.22 mag for self defense

M

militant

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I just got my wife a Charter Arms .22 mag revolver for a conceal carry. I got this because recoil from other pistols she tried made her flinch and follow up shots nearly impossible. What do you guys think of the .22 mag for self defense?
 
Bill Jordan was an advocate of the .22WMR for self-defense. It's not a round that you often see touted as a mainstream self-defense cartridge, but for someone who has difficulty shooting other cartridges but can shoot .22WMR well, it's far better than nothing and also a significant improvement over shooting another caliber poorly.
 
JohnKSa said:
Bill Jordan was an advocate of the .22WMR for self-defense. It's not a round that you often see touted as a mainstream self-defense cartridge, but for someone who has difficulty shooting other cartridges but can shoot .22WMR well, it's far better than nothing and also a significant improvement over shooting another caliber poorly.
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Agree
 
Plenty of folks are six feet under because of a .22 caliber bullet. If nothing else, the mags have an impressive little bark that should catch some attention.

Hornady, Speer, and Winchester all offer defensive pistol loads for the caliber. You should definitely invest in some of them to compensate for the round's inherent shortcomings.
 
Not my 1st, 2nd or 3rd choice but beats fists, feet and foul language. Bill Jordan said he would have liked the 22WMR in a backup gun, preferably and S&W Airweight.
 
I'd think that the new short barrel defensive loads would make the 22wmr a pretty effective carry piece.
 
Did you buy the snub-nose Pathfinder .22WMR?

Does it have the new, 8-round capacity, vs the older 6-round capacity?

I would love to see a mini-review on that gun.

I had a High Standard Sentinel Mk IV with a 3" barrel that was a .22 mag. Unfornunately, certain bullet weights tended to keyhole badly, and the gun just didn't shoot accurate groups even when it wasn't keyholing. However, the gun had a very impressive muzzle flash and very LOUD report, albeit with virtually zero recoil. I thought that was kinda cool.
 
It's the 6 shot cylinder and is a Pathfinder. The quality on the charter arms pathfinder is better than expected.
 
I recently read an article in one of the gun magazines about the 22 mag for defense. There must be some interest as at least CCI is making a defense round (a Gold Dot I think) in 22 mag.
 
I find it almost too easy to keep this thing on a paper plate rapid fire. I know the round isn't a power house, but I'm sure it would do the job if you do yours with it.
 
Personal opinion: In the grand scheme of things all handguns and their cartridges are a lot closer in effectiveness for SD than many will give them credit for. For that reason I have a hard time say the .22M is a bad choice. But........

Overall my opinion of the .22M is that it may be the worst possible cartridge ever chambered in a handgun. Marginally more powerful than a .22lr but the difference in ammo price may make the .22lr a better choice just for the cheap practice (in normal ammo supply times). Other than that there are very few cartridges, even those with low to moderate recoil, I don't put above it in the effectiveness arena. .32L, .32acp, .32H&R, .38sp, etc. The .22M probably beats out the .22acp and .32S but other than that it loses out.
 
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SIGSHR said:
Not my 1st, 2nd or 3rd choice but beats fists, feet and foul language.
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I agree with SIGSHR on this one. As we've all heard (& maybe said) a thousand times, the .22 that you'll carry beats the .45 at home.
 
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If your wife is comfortable shooting it, Get for her. Yeah, all the pistoleros will tell you, it is not sufficiently powerful, but I have seen the size of the holes left in a 55 gallon barrel, hit with HP ammo, from a derringer. What use is a personal defense firearm, if after the first shot, you flinch so badly, you could not hit a barn wall at 5 feet!!?
 
Check out this Rossi M515 .22 Magnum... Well-built knockoff of The SW 651 Target J-frame... @ 26 oz... (Not in production anymore)... I like it a lot:
 
Pretty impressive penetration with the .22 mags. I think some states restrict rimfires for concealed carry though, if that is a consideration in your case,
 
Given, .22 even a Magnum is not a whole lot of a bullet. But being a target shooter surrounded by people who buy arms for self defense, but hardly ever get on the range I know one thing for sure... If it comes to a real shootout I can do a lot more damage to them with my six rounds of .22, then they can do to me with their fifteen rounds of 9mm.

I think if she practices enough, she be a real danger with that .22Mag ;)
 
I prefer it in a carry weapon. Both my pocket revolvers are .22 Magnum. I think the light weight, low recoil, and extra rounds are an advantage.

S&W 351c weight 12-oz fully loaded and holds 7.

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Should I use hornady ftx critical defense or some cci 40 gr fmj? The ftx only penetrate around 10 inches in ballistics gel.
 
IMO the "defense" .22m ammo today is more of a marketing tool than an actual improvement but on the other hand I don't like FMJ's even when attempting to gain penetration. I'd just find some plain jane CCI or Win. HP's and go.
 
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