The .22 Is So Weak!!!

Rule3 said:
"Silly energy numbers" OK sure.

So does he carry a 22 rifle and killed all those animals with a 22?
Lead or HP bullet??

Yep. hunting Cape Buffalo with a bolt action 22lr What fun!

:rolleyes:
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Peter Capstick wrote in one of his books of a couple of local boys who used a .22 to kill elephants. According to the story, one of them had done it by accident then, on a bet with a local warden that he could do it again, he did it again. Capstick said the trick was to wait for the elephant to take a step forward, then place the bullet through the skin in the "armpit" and into the large arteries over the heart. Apparently, an elephant's skin is thinnest at that point and a .22 will penetrate it. It takes a while for the elephant to bleed out, but he swore it could be done. Hardly sporting and I can't vouch for the authenticity of the story but, assuming it to be true, it certainly proves the old adage that placement is everything and that a .22, properly placed, will do about anything you ask of it.
 
Well, Jayframer, I appreciated your original post.

Anecdotal reports and energy figures be damned. Your point that .22LR is a lethal round like any other caliber was well stated.

I might be scared spitless looking down the gaping bore of a .45ACP handgun in the hands of an assailant. But I don't know that I'd feel a damn bit better if he was holding a .22. I would be confident that he could kill me with it if he chose.
 
Two reasons influence that....

Gulfecho said:
I agree. In fact I recently read an article that .22s kill more people in the U.S. than all calibers combined!
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One, .22s in all varieties are common as dirt.
Two. I believe that a lot of these are accidental shootings from somebody playing around with a .22 around the house.

One of my wife's students unfortunately got killed by a .22. Several boys were hunting (what I don't know) when the boy in front got excited and stood up in front of the boy that was shooting. Back of the head.......fatal.:(
 
Another trick...

Wyo said:
Peter Capstick wrote in one of his books of a couple of local boys who used a .22 to kill elephants. According to the story, one of them had done it by accident then, on a bet with a local warden that he could do it again, he did it again. Capstick said the trick was to wait for the elephant to take a step forward, then place the bullet through the skin in the "armpit" and into the large arteries over the heart. Apparently, an elephant's skin is thinnest at that point and a .22 will penetrate it. It takes a while for the elephant to bleed out, but he swore it could be done. Hardly sporting and I can't vouch for the authenticity of the story but, assuming it to be true, it certainly proves the old adage that placement is everything and that a .22, properly placed, will do about anything you ask of it.
Click to expand...

One hunter, I think using a .270 or similar, let the elephant to pass by him, then shot it behind the ear in the rear quarter of the head. Apparently that was a short cut to the brain rather than trying to dig through the frontal skull.
 
Back in high school, a heavyset friend of mine stuck a loaded .22 semiauto in his back pocket while we were out in the woods. It went off when he took a step crossing a steep draw. The bullet entered the heavy meat and fat of his right calf, traveled over 12 inches making a 180 degree circuit around his leg before exiting above his ankle.

While I don't carry a .22 as a primary, that incident clearly showed me that at close range, the small bore can cause a lot of damage.
 
ChattanoogaPhil said:
That said, I agree with susieqz that ignition failures are insignificant with quality rimfire ammo.
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Then you agree with both of us.

The point is that many of the people that want to use a .22 for self-defense either don't want to use the good stuff, or just don't know what that is.

kthom said:
So shoot what you can shoot most effectively and accurately. Shoot and carry what you personally can handle the best. Then pick the best performing bullet in that caliber you can find and use it! It takes some time and research to find it, and thankfully, we have many to choose among. Ain't it great?
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Yes. I would personally draw the line pretty far down. I believe I saw a study looking at SD shootings, averaging number of shots to "stop". Everything from .380 to .45 took, on average, the same number of shots. .32 ACP took one more.

Hence, I would look more at the gun than the cartridge--what's one comfortable with, can carry, can operate, etc. Trying to objectively rank "stopping power" strikes me as a fool's errand. If I remember correctly, there was a Shooting Illustrated article examining expansion and penetration in 12 or 15 popular .45 ACP factory SD loadings. I believe the best-performing cartridge produced numbers double that of the worst.

Which is itself pointless--who knows how well that would correlate to actual performance?
 
A .22 might bounce off of bone and do whacko things. It might go in your ear and rattle your brain. It might hit a artery or even a heart. It might do all of this and more. Heck it has.

Now tell me honestly if the same shot with a bigger bullet would have caused less damage.

Yep It could happen. Not likely.

I'd rather break bones than bounce around waiting for a vital.

I'd rather remove most of your brain with the exit wound.

I'd want expansion with a center mass.

But I'd still fill you full of holes with a .22 if I had no other choice.
 
More people have been killed with a .22 than any other chambering. It is the choice of professional killers because it is quiet and at close range entirely lethal. I do not recall anyone volunteering to be hit by a .22. Certainly not me.
 
I had a photo of a three man Israeli sniper team operating during the last Gaza raid. The marksman was armed with a scoped 10/22, it had a shortened barrel and was suppressed. I did not see an extended magazine.
I understand they are used at distances up to 50 meters. I would suspect head shots only but I really don't know who to ask.
Based upon my 10/22 look-alikes, I would say 1moa is obtainable. You would not want to be hit in your Left eye with this rig (or your Right one either).

About ammunition reliability, I have shot about a case so far this year, mixed between CCI-SV, Eley, and Lapua. I have not had a single misfire (M41s, Pardini, Anschutz, and 10/22 clones). I used to take my K-22 along to fire any ammunition which didn't fire first time around but haven't needed it this year.

My ammunition is certainly not all of equal precision, but it has been reliable.
 
Sectional density, according to the SpeerReloading Manual No. 13, is defined as: "A bullet's weight in pounds divided by the square of its diameter in inches." Note that SD is independent of a bullet's shape. All bullets of the same caliber and weight will have the same SD, regardless of their shape or composition.

.22lr penetrates as well as a .38. After that, placement matters.
 
i just checked penetration.
a couple days back, i tested 38spc vs 2x4s.
i found they would pass thru 2 2x4s n bury themselves in a third, the end being 3/8'' deep in the third.
i just stepped outside n did the same test with 22lr.
i was shocked to find that i got exactly the same penetration with 22lr, tho from a 5 1/2'' barrel.
anything that will pass thru 2 2x4s n keep going will kill anything on this continent.
 
susieqz said:
i just checked penetration.
a couple days back, i tested 38spc vs 2x4s.
i found they would pass thru 2 2x4s n bury themselves in a third, the end being 3/8'' deep in the third.
i just stepped outside n did the same test with 22lr.
i was shocked to find that i got exactly the same penetration with 22lr, tho from a 5 1/2'' barrel.
anything that will pass thru 2 2x4s n keep going will kill anything on this continent.
Click to expand...

Pin/Fir 2x4 wood is a soft wood. Try shooting some oak.

light high velocity

Heavy slow velocity

Tiz why the 45 ACP at around 800+ fps is so effective.

But as we "learned" from another post(s) all anyone needs is a 22 lr.;)
 
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An older video but interesting.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUM1r_444CY"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUM1r_444CY[/ame]
 
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