.22 for self-defense...?

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halfdar

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Hey folks.
Hypothetically speaking, why not use a .22 handgun for 'social' work? It's controllable, so accuracy is enhanced (and bullet placement is all-important); it is cheap to feed (and to purchase) and thus to practice, practice, practice with; it is certainly lethal at close range (does not .22LR claim most of the deaths-by-firearms each year?); and its lightweight to tote around.

I suspect the answer to this question will be some form of 'energy, sectional density, velocity, and it doesn't start with a four, you sissy', but I was thinking how practical this is...

If it's such a good idea, though, why don't we do it this way?

thanks in advance for any replies.
 
Hypothetically speaking, if it was legal to carry, a .22 handgun would be better than nothing perhaps, but certainly not my first choice.
If the situation was dire enough that I would need to actually draw a gun I would want something with some more, you said it! "energy"
Also, .22 being a rimfire is not reliable enough to bet your life on, centerfire is more reliable generally speaking. You would also need critical hits to guarantee stopping the bad guy quickly, a larger caliber that hits harder will penetrate further and do the damage. Shot placement is vital either way but a 9mm or .40 etc will still give you a lot more wiggle room, not to mention they will just deliver much more energy and expansion with hollow points. A .22 may or may not penetrate a thick jacket with enough force to actually stop the guy at all.
Just my 2 cents
 
now add in someone high on pcp, hypothetically speaking they could take 10 .22 shots all over and probably still be coming at you, yeah eventually they will go down assuming it penetrates clothing/deep enough.

You hit a body with 1 or 2 shots of .45, it literally blows the meat apart, physical stopping power is the #1 reason 22 isnt a SD catridge

http://2.bp.########.com/-7fV-bq-kQ3c/UfPhXPgi_wI/AAAAAAAAF6I/8sSczLSyTtM/s1600/bullet-holes_small1.jpg
 
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sad muzzle energy... poor expansion and resulting minimal wound channel.. etc

guy across from me a few years back got shot about a half dozen times or more in the torso (front and rear) at close distance (love triangle stuff).. lived with no major issues and a very few days in the hospital... I cant think of many who can take that many .45 slugs and brag about it

one better than pepper spray though :)
 
these are about what I was expecting.... it just seems like such a good idea, theoretically. Damn. Another illusion shattered by cold reason.
 
Its better than nothing... and it has been used for that purpose before. Beretta 71 was issued to Israeli air marshals and I believe teachers for the purpose of stopping terrorists. It was very small, easy to hide, the .22 bullet was seen as "less dangerous" to by-standards that might be on an airplane or in a school. As I understand it they have 9mm pistols now. So you are half right.
 
I've often thought the keltec pmr in .22 magnum with its standard 30 round mags and being polymer would be a good choice for a woman. In the US of course where it's legal to carry and have normal capacity(30) mags. Probably be a good choice for a guy too. 30 rounds of .22 magnum would do some damage. Lol
 
I love shooting my beretta 71 in 22lr and its got that "spy look"... But even if that pistol is very reliable, i would not use it as my first choice for self-defense (assuming you mean "home-defense since its not legal to CC in Canada) because its just dont have that stopping power you need for self-defense. Im sure a 9mm would make a great self-defense handgun, ammo don't cost that much, its reliable and it have enough "stopping power" for an average threat (yeah ive read about the stopping power problem of the 9mm in war... but not all criminals are Al queda/ISIS or wear body armor). I dont think you really need that badass .45 or .357 mag ammo... But something like 9mm, 357sig or .40 with night sight would be my choice for home defense/self defense (with a flaslight mounted to have one hand empty cause you could need to open door in home defense scenario). 22lr are good for plinking and hunting small games... Sure its better than nothing, but im pretty sure a baseball wood bat would be more disuasive than a 22lr. Yeah 22lr can be lethal at close range, but in a self-defense scenario with stress and adrenaline, not sure all bullets would be "heart shots".
 
One unmentioned issue is that 22 semis usually don't feed super reliably. I wouldn't turn my nose up at a NAA mini revolver in my pocket tho.
 
the other thing is that 22 rim has a tendency to go "stale" - purchase a brick and you'll get at least 2-3 failures over 500 whatever rounds- you can usually get those to fire by rotating so that the firing pin hits a different place on the rim- that's what I mean by stale- also you have no idea the retailer wholesaler had that stuff sitting on the shelf before it was shipped- ie factory fresh is a joke- now in a life or death situation, the last thing you want is an ftf- and worse if you're using an auto- I know it only takes seconds to do a tap rack bang, but you don't have that time on a 2 way range
 
Diligence said:
....I still wouldn't shoot myself with a .22 short
Click to expand...

.22 short...is that some kind of vaccination to get immune to bigger bullets ?:rolleyes:

To the OP: The .22 rimfire is well known for kills, but 99% are not instant and the attacker might finish his job,even if he dies 20 minutes after that.For defense, 9mm and up. Or even better: 12ga.

CG
 
Shot placement is key with anything... Years ago I saw a guy take 11 rounds from a cut down 10-22 , legs arms and torso.. He took off and didn't seek medical attention for two days until we caught up with him. Unless your hitting vital spots I don't think there is much in the way of stopping power.
 
.22's have killed enough people throughout the years, accidentally or intentionally, so yeah, I'd take one over the aforementioned pointy stick.
 
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