My Dad lived all but the last few years of his life with nothing except a K22. For some reason, he bought a Browning BDA .45 in his later years. He was never much of shot with the BDA but it never worried me because he still had the K22. A couple good hits with the K22 would beat the heck out of miss with the .45.

I would prefer a good quality .22 to a .25 - probably .32 auto, too.