Taurus 22TUC 22 LR 2.5" 9rd OD Green VZ Grips Pistol

The 22TUC solves a problem that keeps a lot of people from carrying a small pistol: racking the slide. The barrel tips up instead, so a round drops straight into the chamber and the shooter never has to fight a recoil spring with weak hands or arthritic fingers. It is a genuinely useful design feature rather than a novelty, and it is the reason this gun ends up in the pockets of people who could not run a conventional pocket pistol at all.

Chambering is 22 Long Rifle with a 9 round magazine and a 2.5 inch barrel, and the whole package is light enough to forget about on a belt or in a jacket. The trigger is double action, working the same way a defensive revolver does, and that long press does double duty here: it gives the hammer enough energy to reliably light off rimfire primers, which are less forgiving than centerfire, while still breaking smoothly through its travel. This one wears an OD Green Cerakote slide over a black polymer frame with VZ G10 grip panels. Recoil is almost nonexistent, which makes it an easy gun to actually practice with.