. With no “lockup” to repeat shot to shot, accuracy should be enhanced.

The TX 22 sports a polymer frame with an aluminum slide. You’ll get three 16-round magazines or if you live in a Republik, you can order a 10-round version. The magazines are polymer, but they still drop freely with a press of the left-side release button. That’s reversible if you prefer it on the other side.

You’ll also note safety levers on each side of the frame — a necessity, since the TX 22 Competition is a single-action pistol.
The only other visible controls are a slide lock lever on the left side and a recessed takedown release. This mechanism is flush with the frame just above where you’ll place your trigger finger. Rounding out frame features, you’ll get a two-slot Picatinny rail up front for lights, lasers, or if you’re feeling really spunky, a pistol bayonet.

The sights are three dot variety with twist. I’ll assume the rear sight design is also a nod to the competition mission of this pistol. While the front is fixed through the side à la GLOCK, the rear is adjustable for both windage and elevation. Inside the rear sight outer body is a floating section housing the actual rear notch. Two independent screws on the right side allow separate adjustment of windage and elevation so you can match point of impact to point of aim for your chosen load. This is particularly handy for .22 LR pistols given the variety of bullet weights, jacket material and velocities.

The trigger face is wide with a rounded contour, somewhat reminiscent of a DA revolver. There is about 3/8″ of light pressure take-up followed by a smooth break at 4.75 lbs. I did notice the take-up stage smoothed out with use.

Optics Ready

As a competition-ready pistol, the TX 22 is optics ready. There’s the aforementioned generous mounting platform with a small recessed cutout on the front end. This is where one of two included mounting plates drop into place to provide the mounting interface for optics.

Those adapter plates are reversible. So, by flipping each upside down, you’ll get a total of four unique optic compatible platforms. Out of the box you can mount the following: Trijicon RMR, C-More STS, Vortex Venom, Docter Noblex, Burris FastFire, Sightmark Mini, Holosun HS507C and Leupold DeltaPoint Pro. Of course, you can also use any other make that shares a mounting footprint with any of the above.

Suppressor Ready

Is there anything more fun than a suppressed .22 LR pistol? Before you ponder this question, the answer is … no. Rimfire handguns with a silencer are an absolute hoot. I’d almost bet a hot pastrami sandwich, with melted Baby Swiss even, they have negative recoil and actually remove ambient sound from the immediate area. They’re that gentle to shoot and quiet. And during normal times, ammo is plentiful and cheap.

The TX 22 comes complete with a 1/2×24 threaded barrel. No adapters required as with other suppressed plinkers. Just unscrew the thread protector with exposed flats and pop on your favorite can. I’ve got a SilencerCo Sparrow handy for just such occasions and it worked like a charm on this Taurus.

Paired with most any .22 LR ammo, you’ll get subsonic velocities out of the 5.25″ barrel, so you’ll hear no supersonic crack of the projectile, just a gentle “pfffhhhht” sound. It might make you just a bit giddy.

I fired five types of ammo through the TX 22 and used a Competition Electronics Pro Chrono DLX about 10 feet downrange to record average actual velocities: CCI Mini Mag HV .22 LR 40-grain (1,026.3 fps), Winchester Super Suppressed .22 LR 45-grain (946.3), Norma Match-22 .22 LR 40-grain (823.7), SK Pistol Match .22 LR 40-grain (817.7) and Lapua Pistol King .22 LR 40-grain (869.7). Around these parts, the speed of sound is about 1,133 fps, so everything I shot was comfortably in the ultra-quiet zone.

I’ll be buying one, or maybe both of these pistols if they let me and you can rest assured a suppressor will reside on it — always.

Teeny, Tiny Groups

Heading out with a shiny new pistol only to find it prints so-so groups at 25 yards can put a damper on the “new toy” enthusiasm. Fortunately, I had no such cloudy day with the TaurusTX 22. I had a joyous day full of proud smiles.

Setting up at 25 yards using the world’s spiffiest pistol rest (the Ransom Rest Multi Caliber), I decided to do accuracy testing with the TX 22 outfitted with the Holosun HS507C red dot optic. I just love the circle with interior dot reticle. Anyway, using the same ammo from velocity testing, I was most pleasantly surprised at the accuracy performance from this nifty little pistol. Measuring five-shot groups, I observed the following: CCI Mini Mag HV .22 LR 40-grain (1.17″), Winchester Super Suppressed .22 LR 45-grain (0.90″), Norma Match-22 .22 LR 40-grain (1.29″), SK Pistol Match .22 LR 40-grain (1.40″) and Lapua Pistol King .22 LR 40-grain (0.97″). Wow! Consider me impressed! This rimfire pistol will shoot.

Closing Arguments

This is a great little pistol and I have to say it surprised me. A lot of polymer guns come through here, but it’s a rare specimen capable of shooting 1″ groups from 25 yards with regularity. MSRP is listed at $484.85.

For more info: TaurusUSA.com

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