Taurus TX22: Inexpensive Prepper Training Handgun

The Taurus TX22: A First Look

I’m going to be right up front with you, I’ve never been a fan of Taurus firearms. I’ve had some bad experiences with them in the past (and also some issues with Beretta made by Taurus in Brazil). 

Having said that, the Taurus company’s reputation has been improving lately, especially since they have started making a lot of their firearms in the USA. Still, they’ve been known for “iffy” quality throughout the years, and their new policy of shortening their limited materials and defects limited warranty to just one year is hardly reassuring. In the time since this article was written, Taurus has retroactively changed the warranty period to a limited lifetime warranty, which to me is a sign they are confident in the gun’s quality.

Just so you know.

You might, therefore, be surprised at how much I actually like this particular gun. I am surprised a bit by how good it is. 

This isn’t a full review, I haven’t put in enough rounds with the gun nor fed it enough types of ammo for that… consider this a first look at a gun that can be used as either a great training gun (or more, as I mention later). Expect for this article to be superseded one of these days by a full review, more pictures & video, but for now, I feel pretty comfortable that I’ve shot the gun enough to start to form an opinion. 

The Blurb:

Here’s the advertising materials put out by Taurus:

The new Taurus TX22 design satisfies the needs of shooters of all sizes and experience levels without compromising in any area. It is the perfect training handgun for beginners and those who have developed flinching habits. With its gentle recoil, crisp trigger and quick target acquisition, new shooters will enjoy immediate results. 

This is a full-size polymer handgun engineered from the ground up to maximize fit, function, and comfort for shooters of all statures and levels of experience. Exhibiting features common to larger-caliber semi-auto handguns, the TX22 redefines performance standards, magazine capacity, and the overall shooting experience across the .22LR handgun category.

• Single-action only striker-fire system
• 16+1 capacity
• Short, 5-lb. trigger pull
• Crisp trigger performance with a “custom trigger feel”
• Optimized slide weight for minimal recoil and fast target reacquisition
• Proprietary grip texturing for positive hand placement
• Fully adjustable rear sight
• Suppressor-ready muzzle threading
• Reversible mag release
• Integrated accessory rail

Philosophy Of Use:

I am reviewing the Taurus TX22 as a “prepper” gun, not as a “general plinking” firearm or competition gun (even though you could use it for both).

Due to it’s astounding light weight in a full-sized gun body, it could even be considered a “get home bag gun”. 

As I’ve said before (in these exact words which I’m just cutting an pasting because I said what I meant the first time), I’m not in any way a fan of using rimfire guns as everyday concealed carry weapons, certainly not semi-automatic ones. This has more to do with the lack of reliability of the .22LR or .22WMR rounds than anything. At least with a revolver, if you have a failure-to-fire, you can just pull the trigger again without “clearing the gun” so it doesn’t cause as much problems.

When you factor in the round’s limited “stopping power”, it’s just not a good choice IMHO. Having said that, I think there is a roll for rimfire in prepping… namely, it becomes a good option for a “get home bag” situation, where weight is at a premium. You can carry a gun like this TX22 plus an extra magazine and 100 rounds of ammo at a very small weight penalty.

I’ve done a recent article on low-cost guns & ammo as alternative trainers, you might find it of interest. 

Design:

The Taurus TX22 is a very, very polymer gun. In many important ways, it’s very Glock like. If you like Glocks and the way they are built, you may or may not like the TX22… but if you are not a fan of how Glock uses polymer, you will absolutely hate the TX22.

Here’s a photo of the gun field stripped, I’ll go over the details after you look at the picture:

The receiver is polymer, and features an ambidextrous thumb safety that is easy to engage. The gun also features the dreaded magazine lock safety. The finger guard is square and quite ample for shooting with gloved hands.

Inside the gun:

The barrel is made out of steel, and it’s threaded on the end (there’s a thread-protection nut on it in this picture. As presented, the barrel does not extend from the fully assembled gun. To use it with a threaded accessory such as a sound suppressor, you remove the above nut and replace it with an included barrel extension that does protrude from the front of the gun 

The gun barrel is actually fixed in place by clamps when the gun is assembled,

The spring is flat, and the guide rod is (unfortunately) polymer. Replacing that rod will be my first upgrade for this gun, I don’t like having polymer guide rods. 

The slide is aluminum and it features nice grabby finger grips on both the front and the back. Not surprisingly as a .22 the slide is easy to pull back. One thing of note about the slide (you can see a slightly shiny area in the shadow part of the slide) is a steel insert for the back of the chamber. That’s an important touch for longevity.

The magazine is polymer throughout. That’s another thing I’m not a fan of, but so far it works. The 16 rounds in the magazine are slightly offset to avoid rim lock, it looks rather weird but it has worked flawlessly for me so far. On the good side, the gun does ship with two magazines and replacement/additional mags are inexpensive.

Tale Of The Tape:

CAPACITY	16+1 rds
ACTION TYPE	SAO
HEIGHT	5.44″
WIDTH	1.25″
WEIGHT	17.30 oz.
BARREL LENGTH	4.10″
OVERALL LENGTH	7.06″

Shooting:

Here’s where the rubber hits the road for the Taurus TX22. How does it shoot? So far, like an absolute dream with the two types of ammunition I have put through it. 

The trigger pull tested out (on an measured average of 5 pulls) at 4 pounds, 10 ounces. It is absolutely crisp, no creep and the break over is very good. I have to admit, testing the trigger pull in the store (this gun not only can be dry fired, it has to be dry fired for field stripping in the same way you do a Glock) is one of the things that convinced me to take the TX22 home with me… that and the nearly weightless feel.

Hand feel for my hand is just perfect, it’s well sculpted. The grips are just the right amount of “rough” to make it feel “grippy”. Felt recoil, as with most .22LR firearms, is negligible.

Sights are polymer, and are adjustable at the rear for both elevation and windage. They are clear and bright, but I have to admit they are going to end up in my list of “cons” for this gun because I’m just not a fan of polymer sights and their reliability.

Accuracy is typical for a .22 pistol with a 4-inch barrel. It will hit as well as a shooter can shoot at a range of 7-yards. No 4-inch .22LR handgun is a sniper’s first choice. I consistently hit the four-inch-wide metal paddle at least 9 times out of 10 with both types of ammo I tried. Whenever I did miss, it was me pulling the gun, not the gun’s fault.

Reliability:

So far, it’s been really good… but I need to throw a big caveat in here: This is a recent purchase, and I’ve only put 625 total rounds downrange with this gun. The gun was cleaned thoroughly after each firing, of course, and I cleaned it when I got it. 

I’ve shot two types of ammo. The first 325 rounds were bulk Federal “Champion Target” cheapo bulk ammo, the stuff in the white box that looks like this:

This Federal stuff is better than their basic “bulk” but it shoots pretty dirty. 

The second 300 I ran through the gun were CCI Mini Mag’s, my favorite .22LR ammo (along with CCI Stingers).

I pulled the trigger 625 times, and the TX22 went BANG 625 times. No failure to fires, no stovepipes, no jams of any kind. 

Here’s a video of a mag dump… not the smoothest in the world because I was holding my phone, making sure I was keeping the gun pointed downrange and shooting trying to hit a 6 inch target on the ground about 10 yards away. 

https://youtu.be/aGIo6RfiBWs

Six-hundred rounds are not enough to show that a gun is reliable, but it’s certainly enough to know if a gun is junk from day one. Not only did the gun fire, it also kicked out the brass in a very consistent manner and threw it in one general area per ammo type.

I checked the magazines carefully, and could detect no lip wear. Importantly, they were clean (no blowback on them from firing) at the top.

Cleaning:

The gun is a breeze to field strip, and comes apart much like a Glock… but not exactly like one.

To field strip, you drop the magazine and cycle the firearm to check that the chamber is empty. You then pull the trigger, pull down on the disassembly lever and ease the slide back just a very small way and lift. The gun comes apart with ease.

The cleaner then removes the screw-rod assembly, pops the barrel out and it’s ready to be cleaned. An experience person can take the gun apart and put it back together each in 5 seconds. 

Pros: 

• Feather weight
• Great hand feel
• Good fit an finish
• Easy to operate and grip slide
• Outstanding trigger
• Large trigger guard – glove appropriate
• Ambidextrous safety and easily switched magazine switch
• Easy-to-reach safety
• Easy-to-ignore safety (for those who dislike guns with safeties) 
• Ships with two magazines
• Threaded barrel
• Low price
• (Updated) Taurus now offers a limited lifetime warranty for the gun, retroactive to all TX22’s purchased.

Cons:

• Taurus doesn’t have the best reputation for quality
• Polymer magazines
• Polymer sights

Verdict So Far:

As you can see, my Pro’s list totally outstrips my Con’s list, so I”m happy with the firearm and think (so far) it has potential to be an outstanding trainer for preppers, or even a GHB gun. 

Keep it tuned here at 3BY for a full review in the future.

Futher Update: I have now shot 5,000+ rounds from the gun and it is functioning flawlessly. I’m even more impressed with it than I was when I first wrote this article.