Changing my edc gun to 22 LR (new info at the end of thread)

[DD357]

My first concern and biggest is that it is a rimfire round. Now as for: It has killed more people blah, blah - that is completely irrelevant; the goal is to stop the assault. The I wouldn't want to get shot with X is also a pointless statement; I don't want to get shot with anything, that doesn't make it a good choice. That phrase should never be uttered again! OK back to the point at hand I would feel much better with say a 32 than a rimfire and it doesn't have to be the smallest one out there. In the end you do what you have to but I would look for a centerfire solution if you can.

 

[silversnake]

I don't want to disrespect BBTI, but their .22 mag test was not their best work. They did not test any real short barrel guns (shortest was 4.625") and right on the test page they state that at the shortest barrel lengths they were not getting accurate results from their chronographs. You can find several ballistics tests on Youtube (including from ShootingTheBull) that contradict BBTI's results.

Oh that's good to know! I looked at one of ShootingTheBull410's videos, his velocities were about 150 fps faster than what BBTI got. Maybe I'll have to take another look at this round.

 

[fdw]

No problem with the 22. A ruger LCR 22 is my wife's night stand companion...and I've seen her shoot it.

 

[TomkinsSP]

I'm a huge fan of Bill Jordan and his book but I don't think .22 WMR has really lived up to his expectations, at least not in a snubby. Out of a 6" barrel, or a rifle sure, but in a 2" barrel the performance is hardly better than .22 LR. If I wanted a step up in power from .22 but little recoil I'd look into .32 S&W Long.

My source: BBTI - Ballistics by the Inch :: Results

If you only have a two inch (or shorter) tube the .22WMR's extra powder doesn't do anything [except maybe set the bad guy's hair on fire;-)].

OP said he had made decision to go to .22lr. Respecting that, comments on other calibers are off-topic.

Boy, a Walnut gripped blue 5 screw 1905 I frame in .32 S&W Long (or a .22/32) would look great in a natural leather shoulder holster. Get a pair of 32Js and you'd be 'Smokin' (style wise).

 

[CATI1835]

I agree with the OP 100% on this. In fact, I started a virtually identical thread on this forum about two weeks ago. Let me quote from my initial post:


"As much as I hate to admit it, I am getting older. I’m not sure how that happened. And before anyone dismisses this, be assured, this WILL happen to you. You WILL get older and your body WILL be affected. Anyway, I have had to adjust my handgun ownership and carry habits to accommodate my physical abilities. Arthritis is beginning to take a toll on my hand strength and dexterity, particularly my left (non-dominant) hand. It has caused me to change my EDC rotation."

To those who say "this won't happen to me" or "I exercise my hands with some device or other so I'll never have to do this"... WRONG!!!

This is going to happen to you at some point. Period.

Walk a mile in their shoes. Stop telling someone else what you think THEY should do. Quite denigrating their choice of weapon/ammo. My EDC weapons rotate between .32ACP and .22LR for EXACTLY the same reasons.

 

[paladin**]

Another vote for .22 EDC

Have you tried .22 mags ? Little more firepower and not much more recoil. I believe there are several nice revolvers available in .22 mag.

I have a Ruger LCR in .22 and the same in .22 WMR. I use them to practice instead of the LCR 38 +P that I sometimes carry. It's a matter of economics. I would suggest the WMR before the LR since the stopping power should be better and the configuration is the same. Also if you just have the .22 then you might want to consider the Stinger (LR) and TNT for WMR. I have similar but not identical problems and I can still do the 9mm auto and .38 +P but now I know that there is hope asI move into the more golden years

 

[Terrence]

Changing my edc gun to 22 LR

Semper Fi. I really appreciate the chance to read your post and the many fine responses from others in our Forum. I hope you are feeling better and I wish you the best in working out some of the issues associated with moving forward in life. At 80, I may be the youngest (at heart) in the group and want to assure everyone that the issues raised here for seniors are not uncommon as they relate to arming yourself for defense.

If the 22 works for you then you should use it. Familiarize your self with your choice, whether a .25, 22, .32, 38 etc. They all sizzle and will do the job for you in reliability, accuracy. Just know their capabilities and limitations and practice accordingly.

For issues with the hands, consider shooter gloves or any light mechanics glove. I'm still able to shoot several calibers at the range and use a light pair of mechanics gloves because of severe nerve damage and pain in my hands. This helps reduce the impact of recoil and enables me to grip and rack the slide on my semi-autos.

I always dress super-casually so I carry pocket size whenever I go out. A snub S&W 38 + P is adequate but a little heavy on the recoil side. I make sure I carry/wear a glove for the occasion. I would not hesitate to carry 22,.25, .32 if that is what I can handle.

In my state it's legal to carry a loaded handgun in your vehicle without a CWP and it is supported by the Castle Doctrine. Here's where I can make up the difference in power and capacity when I am out and about. This also applies to home defense where the options are unlimited, ranging from an AR-15, high capacity semi-auto pistol, tac shotguns, just to name a few.

My right rotator cuff has improved over the last couple of years but it clearly won't ever be the same. I've really pampered it whenever I could and that might have helped. I've found Biofreeze helps reduce the raw pain in the hands, feet, back etc. Last I checked you could still get it at Walmart or Amazon.com. Take care guys. Good shooting, good defense.

 

[sigp220.45]

I've seen several posts to the effect of "a .22 may kill an attacker after he has had time to beat you to death".

I worked violent crimes on Indian reservations in the West for 17 of my 33 years in law enforcement. By far the most common firearm used was the humble .22, usually a rifle but in many cases a handgun. Some were straight up murders, but plenty were instances where the gun was used to stop an assault.

In every case involving a .22 repeating rifle, the result was a fatal and immediate cessation of hostilities. Every one.

I had one case where a battered wife shot her hubby in the front teeth with a German .22 magnum single action. He realized the error of his ways and staggered to the neighbors for a ride to the hospital while she made a run for the Canadian border. He had a hole in the roof of his mouth but no bullet in him anywhere. I found it in the house in a pool of blood, surrounded by green Chiclets that turned out to be teeth. He lived, but he sure stopped what he was doing.

I'm sure there are cases somewhere out there of a determined assailant swatting away a swarm of impotent .22 rounds like bees while advancing on a victim, but I suspect they are rare.

I still shoot my big boomers on occasion, but I often carry a .32 and have a lovely Beretta Model 87 .22 on hand for my rapidly approaching geezerhood.

 

[Smith61]

Richardw,
God bless you. As a police firearms instructor let me say keep practicing and enjoy the .22lr in your M&P cuz bullet placement trumps all other BS

 

[BAM-BAM]

As I said earlier my wife really likes her .22 M&P C...... but at 63 this thread is really getting me thinking about digging out the Interarms PPK/s in .32apc..... IIRC they are 8+1

 

[TomkinsSP]

Looked up several (avalible on the web) chrony tests on .22lr and .22wmr out of 1.875" LCR revolvers. Different ammo different guys testing with different chronys likley set up differently. Seem to top out very similarly. About 1100 fps. I read this as the limit imposed by that short barrel. SSS seems to top out just under 800.

 

[richardw]

Richardw,
God bless you. As a police firearms instructor let me say keep practicing and enjoy the .22lr in your M&P cuz bullet placement trumps all other BS

Amen Smith 61. I am in total agreement. When I went through Paris Island in 1959 the concept of one shot one kill was instilled in me forever. It saved my butt severalmtimes during four tours in Nam. As a platoon sergeant on my last tour I would tell mu Marines: "Listen up! You will come under fire. It sucks. The only good way to deal with it is to identify your target, take aim, and shoot. Trust me, if you do that you will live longer than if you just spray rounds downstream. Nothing surpasses accuracy."

I am still of that belief. Now that I am carrying a mouse gun it is a vital requirement. If need be, I will place my first three shots in the face, aiming between the eyes. Shoot high and the round penetrates the occipital skull. Shoot right or left and you likely hit an eye. Those three points mean your are getting to the brain. Shoot low and you hit the mouth and that means the bullet is traveling righ in line with the brain stem.

A brain hit from a 22 only requires one round to stop the BG. However I train to triple tap on that sight picture. Next stop is the sternum. Above it is the throat, lungs on each side of it. Heart on the lower left, and major artery to the left and major vein to the right. Triple tap again. Since I carry 10 + 1 that leaves me with five rounds in the gun. I carry two extra magazines all the time. That's another 20 rounds.

If I ever get into civilian firefight I might be killed, but I guarantee you that the other guy will realize he was in the worst fight of his life.

 

[Richard Simmons]

To the OP. I don't see a problem with your choices however given your circumstances I wonder if firing 100 rounds a week is really necessary. The more practice the better but perhaps an alternative would be to practice with the rimfire and still carry the 9mm?

 

[sniper007]

Richardw,
God bless you. As a police firearms instructor let me say keep practicing and enjoy the .22lr in your M&P cuz bullet placement trumps all other BS

It all boils down to this ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑

 

[JGR_LV]

Bill Jordan was right.

I learned that one in my first hunter safety class, back when you still could get wooly mammoth tags in California. As somebody pointed out, lethality isn't the same as stopping power, but statistically a .22LR is one of the nastiest things there is to get shot by, as Ronald Reagan and the surgical staff at Walter Reed found out. The problem is that a soft lead slug moving at fairly low speed doesn't just drill a hole. It tumbles around, bounces off things and can end up in very strange places and do a lot of damage on the way.
The OP clearly understands the basic rule of choosing a carry gun: Carry the biggest thing you can reliably hit with. A .22LR, or even a .22 Short, between the eyes is instantly lethal. A .44 Magnum past the ear just is a wasted round when the SHTF. The M&P 22 is a good compromise in terms of being small enough to carry concealed and big enough to provide a decent grip and trigger pull. My wife is having the same sort of thumb issues. She carries a Colt Agent because, while she can still handle the recoil reasonably well, that bass-ackward Colt cylinder latch is easier for her to work than the one on my Model 60.

 

[haywood]

All this 22 talk makes me miss my Beretta 21.

 

[richardw]

To the OP. I don't see a problem with your choices however given your circumstances I wonder if firing 100 rounds a week is really necessary. The more practice the better but perhaps an alternative would be to practice with the rimfire and still carry the 9mm?

There is a reason why Army and Marine Infantry train with same caliber and weapon they will have to fight with. I say this having been a trainer of Marines for my last 15 years in the Corps. In combat your life depends upon your training. You train with the weapons you will be ccalled upon to use. Because training with a substitute will just not make you expert with your battle weapon.

When I got to E7 Gunnery Sergeant on my fourth Nam tour I was able to have an M1911 issued to me and I took it. I had qualified with that gun for years but never carried one until that fourth year in Nam. I have since shot 45 ACP, .40, 9mm, and now 22. I can assure everyone reading this that training with the 22 would be good familiarization for a noobie. However while it might teach you the basics it is not going to condition you to handle the wrist and hand jolting experience so a larger caliber.

Train with what you might have to fight with. That is the fundamental idea behind training. The people who preach otherwiise, and there are many of them, are just of ****. I believe that it is good to learn to shoot with a small caliber. I learned at 7 with 22. I got the basics down with that Savage pump rifle. At 18 I was pushing rounds out of an M1 Garand in boot camp. As a kid I learned sight alignment and trigger pull with the 22. As a Marine recruit I learned to translate that into aiming a M1 and qualifying as Sharpshooter. But the 22 training never prepared me for the recoil and weight of the M1. It did however teach me how to get sights on and hit a target. In the end that is what it is all about. But it is a hell of a lot easier to sight a target and make the shot count with the gun you trained wth.

 

[gsn]

For civilian self defense/cc a revolver in any small caliber is more than sufficient and a revolver may be much more effective than a 'boomer' or 'master blaster' positively more jury friendly without doubt.

Guardians and other professionals of course require more, much more.

Disclaimer:
I fully support the decision of anyone to legally carry any style firearm for any legal purpose, heck carry a full auto if you wish.

 

[gsn]

M76 anyone?

 

[indigo22]

I've prescribed to carrying a 22lr for a long time now. Early on it was all I had and was cheap to feed on a regular basis. They are easy to keep on target placing multiple shots in an area where they count. Over the years I've had bigger caliber guns but I keep a 22 on hand. Using a 22 for EDC requires a different mindset. Practice differently and plan differently. When I switch up my EDC to a 22 I don't feel under gunned. In fact there is a shift in confidence, a surety feeling knowing I can actually shoot better thereby better defending myself better.