Can a .22 be your main gun?

J

jlflegal

New member
Does anyone shoot .22 only?

Can a .22 be your fun gun, your carry gun, and your house gun?

Considering shot placement is of prime importance, be it target or defense shooting, why couldn't a .22 be your everything gun? Or would one have to endure endless sneers of why don't you shoot a real gun, or is that all you shoot, or why don't you get a serious gun?

A .22 is fun, inexpensive, very accurate (ten in the face sure beats missing with the allmighty .45). How many guys and gals do you suppose give in to peer pressure (real or imagined) and "have" to have bigger calibers when they can't shoot it for beans but could do amazing and very gratifying things with a .22?
 
Can you hit a BG in the head while he is moving and you are nervous?

I'll take my chances on delivering one .45 Auto as close to center mass as possible when the pressure is on. It's much easier to hit the chest area than attempting to make a head shot. No one wants to rely on having a "perfect" shot to end a life threatening situation.


Good Shooting
RED
 
.22 LR is a heck of a lot better than throwing rocks. If thats all you got, just practice shot placement. The beauty of the Ruger Mk II series is that they tend to be very reliable (mine haven't malfunctioned yet), and the 4.75" to 10" barrels (depending on model) deliver better velocity than the mouse guns do. If I HAD to only rely on a .22 LR, it would be a Ruger Mk II. Its reliability is like a centerfire!

Now, with that said given the choice of course I'll take a 9mm or .45 over a .22. Still, if .22 LR was the only legal gun, I'd feel very well protected with one, provide it was reliable and had at least a 4.5" barrel.
 
.22 in hand beats a pair of Kimbers on layaway.
.22 has killed many people and lots of game.
.22 may not STOP the attack before you are hurt or killed.

While back a gent shot another gent with a .25, second gent took offense at the intrusion and shot the first gent with his .45. First gent died instantly. Second gent bled out and died in an hour or so.

He who shoots first usually wins.
But not allways.

Sam
 
One time while hunting, I had shot a large feral pig with a centerfire rifle but unfortunately the round did not kill the animal and he charged me.

After chambering another round in the rifle it didnt fire due to a bad primer so I pulled out my High Standard 22LR pistol and placed 3 head shots into the wounded animal which stopped it in it's tracks. After that I became a believer in the capabilities of the 22LR and also in shot placement.

So it's my humble opinion that shot placement and not caliber size is what really matters. No pun to Godzilla fans
:D
 
I used a Taurus PT-22 as my primary CCW gun for about 3 years before I got my 042 S&W.

Now I'm thinking that the Taurus might be good fodder on my next S&W used revolver purchase.
 
Not taking sides, but I'd be a little nervous about the quality of .22 ammo. I've had a lot of different kinds of .22 ammo fail to fire after numerous hard strikes.
 
Shot placement is key, but the .22 LR is too far down the power curve for me.

A 9 mm or .45 ACP is wider, and will expand to about .65-.70 inches with proper ammo selection. That gives a better chance of hitting something vital, whether a nerve cluster or blood vessel than .22".
Are you so sure of your shot placement under pressure?

There is also the importance of physical shock. The reason people drop from a shot is often because of the pain reaction from the shot. It is true that when a person is all worked up (adrenaline) or pumped up on drugs this does not happen, but at least I have a chance with the rest.

I'll take 2 out of 10 with a 9 mm or .45 ACP rather than 2 of 10 from a .22 LR.
 
Pop quiz: what's the caliber, in inches, of the bullets that come out of the front end of an M-16?
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Uh,yeah. It's a .22, but it's a .22 that has a MV of over 3000 fps (sometimes well over 3000, some loads are in the 3500-3700 range), with typical bullet weights of 55-60 grains, with a spitzer type bullet designed to tumble when it hits flesh and typical ME is in the 1200-1500 range. The .22LR, out of a rifle, runs under 1700 fps in the BEST loadings (typical is closer to 1200-1300), with typical bullet weights in the 30s and 40s, with poorly designed bullets from a self defense standpoint and typical ME in the 100-140 range. How about comparing apples to apples for a change?
 
Can a .22 be your fun gun, your carry gun, and your house gun?
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It could work but it certainly wouldn't be my first choice. A .22 certainly can kill someone just as dead as a .45 or 9mm but the .45 or 9mm gives you a much better chance of STOPPING the attack. I'd rather my attacker die immediately, or live but be stopped than die 2 hrs later and after shooting me (the second is much more likely with the .22). If it was all I had or could afford I would use it until I could save up for a larger caliber. I would consider one as a backup, but even there I'd prefer a .380 or .38 at minimum (I would use it over a .25 or .32 though). There have been several well publicized shootings where the victim, shot with a .22, didn't even realize he was shot at first (Reagan being one of the better known examples).


The MOSSAD trains and uses .22's as their primary carry weapon for agents (and assassins).
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In an assassination role a .22 is great, but we are talking about self-defense. A role with very different goals.

In self-defense our goal is to immediately stop an attack, whether we kill them or not is incidental BUT we want immediate results.

In an assassination the quietness and smaller size of a .22 is a strong plus (the assassin can get away undetected, especially with a silenced .22). Here the goal is simply to kill, how long the person lives after the shot, or if they are immediately incapacitated, is unimportant.
 
If I remember correctly... I read an article in Reader's Digest a few years ago, from a perspective inside the Irish Republican Army during a particularly rough period. One of the interesting points of the article is that a .22, fired point blank into the back of the skull, won't penetrate (though a .38 has no such problem). Dunno about barrel length, bullet type, etc.
 
underpenetration??

a .22, fired point blank into the back of the skull, won't penetrate (though a .38 has no such problem)
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hmmm... must have been a real thickheaded SOB they tried that one on :p
I have killed a lot of animals instantly by one shot in the back of the head with my .22, for instance: dogs, badgers and sheep. U bet the bullets did penetrate all right. The small caliber makes the bullet penetrate very well compared to a bullet with the same weight and velocity but with a larger diameter.

:cool:
 
Living in Florida as I do, hiding a large gun is difficult, so when it's hot I carry a little Pt Taurus .22 stoked with Quik Shock. and when it gets cold my Makarov 9x18 is my choice. If I can get off 3 or 4 rounds with the lil 22 at a couple of yards I can practically guarantee that threat will be gone. Practice,Practice,Practice that's the way to go.:)
 
The .22LR is my all time favorite round for a host of reasons, but the chances of it stopping a determined close quarters attack are low. Larger calibers improve the odds, but if you work on the assumption that all handguns are underpowered to a greater or lesser degree and you won't be far wrong.

The .22 is rightly called the "Kill You Later Round" for good reasons. A .22 will curve and bounce around in the body cavity, ER technicians find the wound path very difficult to find, typical comments from surgeons are "when we opened him up he seemed to be bleeding from everywhere".

Much as I admire those little rounds, if you want to kill someone choose a .22LR, if you want to stop an attacker, apply lots of 9mm from a hi capacity compact semi-auto, which IMO is the best all round handgun.

Mike H
 
The average person really does't shoot very much, but if you are going to depend on a .22, you can practice with little noise and not much expense. You want to be able to hit the Necco wafer at ten to twenty feet, first time, every time. And use a hi-velocity round.

Good luck,

taa, cs:D
 
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