I bought a Browning Buckmark 22 and it has been nothing but wonderful to me. I originally bought it just to have a pistol, then I got into target shooting with it, then it became a spot and stalk small game gun. I don't recall ever having a bad feed in abotu 2,000 rounds but I did have some duds (thanks to Remington bulk ammo). I'd highly recommend one of these. They aren't the cheapest 22lr pistols you can get but they are cheap enough.

After a little over a year (rather recently actually) I bought another pistol, S&W SW9VE, a 9mm. And yes, you can get ammo pretty dang cheap for it but for what you described I'd buy a Buckmark all day long. Not to mention I have found mine to be very accurate.

http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/category.asp?value=006B