For Self Protection -- Don't Overlook the 22

So have any of you actually used your weapons of choice in an actual self defense situation?

 

Mmmm... Weapons that I chose to have with me at the time, but nothing in .22LR.

 

While I would agree that a .22 is better than nothing I would not suggest it as a self defense round, not even the magnums. If you are going to go out and spend the money to buy a quality .22 you can find something slightly larger at the same price that even a small person can use, .38, .380, and 9mm are all easy guns to use even for a small person, my wife is 5'2'' and she can fire all of those comfortably her favorite being her two .380's. That said, no matter what caliber gun you chose the main thing is getting in plenty of range time initially so that the shooter becomes comfortable with the gun and can hit the target where they are aiming at a acceptable level. Then there should be regular trips to the range to stay proficient, I would say once a month at minimum. Good Luck.

 

No, but if I have found a particular cartridge doesn't work on the range, I don't think I should trust it for self defense.

 

My guess would be that most failures in a self defense situation are due to human rather than equipment errors.

 

That may ultimately determine on what the equipment in question is. Shoddy quality is always a factor that must be considered.

 

yeppers.............

 

A bit pricey for my taste. WE go this weekend and test fire Ruger's .380Lcp. My neighbor around the corner has two he's never fired (huh?), so we're going over and break one in. I can pick this gem up for around $300.

 

.380 is a definite step up from .22LR.

 

That must be a newer model than mine (I have an LCP), because the one pictured actually has sights.
Straightaway, I predict that your wife will be put off by the recoil. Recoil is almost the wrong word, because there isn't much, but you have such a very limited grip on the gun that shooting it is very uncomfortable.
Still, it's a very popular little gun, because it's about the smallest and lightest thing you can carry that is able to launch a 90ish gr. bullet at 1,000ish fps, and do so reliably enough to empty a magazine.
Help your wife to understand the whole idea behind having this thing. One only intends to use it as a last resort, to prevent much worse things from happening. Yes, it is unpleasant to fire, but the whole idea of shooting another person is unpleasant. It's like getting a filling in a tooth, to save the tooth.

 

The grip is what both I and my wife did not like about the Ruger's, and I am a Ruger fan and own several of their Handguns. Go pickup a Bersa .380 Combat with the finger grooved grip, you will love it, it is dependable as sin, the wife loves shooting hers, and the wife of a couple we know got one after handling my wife's and they ended up buying one also and they love it. Had a friends and family gathering where we all brought some of our guns to fire on our range, both the Bersa's got a major workout by both the women and many of the men, not a failure in all the shooting and everyone was impressed and several of the ladies said they will probably get one themselves. There are some good reviews out on You Tube, it is a well liked gun. Oh and brand new they are $300-$350. Spare mags are a bit high though, but that is fine for a gun that I know my wife likes to shoot. All the major sporting goods stores sell em, go check it out, you will like it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_RWl6L0BnU

 

The Bersas are HUGE. The Glock 42 can be had for right around $400. Handle one. It's the perfect balance between concealable and controllable. It has REAL Glock sights, with the same ease in installing tritium night sights.
The fit and finish are impressive. Fire it. Not at all bad. Why did I only buy 300 rounds of ammo? Very accurate.
Still, for me, my search for the "perfect" little gun ended at the Glock 26. It's a little bigger and heavier than the Bersas or the Glock 42, but it's a 9mm that fires my 124 gr. JHP defense loads @ 1,150 fps. It doesn't function with my 33 round Glock mags, but it handles the 17 round mags just fine. No other little gun can do that.

 

she has small hands. The SR22 was a perfect fit in her hand without the pinky finger attachment. She held the .380 and liked its fit as well. Since the guy around the corner has one he'll sell, we'll look at this after church. It's really up to her. She'll get whatever she wants. Personally, I like this .380 because of its size and conceal-ability. But at the end of the day....lol
She does prefer a .410 for around the house. It's appropriately loaded with 00 in first with alternating slug rounds.

 

I wouldnt trust anyone who told me a 22 was a good choice for self defense. Its a varmint round....not a self defense round....period.

 

Nonsense; unless a fellow is a berserker then anyone hit with a twenty-two round is going to run or hobble away as fast as possible in order to contemplate his many and interesting sins and get treatment before bleeding to death or at least passing out. On the other hand against a berserker even larger rounds do not necessarily work unless one manages a kill shot.

Consider the Michael Brown case. It wasn't until Officer Wilson finally managed to step his rounds into the vital target spot that the lumbering giant went down. A .22 caliber round to the head would have done just as well, which is why the .22 is a traditional close quarters weapon of some assassins . . . or so I've read. What a significantly larger caliber round does is provide the user with peace of mind. "If I hit some huge bastard with this then he is going down!" But that is not necessarily the case.

Still and all I'd probably plump for using something no smaller than a .38.

 

The .22 is used by assassins because it is easily suppressed, not because of a unique killing ability.

The .22 has a one shot stop of 10% of so. 9mm is 41% or so.

 

Well someone on drugs is certainly just another reason why you wouldnt want to pick a .22 and definitely a serious threat today and not just for law enforcement. What kills/stops someone is not necessarily the bullet itself but the dysfunction it causes as it impacts the body. The bullet is just what pokes through you...the concussion is what kills you/stops you. Yea a .22 will kill someone....but it doesnt do you much good to shoot someone with a .22 and have them bleed to death 5 hours later after they beat you to death with a crow bar.

A proper self defense round will stop someone whether they are on drugs or not. You can be on any toxic brew you want, but you arent doing much without lungs.

Michael Brown was shot by many rounds all shot within 1 or 2 seconds. There is no telling which round of the series actually stopped him....it could have been the first or the last.

 

For those considering the validity of head shots when using .22 rimfire ammunition.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/Blog/20...da-man-in-the-head-bounces-off/8761386956111/

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jan/10/nation/na-bullet10

 

You're kinda' right, but mostly wrong. The effect that would cause destruction of the lungs is hydrostatic shock. This generally not induced with any pistol caliber, with the possible exceptions of cartridges beginning with a .357 JHP with an impact velocity of 1,500 fps+ It's more common with rifle bullets of some kind of expanding configuration, with impact velocities of 2,000 fps+
In documented gunfights, it's been pretty well proven that the only way to stop a crazy is with a hit to the CNS, or to break major bone structures. Breaking bones won't make the bad guy stop shooting, but at least he can't chase you. A .22 can't break the bones, but a CNS hit is no different, whether it's inflicted by a .22 or a .50 BMG.
With the M. Brown shooting, there was quite a detailed description of where the bullets hit. The ONLY one that could have killed him as it did was the ONE that entered through to top of the skull and got the brain.
There was a similar story about a cop who got in a shoot-out with a whacko. The bad guy was hit 13 times with a .45 ACP, and kept fighting. The cop was running out of ammo. In the process of taking cover, he found that he could see the bad guys' feet by looking from under the truck that the bad guy was hiding behind. The cop shot both feet, forcing bad guy to the ground. Only then, the cop was able to put a shot through the top of that guys' head, which killed him. With that, the cop realized that it's not about the power of the gun, but more about where you hit the bad guy. He switched to carrying a Glock 17 (9mm) with 136 rounds of ammo.

 

While I do not advocate using .22LR unless you have nothing else, the story with the cop and .45ACP is an excellent example of the myth behind handgun "stopping power".

I tire of the caliber fan boys who believe in the .45ACP deathray bull(*)(*)(*)(*). Handguns suck compared to rifles, and there is little reason to get too hung up on any particular cartridge.

 

A 22lr will not shatter bone, I have heard in this thread.

Here is a test on a good sized bone from a cow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8ANIBno8CQ


And here they wrap an old bone in leather and duct tape with partical board:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olJtTSBJniA

My whole point is just that if you are good with a 9mm, use it. But if you are not comfortable with a heavy caliber and can shoot a 22, get some hi-vel ammo and you are covered in most cases.

 

The issue of comfort is of little relevance when the matter pertains to self defense. Comfort should be left for after competence has been developed.

 

GA Woman Kills Would Be Rapist With .22 Pistol

 

You are all wrong as to why a .22 is used to assassinate people, it is used for hits because they shoot the victim in the head at close range and while the .22 is powerful enough to enter the head it often does not have the power to exit the other side, meaning it bounces around in the victims head resulting in major damage to the brain usually ending in death. It is a simple and well known reason it so often used even by "professional" not the best caliber for shoot out or home and self defense.

 

Often out of a rifle which has greater power than a handgun.