I enjoy the fact that the industry will not let tip-up guns die. I find tip-ups among the most charming firearms on the market. I have been a fan of Beretta’s tip-ups for years, and collect them, but I had no experience with the Taurus tip-ups until now. Taurus sent me the 22TUC to test and review.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to follow and signup for notifications!
- Inside the 22TUC
- The 22TUC: Blasting Off
- Going Far
- The 22TUC and Pocket Carry
The 22TUC is the third generation of Taurus tip-up pistols. The first generation was all-metal; the second generation introduced a polymer frame; and the 22TUC still uses a polymer frame but goes in a different direction. Someone decided the Taurus tip-up needed a revamp, and I am happy they did.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
The 22TUC looks like it stepped out of the future. Something about the frame’s shape and the unique slide makes it look like a pocket pistol straight out of Blade Runner. It is a slick little .22LR pistol designed for deep concealment and easy access.
The name tip-up comes from the fact that the barrel literally tips up. It springs out of the slide, exposing the chamber to the user. This makes it easy to load or clear without needing to rack the slide. That is the main point of tip-up pistols and their main benefit.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
The 22TUC comes with a nine-round magazine, so with one pressed into the chamber, you get 10 rounds total. Ten rounds of .22LR in a pocket-sized pistol is not a bad trade-off. The pistol is incredibly lightweight at 10 ounces total.
The pistol uses a basic direct blowback design, and the gun relies on that blowback to eject the spent cartridge. There is no extractor or ejector, just raw horsepower. The tip-up design makes an extractor or ejector an impossibility.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
The pistol packs a DAO design. I love my DA/SA tip-ups, but from a practical perspective, the DAO design makes more sense for a pocket gun. It allows for a trimmed hammer with a snag-free design. It is remarkably simple and functional for a pocket carry piece.
The crowning feature of this gun is its sights. Previous generations of Taurus tip-ups had sights, kind of. They had nubs and notches. The 22TUC provides real sights, great big sights that are easy to see and use. They are built into the barrel and slide and are absolutely massive for such a small gun.
I love my micro-sized .22LRs. They are cheap to shoot, have little recoil, and deliver plenty of pocket power. The gun has the slightest recoil to it. It barks a bit, but the sights never leave the target. It is incredibly comfortable to shoot in terms of recoil, and you could hand this gun to nearly any shooter, and they will be able to handle it.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
Like any .22LR, the 22TUC puts a smile on my face as I mag dump with hardly any recoil. The 22TUC makes it easy to put a pile of rounds into a target with little difficulty, including with one hand.
The 22TUC does have a flaw during the firing cycle. It hits my hand and cuts right into my flesh. I have big hands, and I quickly learned not to press up too high on the 22TUC, or you are going to get a fair bit of slide bite. Folks with smaller hands will not be too worried about slide bite, but big boys will need to watch it.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
The 22TUC provides a nice full grip that fills the hand. It is fairly wide but not wide enough to prevent concealment. It is rounded and well-textured, dropping right into your hand. The 22TUC feels quite nice and handles well. The magazine release size makes it easy to reach and easy to reload. While you do not need to rack the slide, the deep slide serrations make it easy enough to do so.
The 22TUC’s sights are awesome. The huge sights are easy to see, and the orange insert on the front sight makes it easy to track. The front sight does not move as the gun fires because the barrel is nominally fixed. That bright orange insert remains still, making it easy to track during the recoil cycle.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
The big sights help make it easy to put rounds on target. At typical pocket pistol ranges, like five to ten yards, the 22TUC excels. Even back to 15 and 20 yards, I was hitting a majority of A-zone shots from a pocket draw. Out to 25 yards, I could land mostly A and C zone shots, but some might have snuck into the D zone.
The 22TUC’s long DAO trigger is not special, but it is smooth. It does have a fairly long pull that is heavy. It doesn’t matter much with a pocket pistol, and the benefit of the DAO trigger is that it is inherently safe.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
The 22TUC lacks a manual safety, and it simply does not need one. The long, somewhat heavy trigger is inherently safe. It simplifies the pistol and likely helps ensure the gun gets hard strikes on those pesky rimfire primers.
This results in overall excellent reliability. The 22TUC seems to chew through most .22LR ammo without a problem. I have nearly 1,000 rounds through the 22TUC with a handful of malfunctions. The 22TUC likes rounds like Federal AutoMatch, CCI, and Blazer 40-grain. Lighter rounds tend to cause the gun to cycle issues.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
Keep them hot and heavy.
The 22TUC offers an affordable, no-recoil pocket pistol with real sights, a tip-up barrel, and a lightweight design. It is a much better gun than the previous PT-series tip-up pistols. For discreet carry, the 22TUC delivers.
