Almost every good shooter learned on a .22. The recoil is mild, the noise is manageable and the ammunition is cheap enough to shoot a lot. Beretta’s B22 Jaguar is built around that idea, with an extra goal: getting young shooters into organized competition.
What it is
The B22 Jaguar is a semi-automatic .22 LR pistol with a fixed barrel and a modular aluminum chassis that the owner can customize. According to The Firearm Blog, it has ambidextrous manual safety and magazine release controls, a Picatinny rail for optics, and tool-free takedown.
There are two versions:
- B22 Jaguar Tac Metal, $749 MSRP, with a fiber-optic front sight, adjustable rear sight and a threaded barrel for suppressor use.
- B22 Jaguar Metal Competition, $969 MSRP, which adds a compensator, a thumb ledge, an adjustable trigger, interchangeable grip panels and a TANDEMKROSS fiber-optic front sight.
Built with the youth shooting world
Beretta developed the Competition model with the Scholastic Action Shooting Program (SASP) and TANDEMKROSS. SASP is one of the largest youth shooting programs in the country, and rimfire pistol is one of its core disciplines, run under Steel Challenge-style rules: shooters engage steel plates as fast as they can.
Why a .22 is still the right first handgun
Many new shooters start with a 9mm because that is what they plan to carry. That often backfires. The blast and recoil of a centerfire pistol make beginners flinch, and a flinch is hard to unlearn.
A rimfire lets a new shooter focus on the fundamentals: grip, sight picture, trigger press and follow-through. It also makes practice affordable. Even after price increases, .22 LR costs a fraction of 9mm per round.
Is it worth the money?
At $749 and up, the Jaguar is not a bargain-bin plinker. You are paying for an aluminum chassis, competition features and a pistol designed to be set up and resold within a youth program. Families with a young shooter headed into SASP or Steel Challenge will likely get the most out of it. If you just want a backyard plinker, there are less expensive .22 pistols.
Teach safety first
Whatever .22 you choose, start with the basics every time. The NSSF’s core rules apply to rimfire just as much as centerfire: keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, treat every gun as loaded, know your target and what is beyond it, and always wear eye and ear protection. A .22 is a real firearm, and young shooters should be supervised by a responsible adult until they have proven they can follow the rules every time.
