Meet the Taurus TX22
I got one of the very first TX22s years ago, and it was love at first brick for me. I have since bought four more, with the latest being this new model: the TX22 TORO.
The TORO model incorporates all the best features from every model prior. It has the slide cuts of the TX22 Compact and the optics cut of the TX22 Competition model. And not to be outdone, the TORO model uses a thicker heavy barrel, which of course is threaded. Magazine capacity is an impressive 22 rounds.
I mentioned I am no stranger to this pistol, but there is more to it than that. I had a bit of a sour opinion of Taurus until I met the TX22, and while plenty of you may doubt me, I can tell you the TX22 is probably the best overall .22 LR pistol out there. At first, I thought maybe I was just lucky, but the resounding echo of popularity everywhere tells me I am not the only one who enjoys my TX22s.
Related Review: Taurus TX22 Brings Plinking Fun to the Whole Family
Hours of fun and gun handling training have been done at our house with the TX22. All my children are huge fans, and it never fails when we head into the mountains that I hear, “Did you bring the Taurus, Dad?”
Specs
- Caliber: .22 LR
- Capacity: 22+1 (16 and 22-round magazines included)
- Weight: 17.3 ounces
- Length: 7.06 inches
- Height: 5.44 inches
- Width: 1.25 inches
- Barrel Length: 4.6 inches
- Twist: 1:10
- Slide Material: Aluminum
- Barrel Material: Alloy steel
- Action: Single action only, striker-fired
- Safety: Manual ambi and trigger safety
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Sights: Fixed front, driftable rear
Features
As I mentioned, the TX22 TORO is packed with some great features. The full-size frame fills your hand like you’d expect. It doesn’t feel like a gun made for children’s hands. Within the frame you’ll find a great trigger, something all TX22s seems to share. The magazine release can be reversed for lefties if needed, and the undercut trigger guard is roomy enough for most hands.
Up front is a Picatinny rail for mounting accessories, like a Surefire X300, in my case. The new heavy barrel design of the TORO is threaded 1/2x28 TPI, and unlike the models before it, doesn’t require a suppressor collar. I was absolutely going to shoot the TORO with my YHM Phantom 22 mounted up front.
Aside from the handsome slide cuts inherited from the Compact model, the slide is also cut to fit RMSC red dots. This would allow me to run either my Holosun 407C or my Vortex Defender red dot on the pistol.
This TX22 TORO came with both the standard 16-round full-size magazine and the extended 22-round magazine. That is a pretty impressive round count, considering most .22 semi-autos won’t do more than 10.
Range Time
It was time to see if the new model lived up to my experience with previous versions. With all of those, I lost track of round count long before experiencing any kind of malfunction.
The first thing I noticed occurred while loading the 22-round magazine. All the other TX22 magazines have a small round plastic dowel through the follower that is easily pulled down with a support hand, making loading a breeze. Apparently the 22-round mag doesn’t incorporate this part, forcing me to load the magazine like every other magazine out there: pushing each round down and back.
With a quick snap of the slide, I was in the noisemaking game. I plowed through one of the many boxes of Federal Auto Match that I’ve been accumulating. In typical TX22 fashion, the TORO hummed along nicely, making little flashes here and there.
As you might imagine, the recoil is nonexistent. One of my favorite things about these pistols is the ability to dump the entire mag without ever taking the sights off the target. The gun is incredibly stable, and the fantastic trigger allows you to put rounds downrange as fast as you can move your trigger finger.
The manual safety is perfectly placed to reach easily by the thumb, and it is effortlessly engaged or disabled with a positive click. Even my children found the controls easy to operate and reach with smaller fingers and hands.
Suppressor Host
Like every TX22 before it, I used the TORO as a host for my suppressors – mainly the YHM Phantom 22, which is a match made in heaven for the little Taurus. At only 4 ounces, it doesn’t add much weight to the already light TX22. The combined weight is only 21.3 ounces before adding a red dot.
Adding the suppressor made the gun extremely pleasant, as usual. But it does, of course, cause a bit of back pressure, and the resulting buildup will add to your cleaning regimen. You should always wear eye protection when shooting, but I can’t stress this enough: make sure you are wearing them with this pistol while suppressed. The amount of debris blown back is noticeable, and it will get in your eyes without glasses.
That said, it is a fantastic host for rimfire cans. You can simply put your thumb up and hold the slide forward for movie-quiet shooting when using subsonic ammunition. The TORO makes pesky yard varmints easy picking without raising awareness with the neighbors.
Pros & Cons
To avoid sounding like it’s all good, today I’ll start out with the cons of the TX22 TORO. The 22-round magazine did take some time to break in. There were a few hiccups along the way, but I am confident they were due to the magazine. The 16-round mag ran flawlessly like every other model I’ve used.
The plastic rear sight isn’t a huge deal to me, as I mainly use the red dot. I think I like the older screw-adjustable versions better. But let’s be fair: for shooting .22s at pistol distances, the sights work fine enough.
The full-size frame of the TX22 TORO feels fantastic in the hand, and the controls are all intuitive. I swear it doesn’t feel like you are shooting a .22. It feels much like a 9mm pistol that weighs significantly less. The texturing makes it very easy to hold and gives the pistol a quality feel. I’ve often compared the grip feel to something like an M&P9. It feels great and lines up on target with little to no encouragement.
The heavy barrel helps settle the pistol even further, and accurately shooting small targets with the TORO was easier than expected. The small things like no need for a suppressor collar were nice, too.
Last Words on the TORO
Taurus’s TX22 made me not only enjoy shooting pistols but has made me a .22 nerd. I absolutely love hanging around camp with a few cans to plink. Whether it be cans, paper targets, or the local squirrel population, the TX22 will turn your shooting into a fun activity.
The TORO model definitely offers some additionally handsome looks as well as added function with its optics cut and magazine capacity. I expect that this TX22 will join the rest of my TX22s as a standby in the pickup, and always on hand for camping and other outdoor fun.
