Hey there, channel fans and family, and welcome to Slav Guns. I’ve been told you want to see more less-expensive guns. Not everyone can drop $1,500 on a ZEV OZ9 or $2,500 on a Leupold Mark 5HD. So here’s one for the budget corner: the Taurus TX22. And guess what? It’s an awesome freaking gun.
This is a deep dive into the 2019 Guns & Ammo Handgun of the Year — the purpose-built .22 LR polymer pistol that, in my opinion, is what the Glock 44 should have been.
Disclosure: The firearm was provided by Taurus for testing and evaluation. Taurus did not see the video before it was published.
Heads-up: I filmed this in early 2020 (model 1-TX22141). Prices below are what they were at filming, so check current availability and pricing before you buy.
TL;DR
- Full-size polymer .22 LR trainer roughly the size of a Glock 17 / M&P / HK P30.
- 16-round magazines (10-round / non-threaded configs for restricted states).
- Suppressor-ready out of the box with a removable front cap and 1/2×28 adapter — unlike the Glock 44, which needs a threaded barrel.
- Striker-fired trigger: ~3.5 lb to the wall, clean break around 4 lb, very short reset.
- MSRP was around $349 and street price around $250 at filming, with Taurus’s lifetime warranty.
- After bricks of bulk .22, stoppages were ammo-related only — no gun stoppages with or without a suppressor.
Why a modern .22 trainer matters
Last summer before this video I covered the Ruger Mark IV .22/45 Lite and called it one of the best .22 LR pistols — solid trigger, great ergonomics, accurate. The catch for some owners is the price.
Gun owners who got into the space 10+ years ago had three main rimfire choices: Browning Buck Mark, Smith & Wesson 22A, and Ruger Mark II/III. They don’t look or feel like modern polymer pistols. If you wanted a better trainer, you were stuck with unreliable .22 conversion kits or the Walther P22 — which looked polymer-modern but was too small and had its share of issues.
The TX22 is the ideal .22 training pistol for someone who already runs a full-size plastic fantastic.
Features that matter
- Size / grip: Full-size frame with a good palm swell. Stippling looks good but is on the smoother side — not the aggressive sandpaper some centerfires use. No interchangeable backstraps. Nice undercut under the trigger guard for a higher grip.
- Rail & thumb stop: Picatinny rail up front for lights/lasers. Scallops above the trigger guard work as a real thumb stop for a thumbs-forward grip.
- Controls: Optional 1911-style thumb safety (on the gun I had) — pivots at the rear, easy with thumb or index finger. Slide release is a good size. Steel slide with a nicer black finish than a lot of other Taurus guns, plus front and rear serrations that actually work.
- Sights: Three-dot from the factory; fiber-optic replacements already existed when I filmed. I’ve since covered TandemKross TX22 upgrades if you want that path.
- Suppressor host: Unscrew the front cap, thread on the included 1/2×28 adapter, and you’re ready for a can or even a muzzle brake. That’s a real competitive edge over the Glock 44.
- Capacity: 16 rounds in the mag — about 60% more than most .22 pistols. The Glock 44 only ships with 10-rounders. Restricted-state models exist with 10-round mags and with or without the threaded setup.
Trigger
It’s a striker-fired trigger with a mushy first stage. On my Lyman gauge that first stage was about 3.5 lb to a clean wall, then a fairly clean break at about 4 lb. Reset is very short — you’re basically back at the wall — so you can run it fast.
Range time
Almost no recoil, ergonomics fill the hand well, and it’s seriously fun. I ran it with my CGS Kraken (a 9mm can, so a bit thicker than a dedicated .22 can — you peek over the top of it with the iron sights). With a dedicated .22 suppressor the can would sit lower and you’d use the sights normally.
Hearing-safe with the can on, and the gun stayed flat. The usual .22 problem applies: you empty mags faster than you can load them. Get extra magazines.
Reliability talk: Tim at Military Arms Channel compared the TX22 to the Glock 44 around the same time. Glock 44 owners were being told to slam-load mags on a hard surface and avoid using the mag tabs. .22s are supposed to be fun — if reliability depends on how you load the magazine, that’s not a Glock-level gun. Through two or three bricks of Federal 36-grain copper-plated hollow points I had only two stoppages, both ammo-related (deformed tips from a bulk box that wouldn’t feed). No gun-related stoppages with or without the suppressor.
Accuracy with that same bulk ammo was better than I expected from a rimfire trainer: steel at about 30–32 yards was easy, hits at about 50, and I connected on a plate around 85 yards standing. By then the suppressor was cooking and throwing mirage — stupid fun.
Who should buy it
- New shooters / teaching: This is the first handgun I’d put in someone’s hands. If you can own a suppressor, it’s an even better intro because you can skip (or reduce) hearing protection for adults. For a child I’d still lean Mark IV .22/45 Lite — lighter gun, shorter length of pull; the TX22 trigger sits a bit farther forward.
- First .22 can host: The gun is suppressor-ready and was often the cheapest part of the stack. At filming, gun + tax stamp + transfers + can could land you under about $800 all-in — verify today’s NFA path and pricing.
- Full-size polymer trainers: If you run a Glock, S&W, Walther, Ruger, or HK full-size, this won’t match centerfire recoil, but it’s cheap practice for draw, acquisition, transitions, trigger control, and holstering.
Taurus has had mixed polymer history, but these come with a lifetime warranty, and my sample ran. Guns & Ammo called it Handgun of the Year for a reason.
Bottom line
The Taurus TX22 is a seriously good pistol — and in reality, what the Glock 44 should have been. Capacity, suppressor readiness, trigger, and price all land in the right place for a modern .22 trainer.
Want to dress one up? Start with my TandemKross TX22 upgrades. Curious about Taurus’s own rimfire can? Here’s the TTX22 suppressor first look.
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Keep squatting.
TX22 as your .22 trainer, or are you still team Mark IV / Buck Mark?
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