I don't understand the school of thought that says the smaller and lighter the better. I am not a large person, but I can carry a full size 1911 with no problem, and often forget it's there.
As others have said, try carrying a full-sized gun when you're a construction worker, or if you climb cell-phone towers, or other similar jobs (when you often don't trust your co-workers enough to leave your pistol in the truck because it's in the way and not practical). If you did that, then I suspect you would beg to differ. If you currently do one of these jobs and carry a full size 1911, then congrats on choosing to do something that I simply wouldn't. As the old saying goes, the .22 on your side is better than the .45 at home (or in your vehicle).
A .22LR to the heart is not going to give you a quick stop, simply because the hole will be so small that the bleeding will not be severe enough to stop an attacker quickly.
I beg to differ sir. Look into the murder to SC Trooper Mark Coats. The videos that you can find on youtube do not show him after he was hit once, in the armpit, by the .22lr golden BB that the suspect fired. The videos stop at that point (but they do show him unloading his .357 revolver into blackburn, 5 hits COM, who lives and is now serving life in prison), so you don't get to see how long it takes him to die. I have seen the entire unedited clip. Within 5 seconds of being shot, Mark Coats is on his knees and screaming incoherently. Before 10 seconds, he is on his back and barely audible. It's actually a very horrifying thing to watch. A .22lr to the heart, entering from the armpit and bouncing off of the shoulder blade, ends the fight in short order. I still wouldn't advocate carrying a .22lr for SD... just dispelling some pretty false speculation about how long the fight can last. Yeah, Trooper Coats was mostly on his feet for a few seconds... but he was out of the fight and if you see the entire video you would agree.
I have seen guys on meth and pcp take magazines full of 9mil and 357 jhps and not slow down. If its not going to go through a big guy and take spine with it its just not for me.
Really? Seen it? Guys (plural)? With your own eyes? Take rounds and not slow down? I've seen a guy hopped up on crack go down like a sack of rocks with one shot COM. Seen neck shots with both 5.56 (enemy combatant) and 7.62x39 (my best friend) drop someone and kill them nearly instantly. I've seen a kid take an AK round (7.62x39 again) placed perfectly between his side SAAPI plate and front SAAPI plate and live. The round actually went through his lungs, barely missed his spine, bounce off of the back SAAPI plate and embedded itself between two ribs next to the other lung. Taking both lungs out would've probably been good night, but thankfully it didn't and he recovered. I've seen 5.56 from a SAW remove most of someone's head. I've seen a lot of things that I wish I hadn't, in real life, personally, with my own eyes... and some things on video that a lot aren't privy to. What have I learned from that? Shot placement means way more than caliber. But I'm still a strong advocate of .380 and above for SD (I used to carry a .32... still would but our options these days give us more wallup in a small package).
To the OP... I hear what you're saying. If you can comfortably carry a full size then there is no reason to opt for the baby guns. With that being said, don't expect everyone to be in a position to carry full size guns. CC, and SD in general unless you carry a rifle with you everywhere you go, is a trade-off. I'm not going to try and convince someone who will only carry a .22 derringer that they should do otherwise, I'm usually just happy that they are a good guy carrying a gun.