Ammo Recomendations For CCW 22 Rimfire

7

7mmWSM

New member
My wife just completed her CCW course and in the process had the chance to shoot a 22 rimfire semi-auto. She qualified with a 38 Special but thinks she would like a small 22 for carry. I tried to talk her into a 9mm compact but she insists that she wants a 22. So, what brand/type of ammo would you recomend for her to have in the pistol for this purpose? I have no knowledge of any testing done such as comparing HP's, traditional hunting bullets, or whatever else may be out there on the market. Thanks for the advice.
 
Well as the saying goes baby gets what baby wants - and if that's what she will carry, so be it.

22 long rifle? Did you try to get her up to a 22WMR by any chance? Hornady makes some decent 22WMR in their Critical Defense line

If 22 LR, well, I've never had a CCI Stinger fail to go bang on me
 
CCI ammo is clearly the way to go in 22LR. I have shot every brand of 22 ammo I can find and, without a doubt, the most dependable is CCI.

My top choice would be CCI Velocitor, which is a 40 grain hollow point round. This is the heaviest bullet I know of in this caliber, yet has good velocity as well.
 
Apparently there are two schools of thought,,,

In past post some folk have said that high velocity hollow points are the way to go,,,
Other folk have stated that high velocity hollow points don't get enough penetration.

I straddle the fence on this.

I'm not a fan of CCI Stinger,,,
The longer case gives me pause,,,
My semi's often won't eject those cases.

Out of my S&W .22 snubbie revolver I shoot CCI Mini Mag Hollow Points,,,
Out of my Taurus 22-PLY semi I shoot CCI Mini Mag Round Nose.

Perhaps I'm over-thinking,,,
But I've never had a round nose jam in a semi-auto,,,
I have however had a small (very small) number of jams with HP ammo.

One thing I am certain of though,,,
I've never had a dud round with CCI brand rimfire ammo.

JMHO - YMMV

Aarond

.
 
If someone insists on carrying a .22, I would strongly recommend getting a revolver. You won't have the potential cycling issues that some .22 semiautos are prone to, and you can simply pull the trigger again if there's a failure to fire.
 
I agree with deer140,I use the cci quick-shot in my ccw and like he said they break into three pieces. I made the mistake of shooting a squirrel at 25 yrds. with one out of my 6in. ruger ss,neck shot and wasnt much left.I dont think I would want to be shot center mass with one. just my opinion.:rolleyes:
 
Auto: Beretta 21A. Tilt barrel. No racking of slide needed.

Revolver: Ruger LCR.

For either, CCI Stinger or Velocitor. Test which one she and the gun like best. Both are tops.
 
People illegally hunt deer all of the time at night, weapon of choice is a .22 semi auto rifle. I bet more deer are killed by a .22 in this state than any other caliber. But I've also heard of idiots unloading their guns at a deer and not killing it. One year, a family member shot this "ghost deer" later during hunting season, it's skin was filled with .22 bullets, none had went further than the skin.

I wouldn't carry a .22 for self defense, unless maybe a back up. But if I had to use a .22 for a primary defense it'd be a high capacity double action revolver, even better if it's a magnum.
 
S&W 351C in 22 Magnum

I agree with Stressfire and Sparks. My wife thought that even a .32 Long had too much "kick." I also knew that in a bad situation she would not remember to rack a slide on a semi-auto nor how to clear a jam. So I bought her a Smith & Wesson 351C snub-nose revolver in .22WMR (Smith calls it ".22M.R.F." on the barrel, presumably for competitive ego purposes), and she keeps Hornady Critical Defense rounds in it (Gold Dot and one or two others are also good choices, IMO). Also got her a DeSantis paddle holster, to help keep lint and dirt out.

She loves the gun - it is very light, the grips are plenty "sticky," it holds 7 rounds and the hammer is shrouded (important, esp. if a purse or pocket gun) so it won't snag and there is no single-action firing to be concerned about. It seems about as goof-proof as can be. The advertised ballistics on the Hornady ammo are pretty decent, too, considering the caliber - Hornady shows 926 fps at 100 yards out of a 1 7/8" barrel, which this gun has. Nobody is going to want or need to shoot a snubby at that distance, but given the tradeoffs and the laws of physics, I find this to be an ideal combination for my wife since she is afraid to shoot anything larger and I consider .22LR to be really wimpy as a deterrent round.

You probably know that you cannot fire .22LR in a .22WMR cylinder/gun, but it might be best to remind about that.
 
7mmWSM
Ammo Recomendations For CCW 22 Rimfire
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Depends on the pistol she'll be carrying. For short 2" barrels there is no difference between 32 gr Stingers and 40 gr solids in energy. As for brands - go with CCI if it has to be 22LR.

However, with the availability of pistols the size of P32, P3AT, LCP, even a NAA Guardian in 32ACP, there is ABSOLUTELY no reason for anyone to think they have to carry a 22LR pistol to maintain concealability for a carry weapon
 
I'm really surprised no one has already said this, but it's really going to depend on how well the gun eats the ammo. while CCI is an excellent place to start, I'd point out that my P226 22 conversion fails to go into battery with CCI stingers. I ended up figuring out that it LOVED Winchester superX. So this is probably stating the obvious, but no matter what you start with (and CCI is a great recommendation) make sure you really function test a couple of 100 round boxes to make sure it feeds/fires reliably (I didn't quite see if the 22 would be a revolver or not).

Thanks.
 
+1 FloridaVeteran ... the Smith 351C is a great choice ... hammerless, large capacity, no recoil and with one of the new SD rounds such as those from Hornady, Winchester or Speer, she is well-armed with a gun that is easy to fire and hit what she's aiming at ... I would NOT let my wife carry a .22LR, but with magnum rounds, given her distaste for recoil, I think she would be on the right track. If the Smith is too pricy, Taurus makes the 941UL ... blv it holds eight rounds, weight's about double the Smith but still around a pound unloaded ... it's about half the cost ...
 
Thanks, BikerBill. I like the Taurus a lot, too, but I gave my wife a choice and she wanted me to order the Smith. I've seen and handled the Taurus at gun shows, in both exposed-hammer and shrouded. Best I recall, they hold 8 rounds, an advantage over the 7-round Smith, and I didn't find the extra weight objectionable. I can't tell if production of either has been discontinued, in which case they might be a little harder to find, but I'd buy one in a heartbeat if cost were a major consideration (not to mention the eighth round of cylinder capacity). The Smith is great, but it wasn't cheap.

Because of my wife's acquisition and the "bulk ammo is cheaper" principle, I recently forced myself to buy a PMR-30. I'm new to the forum and surely there is a separate thread or more on these autos, that I haven't found yet, but I want to add that I think the success of the fun, ammo-gorging PMR-30 might spur even greater interest in .22 magnum as a short-barrel caliber, which in turn could spur a greater interest in building guns short-barrel ammo for it. Along the "two is one" line of thinking, 16-rounds in a pair of Taurus 941s ought to be a very effective SD deterrent and an MTM ammo wallet or two, though inefficient, could be a great way to carry a whole lot of clean extra firepower in very little space. The light weight and loudness of the ammo (though probably not deafening, like a .357 in a room) is a huge plus in my SD choice-book.

Unless I had bought my wife that .22WMR snubbie and watched her shoot and enjoy it and hit the target well, and studied up on the ballistics of the new ammo being developed, I wouldn't have thought to get into it myself since I am a big-bore guy. Like you, I wouldn't let my wife carry a .22LR (except with snake shot, for out in the yard), but I kept my yap shut on that because I am a rookie here and don't yet know the protocol of where in a thread that advice ends and wandering begins.

Glad I found this site - now I can stop wasting money on all those girlfriends and spend more on ammo!
 
As to CCI Stingers being un-reliable due to the longer case: Clean the chamber hounds-tooth clean, then shoot ONLY CCI Stingers or Quik-Shocks. It is the same problem as sticky case extraction in a .357 fired with .38's.
 
I don't go along with the hyper-velocity hollow point theory for self defense with a .22LR. Essentially there are only two things going for you with any round chosen for defense - placement (mostly up to the shooter) and penetration (mostly a function of the projectile). Expansion is likely to negatively affect penetration, and it isn't going to help much with a .22 anyway. I'll take a 40 grain high velocity solid, please, preferably from CCI.

As has been said, reliability, reliability and reliability are the three critical factors of any ammo chosen for defensive use. It MUST run in the gun. If it's spotty as far as reliability is concerned, it's a no-go.

The smaller the defensive caliber used, the more critical is the call for accurate placement. The ocular triangle is usually cited as the standard target, for a front-facing assailant.

There was a time when the only handgun I had was a Beretta Jaguar in .22LR. If it was all I had today, I'd still carry it.
 
If you are limited to .22lr, I like the CCI SGB Small Game Bullet. Very reliable and accurate 40gr lead flat nose bullet. No fantasies about "reliable expansion", just an accurate, hard-hitting round. Stingers and Velocitors are the standard answer, but some revolvers have an issue with the cases binding.
 
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