Is there a decent self defense round for the M&P 22 Compact?

If you are using a rimfire pistol for home defense/personal protection I recommend ELEY tenex pistol ammo! (round nose)

Yes it cost more but, the bad guy isn't going to wait for you to clear a dud or miss fire.

I would not get any JHP/HP anything. JHP's just won't feed in some rimfire pistols. (my experience)

I shoot in a lot of rimfire Steel Challenge matches every year and the ammo that always goes BOOM is Eley. CCI and Aguila HV is very good ammo too.

Back when I was first starting out and didn't have a lot of money all I had was a .22 rifle and a .22 pistol for home defense. IMO there is nothing wrong with a .22 as long as it is reliable!
 
Went to the range today with my LCP II and Winchester Silvertips. While not a M&P, this could give you another option. I shot 100 rounds of the Silvertip and had 2 malfunctions... one failure to eject and one failure to fire. I put the round that failed to ignite back in the pistol 3 times and I couldn't get it to fire. Each time it had what appeared to be a solid strike from the hammer.
 
cyphertext said:
Went to the range today with my LCP II and Winchester Silvertips. While not a M&P, this could give you another option. I shot 100 rounds of the Silvertip and had 2 malfunctions... one failure to eject and one failure to fire. I put the round that failed to ignite back in the pistol 3 times and I couldn't get it to fire. Each time it had what appeared to be a solid strike from the hammer.
Click to expand...

After reading the OP's post, I was motivated to go to the range last week. Took a variety of 22LR and shot for accuracy out of my Marlin Golden 39A and M&P 15-22. Only .22LR semi-automatic pistol I have is a Ruger SR22P and took it also. Took Mini-Mags, Aguila Super Extra, CCI Select, Federal Auto Match, and Winchester Super-X. Both rifles were scoped and shooting at 50 yards from a bench. Not a whole lot of difference in the accuracy at that distance but if I had to rate for accuracy it CCI Select would be #1 as it's groups were a bit tighter.

Shot all brands through the two rifles and the Ruger SR22. Only had one failure to fire. It was in the Ruger pistol with Winchester Super-X. Good strike on the casing. Put the round back in the pistol and it fired the second time.
 
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jurek said:
:mad:
I'm wondering who came with this name for that ammo. :eek:
It is indeed "Golden Bullet".. but I'm guessing it works in Golden Firearm only. :cool:

But seriously I second Forte Smitten Wesson. This ammo is good for any kind of malfunction drills only.
Click to expand...

Lots of folks speak ill of the Golden Bullet. My Taurus TX-22 eats them all day long with no issue. I tried them in the LCP yesterday and 120 rounds fired, no feeding issues and no failures to fire. Guess cheap guns like the cheap ammo!
 
cyphertext said:
Lots of folks speak ill of the Golden Bullet. My Taurus TX-22 eats them all day long with no issue. I tried them in the LCP yesterday and 120 rounds fired, no feeding issues and no failures to fire. Guess cheap guns like the cheap ammo!
Click to expand...

Or new ownership is smarter than older one and decided to stop producing the crappy stuff. ;)

I stopped using Remington ammo in 2019... it may take a long time for me to even try it again....
 
I have shot Rem in non ammo sensitive guns and don't recall having problems.
I need reliable ammo for my problem child's, Beretta 21a and Ruger LCP.
These are the small 22s I would like to feel comfortable carrying as pocket carry protection guns.
 
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jurek said:
Or new ownership is smarter than older one and decided to stop producing the crappy stuff. ;)

I stopped using Remington ammo in 2019... it may take a long time for me to even try it again....
Click to expand...

The stuff I have been shooting was what I bought during the last .22lr shortage during the Obama years.
 
THE PILGRIM said:
I have shot Rem in non ammo sensitive guns and don't recall having problems.
I need reliable ammo for my problem child's, Beretta 21a and Ruger LCP.
These are the small 22s I would like to feel comfortable carrying as pocket carry protection guns.
Click to expand...

Try the Silvertips. I think I will load my LCP to fire two Silvertips followed by a Mini-Mag, or Velocitor if I could find them.
 
They are all good if they function at least 99.755 % of the time in your gun, and you can get hits in the vital areas.
Nobody wants to get shot with anything.
 
22 cal anmo for defense

I have tried just about every 22 LR out there. My problem with using a 22 for self defense in the miss fires, after the rim is struck. The Remington Golden bullets were the worst. I ordered 2 box's of the Federal Punch ammo last Friday. Federal said it could be 15 days before I recieved it. It was designed for self defense use, we shall see how it works. I am 75 years old but years ago when I was in my teens we very seldom had a mis fire. I did a lot of plinking in those days.
Today its not uncommon. Why ??
 
Trooperdan said:
I wonder why Federal went to a 29 grain bullet in the Punch loading and only 1040 FPS to boot? Seems like the 40 gr load would be more effective in penetration.
Click to expand...

If you look carefully you'll see that 1070fps rating is out of a 2" barrel. Out of a 24" rifle barrel it is rated at 1650fps.

Compare that to most 40gr HV being rated at around 1250fps out of an 18" barrel on BBTI.com

So it is quite a bit higher velocity than most 40 gr rounds.

They also claim "Projectile profile and composition optimized for the deepest penetration through short-barrel handguns".

FWTW.
 
I'm with JM.
As a Kid I shot a massive amount of 22s mostly in rifles.
Shot the available US Brands, mostly Longs.
Don't recall failures to fire.
Some Auto Rifles would occasionally have a future to eject -feed.
So my desire to pocket carry a small 22 Autos is a little shaky right now.
 
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