Sig Sauer Mosquito 22LR Review

[plouffedaddy]

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22LR pistols and rifles are becoming more and more popular these days due to rising ammo cost and an increased interest in general preparedness. Sig's 22LR pistol offering is the Mosquito and here's what I've found with it so far...

Pros:
-Bottom line up front---cheap to shoot. Who doesn't like that?
-Accurate. The fixed barrel design lends itself to good accuracy.
-Ergonomics. It's a 90% scaled down P226 and many new shooters I've lent it out to like the smaller grip circumference.
-Many different finishes available
-3 dot adjustable sights
-MIL/LE pricing is available
-With the exception of the slide mounted safety the controls mimic it's bigger brothers in the Sig line up making weapons manipulation drills applicable to the guns many would use in a real world environment.

Cons:
-More complex to break down and maintain than some competitors (not bad by any means but I can see how some new shooters would be intimidated by it).
-10 round magazines standard
-Magazine cost
-Like many 22LR pistols, it seems to be somewhat picky about ammo.
-Magazine cost

Here's a video with some day & night shooting, disassembly/assembly of the pistol, and discussion of the pros/cons of the pistol.

SIG Mosquito HD Video Review Link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZhRnm_5xSg)

[motorolahamm]

Great review. I run a P226 MK25 in 9mm and have use the .22lr x-change conversion kit. Pretty well the same except no safety on the slide.

[fourXfour]

I bought one for my wife. I ended up shooting it a lot more and I use it exclusively with new shooters.

Thanks for the review.

[plouffedaddy]

I bought one for my wife. I ended up shooting it a lot more and I use it exclusively with new shooters.

Thanks for the review.

Pretty much mirrors my experience right there.

[motorolahamm]

Yup pretty much to practice and plink with. Can shoot five times as many round fir the same cost as 9mm.

[Dknight16]

Everyone likes the excessively heavy trigger pull?

[streck]

Everyone likes the excessively heavy trigger pull?

That was my hesitation in buying one.

[fourXfour]

Everyone likes the excessively heavy trigger pull?

Double action is crazy heavy. Single action is super mushy, but fine for plinking.

[motorolahamm]

Can't say much for the mosquito trigger pull. Mine is a .22lr conversion on a sig p226.

[fortibus85]

My wife and I each have one of these, and in retrospect I wish we hadn't bought the second one so quickly after the first. I probably would have opted for something different for the second .22 handgun, but then again in California my options are not as broad as in other states.

The recommended CCI Minimag ammo is quite a bit more expensive than most .22, and negates much of the value of using the gun. Once I realized the cost (I was new to rimfire shooting at the time) I switched to cheaper lower quality lead based ammo (CCI Blazer .22 LR) and then encountered FTF issues. I was very frustrated. I tried some other ammo, and stumbled on a Winchester copper plated black lead round nose 40 gr cartridge that is about $25 a box for 500 (retail, not online) vs $10 a box for 100 minimags. I still had some FTF issues, but I got over it by taking the owners manual to heart and liberally sprinkling 5-8 drops of oil on the cartridges and mixing them vigorously in the box, and also being generous with the gun oil on the Mosquito itself in the chamber area. I was not used to being this liberal with gun oil because I had only owned a Glock 19 up to that point.

My wife likes the gun because it has the weight and feel of a larger caliber gun, just like the OP mentioned. She didn't want it to feel too light as she was learning to shoot a handgun. I agree with her. One aspect that sounds good initially but gets irksome later is the trigger pull. It has a much higher trigger pull than my Glock (roughly 10 lbs I think). That is billed as a safety feature for a new shooter, but if you are an experienced shooter and you are using it to practice/prepare for dynamic/IDPA shooting, the heavy trigger pull causes me to concentrate on different aspects of my shooting when I have the Mosquito.

Don't underestimate the high cost ofthe mags (~$45 each). If you are going to use this gun to participate in dynamic .22 shoots, and you need 4-5 mags, you have just increased the total cost of your purchase by 50%. The best deal I found was a 3-pack for about $120 on either Brownells or Cabelas. At the time I could not find any knock-offs, but don't know if that is still the case.

When I get home I will look up the exact name of the Wincherster .22 ammo. Finding that ammo redeemed this whole purchase, in my mind anyway.

[fortibus85]

Found it. The ammo that works well for me in the Mosquito is the Winchester M-22 copper coated lead round nose 40 gr .22 LR.

It comes in a green and black box, and I was not able to find it online. I normally buy it at Big 5 for about $50 for 2 packs of 500.

Like I mentioned before, I liberally apply 8-10 drops of oil in the box and mix it in the rounds before using.