This LNIB Colt .22 Target arrived the other day so I took it to an indoor club range to try it out. I was very pleased with the overall performance, especially since it digested every kind of ammo I loaded into it without a hitch.
Remington Target, Winchester Dynapoints, Aguila Subsonic Solid & CCI Standard Velocity.
I didn't even need to adjust the sights.
As much as I wantedto put a red dot on it, I don't think that I will, at least not right away. I was planning on using it for shooting steel plates, but it handled and pointed so well without a red dot, I throughly enjoyed shooting the plates just the way it is with the open sights.
When I was picking it up at the gun shop in a town bordering West Hartford, CT, the current home of Colt, a fellow came in and described to me how he was an engineer who worked on the Colt .22 Target project. He said that he bought 12 High Standard Duramatics and analyzed them so that the Colt .22 Target could be "copied". He said that the Colt management at the time rushed production even though he wanted to do more testing to work out any potential bugs.
He said to definitely use standard velocity ammo, and that if it ever needs parts, to try to locate H.S. Duramatic parts because many of them should fit.
I let him know that the Beretta Neo uses compatible magazines, so maybe passing designs around is a common trend.
The grip is a little bit slippery, but I don't mind because it fits my medium small hand very well and squeezing it tight doesn't let it slip.
The trigger isn't too bad either, I'd guess somewhere in between 3-4 lbs.
I didn't realize how the internal design really worked until I took the slide & barrel off. I expected it to be like a High Standard Supermatic with it's internal hammer, but this model had a long spring and a long firing pin that slams forward into the primer. It has a long trigger bar which makes for a longish trigger pull and a maybe a fractionally slower lock time. But it's not noticiable at all when firing rapidly.
And the trigger seemed to break in and improve right away.
So all in all, this Colt .22 Target is a real keeper. My only regret is that I didn't buy one years ago when it first came out. I had seriously considered buying one then when it was around $300 new, but I chose a 7.25" barrel Stoeger High Standard Supermatic clone instead.
This Colt .22 balances very nicely, so my rating is a big"thumbs up"!
Colt .22 Target Report
