.22 Handgun for self defense?

[hunter5567]

I like the little mini-revolvers but have you ever tried to deploy one in a hurry ?
It beats a swiss army knife in the pocket even though the swiss knife could probably be deployed more rapidly. Its hard to get one of those revolvers out of your pocket and get it cocked back for the shot not to mention that the small grip is hard to get a purchase on to even cock the hammer. One of those High Standard derringers that you can get a wallet holster for would be a better 22 defense choice. Someone asks for your wallet and you pull it out to hand him 2-22mag slugs in the gut. Just flip off the safety.

 

[Cookoff]

It will do just fine if its all you have, head shot...will work ...and very quickely too,,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=U2PSddmxGtI

 

[rcm192]

22 Mag has my vote. Tis my secondary CCW piece, fits with the holster in my small right jean's front pocket.

 

[tupperware9mm]

First nobody wins in a caliber war but,.... Ronald Reagan and Jim Brady were shot with a $49.00 22LR revolver by an inexperienced shooter. In my younger days I saw a bar disagreement that went outside where one of the contestants pulled out what had to be like a 32 or smaller revolver and emptied it into the other contestants gut, and that turned into a fist fight. I don't know how long the fight lasted because at that point I was gone like a pecan. I was out at Fusilier awhile back and was talking to a retired judge and the topic shifted to the caliber thing. He told me that he had seen everything with his time on the bench. He had seen people killed dead before they hit the ground with everything from a 22 short, to a nail on the end of a stick. He said he had also seen someone take shot from a 45 auto at point blank and then kill the guy that shot him with his bare hands. All of these were an exception to the rule, but I think in the grand scheme of things your chances of success or survival grow with larger caliber, and the chance of success with a small caliber grow only with skill and luck.

 

[vern10mm]

That is about the most in-accurate word used in gun slang IMO, Simple Physics tell us that every action has an equal reaction, that means if a caliber had indeed enough power to put somebody on their azz it would have enough power to put the person shooting it on their azz as well since its the same force in opposite direction ..........

Not entirely true. Your general statement is correct, but you fail to account for resistance place against that force by the weight and stance of the human holding the gun. Once fired, the energy will follow the path of least resistance, out the barrel. Once it leaves the barrel, the kinetic energy is pretty much contained within the velocity of the bullet and imparted on the target on impact. It is possible to fire a round capable of knocking someone down without being knocked down as the shooter.

 

[troy_mclure]

I like the little mini-revolvers but have you ever tried to deploy one in a hurry ?
It beats a swiss army knife in the pocket even though the swiss knife could probably be deployed more rapidly. Its hard to get one of those revolvers out of your pocket and get it cocked back for the shot not to mention that the small grip is hard to get a purchase on to even cock the hammer. One of those High Standard derringers that you can get a wallet holster for would be a better 22 defense choice. Someone asks for your wallet and you pull it out to hand him 2-22mag slugs in the gut. Just flip off the safety.

Its all about practice. I can draw and empty mine fairly quickly, it's a bit slower than drawing my p32 from my back pocket, but not much.

 

[sloppy joe]

i replaced my naa mini revolver with a lcr 22. love it. i still carry a glock 19. the lcr 22 is just backup. fantastic plinker. can't wait to test it out on 8 foot gators.

 

[Rabbit]

i replaced my naa mini revolver with a lcr 22. love it. i still carry a glock 19. the lcr 22 is just backup. fantastic plinker. can't wait to test it out on 8 foot gators.

Choot'en gators with a pistol, what you think you are? Miss 'Lizabeth?

 

[cjscore]

More .22 deaths than any other caliber. Would I use it? No .40 is good for me, but it has worked (even without the knock down power).

 

[Bulldawg]

I wouldn't trust a .22 to take down someone hopped up on meth trying to break into my house.

 

[troy_mclure]

Failures to fire in .22s are usually caused by one of two things; dud cartridges, or dirty chambers which do not allow the cartridge to fully seat, thus the firing pin blow is softened. Semi-autos and revolvers are equally susceptible to either issue. If you keep your piece clean (and that takes effort, because .22s are filthy), all you need to worry about is ammunition.

CCI is, hands-down, the most reliable .22 ammunition out there. That's why it is more expensive; it is manufactured with greater care and attention detail. Of the various "bulk" ammo I've tried, Remington Golden Bullets are the best, but you'll still get as much as a five percent dud rate per box. With CCI .22s, you'll get a dud once in a blue moon. For you youngsters, that means "almost never"...

All that said... if you intend to rely on a .22 handgun for "personal defense", I suggest you practice making head shots... a lot.

.

Your experience is far different than mine. The golden bullet/thunderduds are the filthiest ammo I have ever used.
And wolf gold medal match is the cleanest by far. Iive shot bricks of it without needing any cleaning.

 

[returningliberty]

I don't think anyone will argue that the .22LR has the capacity to kill. The reason why I wouldn't carry one is it is far less likely to incapacitate a target rapidly than say, a 9mm or .40.
I think it's important to remember we're not trying to Kill the BG per se, we're carrying to rapidly incap him through loss of blood pressure and direct trauma. Killing, IMO, is a probably unavoidable byproduct. Anything that's reasonably certain of a kill but not of incapacitation is something I would stay away from.
Just my .02

 

[762NATO]

Perhaps if you are hunting ants or rats the .22 is suitable. Or maybe the Israeli Mossad asset hunting terrorists.

 

[returningliberty]

Perhaps if you are hunting ants or rats the .22 is suitable. Or maybe the Israeli Mossad asset hunting terrorists.

only if its silenced... and backed up by an micro uzi.

 

[Pale Horse]

You know, all this talk of duds in bulk .22 got me to thinking. In a quarter century of shooting .22, I've had exactly one dud round that wasn't caused by light primer strikes (meaning different brands did it in the same gun). Then again, I keep my .22 in an ammo can with a dessicant pack instead of in the bottom of a gun cabinet or closet. I bought 6 bricks of the Federal bulk pack from WalMart in '08 and am halfway through them without a single dud in either of two Marlin rifles and a Ruger single six.

 

[Pale Horse]

Maybe you're on to something...

I think the way I store mine is the biggest factor. I had a .17 hmr a few years ago, and after 7-8 months on top of the safe a box of CCI ammo had about a 10% dud rate.

I wouldn't call the bulk pack crap either. I used it in my Marlin 60 and qualified on an Appleseed target on the first attempt.

 

[GOAT]

I'm just going to leave this here
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/printable/node/7866

.22 short, long, and LR has a 30 something% of fatality with an average number of shots to incapacitate of 1.3.

Granted, this is based on empirical evidence and one man's research, the number of cases this was drawn from is good enough for me to use this as a reliable reference.

 

[leVieux]

This thread is so full of nonsense like this: "+1 I studied a lot of Physics in preschool. Guate makes a good point. " and worse.

Guate, normally a very knowledgeable guy, has over-simplified the "physics"; and, Bersa bought it.

Read on, however, and the nonsense gets much worse.

Please, let's just let this one die..........................................

leVieux

 

[troy_mclure]

You know, all this talk of duds in bulk .22 got me to thinking. In a quarter century of shooting .22, I've had exactly one dud round that wasn't caused by light primer strikes (meaning different brands did it in the same gun). Then again, I keep my .22 in an ammo can with a dessicant pack instead of in the bottom of a gun cabinet or closet. I bought 6 bricks of the Federal bulk pack from WalMart in '08 and am halfway through them without a single dud in either of two Marlin rifles and a Ruger single six.

If you are still working on 6 bulk packs from 4 years ago I can see why you aren't experiencing many. I've already fired 8 bulk packs, and 4 bricks of match .22 this year.

 

[CrkdLtr]

I believe it to all be about shot placement. My father told me a story when he was stationed in Anchorage, Alaska with the Air Force where a group of local Native Americans were paddling close to shore when a Grizzly bear charged at them and then stood up. The story went that one of the Native Americans grabbed a .22lr revolver, was close enough to put the barrel into the bears chest and fired. That shot dropped the bear in it's track. Now whether this actually happened or not I do not know. Could just be a made up story they told at that post.

Between bare hands and a .22lr hand gun, I'm going for the hand gun.