.22 LR Handgun for Self Defense? This Guy Seems To Think So

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My wife shoots a Walther P22. She likes to shoot it and will go to the range with me. She doesn't like to shoot the 38s,9mm, and bigger guns. She has her CCW but doesn't like to carry. She keeps it near her at night and travels with it when she is alone. Because she can shoot it likes to shoot it, this is the best choice for her. She carries the stinger CCI rounds in it most of the time and Practices with the CCI Mini Mags. I let her know when I'm coming in late at night I don't just walk in on her. I sure as hell don't want to get shot by anything.
 
Rastoff said:
Shot placement trumps caliber or capacity every time.
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I AGREE WITH Rastoff. I READ A STORY ABOUT AN LEO, WHO WAS KILLED BY A SINGLE .22LR TO THE ARMPIT, WHICH TRAVELLED TO HIS HEART. THIS WAS AFTER HE SHOT HIS KILLER 5 TIMES IN THE CHEST WITH HIS .357 MAGNUM. HIS KILLER SURVIVED. SURPRESED RUGER SEMI-AUTOS IN .22LR WERE USED FOR WET WORK BY SOG UNITS IN VIETNAM. MOB HITS HAVE BEEN MADE USING .22 LR WEAPONS. STATS INDICATE THAT THE .22LR KILLS MORE PEOPLE THAN ANY OTHER CALIBER EACH YEAR. THIS IS MORE AN INDICATOR OF THE POPULARITY OF WEAPONS CHAMBERED IN THE .22LR CALIBER, RATHER THAN THE KILLING EFFICIENCY OF THE CARTRIDGE, IMHO……….………..
 
Rastoff said:
Shot placement trumps caliber or capacity every time.
Click to expand...


Very true but the average citizens panic when involved in a gunfight and will not have a chance to aim at the proper spots to stop the threat. Bullets will be flying all over the place. A skilled person will definitely hit its target.
 
Well, that's the point, isn't it? It doesn't matter if you have a .22LR or a .50BMG if you can't hit the target.

The venerable .22LR might not be my first choice for self-defense, but a larger round is useless if you can't hit the target. So, good training and proper practice is essential. In all seriousness, we spend too much time debating the value of caliber or capacity when we should be spending our time on technique and tactics.
 
That relatively new introduction by Keltec in the .22Magnum sure is an interesting piece. Controllable firepower. The magazines were developed with a fully automatic variant of the pistol. They work. Now imagine somebody delivering thirty hits to a person in a frantic hurry. Hard to say someone would be able to survive it and still accomplish too much ill. All that being said I would not go elephant hunting with an AK just for controllable capacity. Power has its place.
 
Many people have been killed with the 22 LR, especially when fired
from rifles. Probably because so many people own them even if they
don't own any handgun and cheap semi autos are the norm these days making accurate multiple hits easy. But I still think the 22 LR is a poor
choice for SD carry in a handgun.
 
The issue with a 22 for defense is not the caliber, as, placement trumps caliber. The issue is how the rimfire cartridge is manufactured with the priming compound being placed around the rim. I have pulled the bullet from many dud 22's picked up at my club to use the bullet for casting, and while I have never encountered a case with no powder, I have encountered cases with little to no priming compound, or the compound has separated from the rim and mixed in with the powder, leaving none for ignition. I want a primer in my defense caliber.
 
Excellent point about rimfire reliability. If physical issues limited me to .22 for self defense, I would choose a revolver to more quickly get to the next round in the event of failure to fire. Rather than the SR22, my choice would be the LCR 22.
 
My wife carries a LCR in 22 (stingers).
 
Once upon a time, in a far away place I work plainclothes in a "Special Unit" and was advised to not have anything that looked "Cop". NOW if you can imagine Jimmy with long hair, facial hair, wearing old "Hippie Style" clothing and carrying a Ruger standard model 4" semi pistol loaded with high speed solid lead bullets ***. I felt the .22 LR would be
adequate. .
 
My wife had a walther p22. One day while we were out back shooting, she had a few failures to feed and multiple failures to fire. The failures to fire happened with three different types of ammo.

After that, she said "ok, I see what you mean." and not long after we traded it in. I had told her a few times I didn't trust .22 lr's reliability for defense, she saw it first hand.

Honestly, if I trusted it would fire every time, it would be a different story for me. It sure wouldn't be my top choice, or second, or third....
 
Camster said:
No one faced with a handgun is going to be studying the bore diameter in order to determine their chances of survival.All will be considered deadly.
Click to expand...

I have never heard of anyone yelling "get them it's only a 22"
 
The 60 gr Super Sniper round is probably best for the 22lr in a defense situation. Gives good penetration even from very short barrels. It was designed to penetrate a human skull at 200 meters from a rifle. I read a story about a guy who does deer control for cities. He uses a suppressed 10/22. He said he couldnt use the 60 gr load in the city as it will completely penetrate an adult deer skull at 70 yards.

You may find this load will tumble a bullet because it needs a faster twist. 1 in 9 is about right and barrels for the 10/22 are available. In handguns at closer ranges this in not a problem. In a gel test, this load did 750 fps from a Beretta mini pistol and penetrated 10 inches.

This load function fine in my S&W 22S and my Ruger Standard Auto.

If you must use one, think of the 22lr as a remote controlled ice pick.
 
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The great benefit of the 22 is the great skill that folks can acquire with this very pleasant cartridge. It encourages practice, doesn't intimidate new shooters and ammo is still relatively inexpensive, facilitating lots of practice.

A 22 in the eye is very effective, and the 22 lends itself to good shooting.

Not only is the 22 better than nothing, it's better than many higher power cartridges in the hands of a large proportion of shooters.
 
My wife's night stand gun is a 617. Trying to work her up to the 627 w/.38special, but no luck yet.
 
If one has physical limitations that mandate a .22, it's a great choice. I would work very hard to find a top of the line .22 ammo that has great QC due to the primer issues, but there are limits to what you can control.
 
Works against snakes just fine...



Zero misfires in a whole brick of CCI Blazers. And I'm pretty sure that if I'm shooting a BG with my 43C, the BG is either dying or running away. I'm okay with either of those options.

No, it's not my EDC. But it is probably adequate in reality.
 
Not my first choice, but I'd trust my SR22 with my life if it was my only option.

Here is a 2x4 shot at self-defense distances with cheapy Remington ammo:

7d29740baba68dc03eacd33cfff9dc88.jpg


ee8cd9e61f6fdcfb34c482ba2b941cd5.jpg


I understand that wood is different than flesh and bone, but based on the damage it'll do to a 2x4, I'd trust a .22 to do enough damage to save my hide if it had to.
Especially considering that where I live, I'm more likely to be attacked by a small 4-legged critter than a large 2-legged one.
 
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Reliability?

As others have said, the single greatest red flag to the .22 RF as an SD round is the relatively large number of failure-to-fires, they suffer. The priming I believe, is spun into the case rim and many .22 RF duds will indeed fire if you rotate them a bit to bring up a fresh piece of rim under the firing pin. That's because there was a piece of rim without priming.

Every time I go to my outdoor club/police range, I pick up a dozen or more dud 22s, most of which fire on the second strike.
With a revolver, you merely need to pull the trigger a second time if you train yourself to do so. A semi auto requires a stoppage drill, even with second strike capability as you can hammer that cartridge all day and nothing will happen.
 
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This is the first I've heard of reliability issues with .22LR rounds. Without exaggeration I'll bet I've shot over 100,000 rounds of .22LR. I'm sure I've had a failure in all that shooting, but not enough where it stood out. I honestly can't remember the last time I had a .22LR fail to fire.

In the last 2 years though, I've shot less than 500 rounds of .22 so, it could just be my faulty memory.
 
O.K... here goes. Is the .22 LR reliable for SD. I think so. From about August 1979 up through April 1982 I carried a Ruger Mk. II standard type .22 LR pistol in the pocket of my work pants. I walked night security in a shipyard as well as a few other locals in New Orleans, LA. I have got no earthly idea how many rounds I put through that little pistol. Even on my limited budget (newly married student in seminary) I could afford enough .22 LR ammunition to shoot a lot. I got to where I could hit stuff fast w/ that little pistol. I can not remember that it ever failed to do anything but go bang when I pulled the trigger. It may be that I just bought super high quality ammunition. Maybe the humidity and high heat made the ammunition particularly responsive when struck by the firing pin. I don't know. I do know that that little pistol stayed in my right hand pants pocket every night, week after week. When I pulled the trigger, it always went bang. I don't know that I ever cleaned it more than a few times other than wiping the exterior off w/ a oily rag.

Over the last few years I've been known to slip my little 18-3 into my pocket, loaded w/ Mini-Mags. That little revolver has fired a wheel barrow load of ammo since the summer of 2000 when I bought it. It has not ever had a misfire of any sort. I shot a lot of CCI Blazer, Mini-Mags, etc. in it. I do clean it regularly. It is as tough as a tank. It has never missed a lick.

I do not doubt that there are problems encountered w/ rimfire ammunition. Doubtless there are some firearms and some brands of ammunition that are problematic, others are more reliable. Fired in the guns I own and use... Ruger Mk. II target competition model, S&W 18-3, S&W 15-22, Ruger 77/22, Ruger 10-22, Winchester 190... I have not found any problems w/ current .22 LR ammunition.

Currently I have a couple of nice revolvers in .38/.357, .44 Special, .45 ACP, any one of which would work very well for SD/HD. At night a 21-4TR is on the nightstand, loaded w/ some old (ca. 1971) Winchester 246 gr. LRN ammunition. Based on experience w/ ammunition from that batch, I am confident that if needed the ammo would light up and run just fine. I have .22 LR ammunition from a little later (ca. 1977-1980) that has proven equally perfectly reliable when fired in the 18-3 and Mk. II. It would be a sad thing if any of these pistols had to be used in a SD incident. But, if necessary I think any one of the three would be more than equal to the situation. JMHO. Sincerely. brucev.
 
.22LR for defense

I think it is all in the application and, of course, training.

Years ago we were at Shootin' Iron Academy in Oklahoma, Paul Abel presiding. He was just finishing up with a lady as we arrived.

She was in her fifties and in a wheelchair. As Paul later explained, she had been assaulted as she went out the door of her urban apartment, in her wheelchair.

As we watched, Paul stepped aside. There was a silhouette target about 10 feet away. When Paul said "GO" she slid a hand through a fold in her skirt, snapping a [small .22 revolver see below] into a line between her eyes and the head of the silhouette. In the blink of an eye she put all rounds into the head.
Edit: A comrade who also observed this chastised me for my faulty memory. The lady drew a Beretta 22, something like a Bobcat with a tip-up barrel.
Seems to me that would be effective.
 
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one eye joe said:
I AGREE WITH Rastoff. I READ A STORY ABOUT AN LEO, WHO WAS KILLED BY A SINGLE .22LR TO THE ARMPIT, WHICH TRAVELLED TO HIS HEART. THIS WAS AFTER HE SHOT HIS KILLER 5 TIMES IN THE CHEST WITH HIS .357 MAGNUM. HIS KILLER SURVIVED. SURPRESED RUGER SEMI-AUTOS IN .22LR WERE USED FOR WET WORK BY SOG UNITS IN VIETNAM. MOB HITS HAVE BEEN MADE USING .22 LR WEAPONS. STATS INDICATE THAT THE .22LR KILLS MORE PEOPLE THAN ANY OTHER CALIBER EACH YEAR. THIS IS MORE AN INDICATOR OF THE POPULARITY OF WEAPONS CHAMBERED IN THE .22LR CALIBER, RATHER THAN THE KILLING EFFICIENCY OF THE CARTRIDGE, IMHO……….………..
Click to expand...

I believe you are referring to the SC state trooper. He was shot with a NA mini .22 short. I watched the video of the shooting and an interview with the shooter. He bled to death before his back up arrived, the back up officer was a friend of mine.
 
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