12 ga. vs. .22 for home defense.

[dayman]

I once met a man who was shot 6 times at point blank range with a 22 revolver in the abdomen (bar fight). He took the empty pistol away from the shooter and beat him unconscious with it. Then he drove himself to the hospital and lived many more years walking and talking normally with no evidence of the shooting unless he had his shirt off.

I met another man who had been shot just once with a 12 guage load of birdshot. He was found left for dead but with a long hospital stay survived missing his front teeth, his nose, and both eyes for the rest of his years.

Draw your own conclusions.

The conclusion I draw is that I'd rather be shot in the belly than the head. Of course, the caliber choice doesn't really effect that particular preference

 

[Tokarev Czar]

12 gauge and a game dog

I felt safest with my Lab/pit mix at the foot of my bed and my Remington 870 equipped with a light. Left the sliding door unlocked and open, never felt safer. Although a .22 is definitely better than nothing.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I would rather have a 22 semi-auto rifle instead of a single shot and shoot for the head. The 22 rifle is very accurate so a head shot shouldn't be hard.

.22s are not particularly any more accurate than other calibers and differences in accuracy most guns at self defense distances is fairly inconsequential.

As for making those easy headshots, ever notice how professionals sometimes have trouble with live targets? Maybe the shot should not be hard, but apparently turns out to be.

I would have no problem using a .22lr if that was all I had. Plenty of people have been killed with one shot from a .22lr.

Being killed is not the same as being stopped. Even more people die of cancer every day, but I would not want to count on cancer as being a timely way to take out an attacker.

Although we are lacking all the facts, it appears as if the .22 rifle was all that he had available. If that is the case, it was a better choice than the alternative, which was nothing.

So what you are saying is that the victim was ordered down stairs where he was shot in the back with a 12 ga deer slug and the only thing in the down stairs apparently was a .22 rifle? Apparently left alone, I am fairly certain that the victim had numerous alternatives other than a .22 rifle. The fact that so many folks don't understand the alternatives available to them doesn't mean that they don't exist.

 

[markj]

I am fairly certain that the victim had numerous alternatives other than a .22 rifle

And you know this how?? In my barn is a 22 semi and only that. Now if Iwasnt carrying and some idiot came at me in there, well that would be what I would use. It is very accurate too.

 

[raceroch]

I've had only 2 bad centerfire primers in all my shooting days, one ignited after a second try.

Venom195?

Not sure what centerfire you shoot, but on a weekend of shooting i do have a handful of .22 duds, but also have a centerfire primer that doesnt go off. hard to believe that if you shoot a lot (assuming you do if you are on this forum) you dont see more than two in a lifetime, so far.

 

[dayman]

Offhand I can't recall ever having a centerfire primer fail to go off. I don't reload (my understanding is reloads can be finicky), but I put a couple thousand rounds of relatively cheap (winchester/remUMC) target loads downrange a year. .22 failing on the other hand is a semi-regular occurrence.

I'd second all the above opinions that I'd rather have a .22 than nothing, but if you're choosing a weapon specifically for HD, it seems like a bad option. I know from personal experience that hitting a deer is significantly harder than hitting a paper circle, and I can imagine that hitting a person in the head - presumably in low light after having just woken up - would be very hard indeed. Buy a pump shotgun: sounds scary, looks scary, is scary.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

And you know this how??

Simple, markj, as I stated, I am fairly certain. There isn't anybody that only has a .22 single shot rifle in their downstairs and nothing else.

In my barn is a 22 semi and only that.

Really? You use a whole barn to store a .22 semi and absolutely nothing else? That must be some amazingly accurate .22 if you built a whole barn for it.

Now if Iwasnt carrying and some idiot came at me in there, well that would be what I would use. It is very accurate too.

LOL, nobody is going to go at you in your barn where you just have the .22. No, if you are in the barn, they are going to be stealing the tractor and related implements out of the gun safe in your house.

I am pretty certain that you don't just have a barn with only a .22 in it. From everything you have described previously, you would not be that wasteful. As I said above, people often have quite a number of resources available to them, the problem is that they fail to recognize what they have that can be used in their defense. Of course many folks who fail to realize what they can use for weapons and cover are the same folks that talk about how well prepared they are and yet not being "defenseless" if without a gun.

 

[Frank Ettin]

It looks like there's really not any more substantive to say.

Closed.