Last month, the initial shots of the Taurus TX22 Compact pistol were reported here. If you missed that, the new TX22 is the opposite of the TX22 Competition – by being smaller, with less capacity and weight – and similar to it by being “optics ready” out of the box.

It’s a 13-shot pistol, sized to be appealing to the new shooter and to be relevant for the differently abled and/or elderly folks to use for defense. (Note: insert typical “not recommending any 22 pistol for self-defense” disclaimer here …)

The new gun has the slide cut for the Holosun K-format of pistol-mounted optic. I’ve not mounted an optic yet because I’m still working out what the gun can do in it’s supplied format.

It’s lightweight at 16 ½ ounces and it’s not small: over an inch and a quarter wide, nearly five inches high and with an overall length of 6.7”, the gun features the Taurus “SAO” striker fired action.

The gun is cocked when you rack the slide and trigger movement doesn’t translate to moving the striker further back to prepare to fire. There is a manual safety and the levers are bilateral.

The slide is hard anodized aluminum and there’s an accessory rail for accessories. A trigger safety helps prevent firing from inertia if dropped, and the gun has a striker block. The price is fair, with an MSRP just under $400.

I grabbed the chronograph, camera and a few different loads to try to get some velocity readings on the second trip. The first trip saw consumption of Federal 40 grain AutoMatch bulk packed ammo. It was reliable in the gun.

Being labeled “AutoMatch,” led me to believe the ammo was meant for semiauto rimfire guns. The velocity bears that out – as does function in the TX22 Compact. The load zipped over the chronograph, set fifteen feet from the muzzle, as an average of 1,040 FPS. The extreme spread was only 95 feet per second, not at all bad for massively mass produced range ammo.

This was followed by Aguila 38 grain “SuperExtra” hollow point ammo. The average velocity was 1,123 FPS and the ammo had an extreme spread of 56 FPS. Norma TAC-22 ammo has been problematic in some of the guns I’ve tried it in. This was an exception in the Taurus. The ammo was slow, averaging 915 feet-per-second, but the extreme spread was only 73 FPS.

The latest range trip involved shooting for accuracy. I shot the gun from 25 yards seated behind a bench and with a Caldwell Pistolero handgun rest to help with stability. The Federal 40 grain AutoMatch shot to the sights, providing a 3 ½” group with the best three bullets crowding into 1 3/8” – a credible performance with a non-competition 22 pistol and bulk ammo.

The Aguila SuperExtra HP ammo shot to the sights with a 2 7/8” group. The best three were clustered into 1 ½”. This was even better.

I shot some older issue CCI Stinger 32 grain HP and it produced a 1 ¾” group with three rounds shooting into an inch.

This gun has some promise.

Finally, with the Norma TAC-22 – some slow ammo – I shot an eight-shot group to finish a box of ammo. Surprisingly, eight rounds produced a 2 ¾” high by 2 7/8” wide group. Five of the eight rounds went into two inches. The best three crowded into ¾”…

That’s really good for a value priced 22 autoloader.

As usual, there were no stoppages. It’s a great shooting gun. Now I’m anxious to try an optic on it.

-- Rich Grassi