Last weekend in Georgia, our sister publication RECOIL hosted the first ever CANCON event — a fully-suppressed range day that included a wide variety of firearms and silencers for the general public to try out. During our time at CANCON 2022, we shot quite a few different rifles, carbines, and pistols, but one of our favorites was found in the Ruger booth. The Ruger Mark IV 22/45 seen here is a new short-barreled variant. We're told this should be officially announced at SHOT Show in January, but we got an early sneak peek at one of the handful of early-production samples currently in existence.
The new unnamed Ruger Mark IV variant features a short threaded barrel that's ready to accept your suppressor of choice (including Ruger's own Silent-SR). How short is it? We weren't given an exact number, but by our estimation, it appears to be approximately 3 inches long. A Ruger representative said it's “as short as engineering would allow us to make it while maintaining reliability with a variety of ammo.”
Granted, there are third-party gunsmiths who will chop barrels down shorter than this, but Ruger says those modified guns tend to be finicky and will only cycle on hot .22LR ammo. We're glad to see this option become available straight from the factory with a full warranty.
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Above: Even with the 5.4-inch Ruger Silent-SR attached, this rimfire pistol is still quite compact.
On the range, this short-barreled Mark IV 22/45 was whisper-quiet, even with ultra-compact .22 suppressors. We could see it being a great tool to quietly take out varmints and other small game, and it's also a ton of fun for target shooting. We'll keep you posted once we have more information at SHOT Show in a few months. In the mean time, keep an eye on Ruger's web site for any other updates.
Above: We also tested this pistol with a 2.8-inch Bowers Bitty suppressor that Silencer Shop brought to CANCON. This seems like a great match for its barrel length.