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Now, I have read many articles, as have many of you, that the .22 is not a good round for defense. I believe that has some truth in it, and wouldn't want to be in a shootout with a guy with a .44 or .45. But, I say if your home is broken into, ten quick shots to the body mass and head will take the fight out all but the most determined BG's. If that's all you have, you got to use it. Before all the large caliber guys light me on fire, let me relate a story.
All my life I had heard that a .45 round hitting you anywhere, would take you out. So, a few years back, I was cleaning my .45, and stupidly lowered a the hammer with a round in the chamber. (That's the way I kept them then.) Well, long story short, the hammer slipped and bang! I got a nice dime sized hole in my Achilles tendon. It didn't hurt, felt like when your mom slapped your feet off the coffee table. I had expected to see shreds where my foot once was, or worse, no foot at all. Instead, it went right through, exiting my foot behind my little toe, smacked the floor and sailed across the room, hurting nothing but my pride. I guess I was too casual with my firearms and got careless.
Anyway, the point is, I think a .22 will kill just as quickly and efficiently as anything. What say you? (And please no lectures about the .45 accident. I know what I did, and I paid the price. Luckily no damage to me or anything else.) TJ

Ouch!........

I doubt anyone wants to get shot with anything. I agree, larger calibers are better, up to a point. With .22 you just have to shoot more careful, and more often.......

Shot placement wins every time over shot size. It helps to have a bigger bullet but hitting your spot consistently is even better.

R,
Bullseye

It's a bad habit to lower a hammer on any live round unless the gun has a decoker. The same thing can happen with any gun that you lower the hammer on a live round. Shot placement is every thing but if you have someone junked up I don't think a 22 will have much effect on him till he runs out of oxygen to the brain, which may take a minute. So he will still be coming at you when your out of bullets. I would still prefer the 45 mainly since there is enough energy to do a lot more damage with just 1 bullet vs 10 22's. You can not count on perfect shot placement during a high stress situation. The 1911 has a a very good safety, learn to trust condition 1.

Another thing is 22's are bad about ricochets. Where is the bullet going if you miss and as it passes through the body. A 45 will spend most all of it's energy in the body and in most cases stop there.

A shotgun with slugs will have a more stopping power and is more intimating.

I'm with you blue, that is why when you carry a 45, you carry it cocked and locked, That is the safest way to carry and it is ready to use. Precise shot placement in a SD situation could cost you your life.

I completely agree about the .45 being the gun of choice for defense. Trouble is, I don't have one anymore. I had a nice Springfield Mil Spec. I can affirm that it shoots and hits it's target (in this case, my foot!) Now all I have is a .22, with which I'm a dead shot. Under pressure is one thing, but someone framed by a door way is going to be hard to miss. If he/she is out of their minds on PCP, well goodbye, friends. But if not, they are going to wish they hadn't come calling without an invitation. I also have a Recon Tanto 7" blade next to me, which should be able to open them up with one good swipe. It's been a while since a human was in my sights, but I remember how large they appeared and how placement was easy. I'd still prefer the 1911, but you have to go with what you got. TJ

There was a statement attributed to a Gun Site instructor a few years ago that if you were willing to take a magazine from his .22, he would stand and take anything you could shoot back at him. I believe the statement was about the damage a .22 could do and shot placement. I think some folks mistakenly discount the .22 as dangerous because of size and it being a kids' gun round.

As for shot placement, after this weekend's results, I'd go with the bigger round. Concealed carry 155 mm HE?

Pretty hard to comceal a 155 even under a ;png coat
.

If the concerns ended with 'stopping power', I wouldn't have any problem
carrying a 22lr as a light weight, summer SD gun. The main problem I have with
22lr is the failure to fire frequency, when compared to centerfire ammo. I know
the failure rate is higher. It also fails at a higher rate when it comes to cycling
in semi-autos, which brings me to the point I want to make. If you want to carry
a 22lr SD gun, I would suggest it be a revolver type. As you all know, if a revolver
doesn't fire on one of it's rounds, you just pull the trigger again. I love my Beretta Bobcat
for concealability in terms of weight and size, especially in the summer, but being an
automatic, it is difficult when you get a dud. I have to flip the barrel open and try
to pull the round out of the barrel, and precious seconds are lost. That could be
the difference between life and death. If I carry it, I always carry it with CCI Stingers or the like.
Haka

bearandoldman wrote:Pretty hard to comceal a 155 even under a ;png coat
.

Ok, 105mm, but the effective kill radius goes from 50 meters to 30 meters. I'd have to take more care with the shot. The disadvantage is they are single shot.

Hakaman wrote:If the concerns ended with 'stopping power', I wouldn't have any problem
carrying a 22lr as a light weight, summer SD gun. The main problem I have with
22lr is the failure to fire frequency, when compared to centerfire ammo. I know
the failure rate is higher. It also fails at a higher rate when it comes to cycling
in semi-autos, which brings me to the point I want to make. If you want to carry
a 22lr SD gun, I would suggest it be a revolver type. As you all know, if a revolver
doesn't fire on one of it's rounds, you just pull the trigger again. I love my Beretta Bobcat
for concealability in terms of weight and size, especially in the summer, but being an
automatic, it is difficult when you get a dud. I have to flip the barrel open and try
to pull the round out of the barrel, and precious seconds are lost. That could be
the difference between life and death. If I carry it, I always carry it with CCI Stingers or the like.
Haka

If you buy good quality ammo, your FTF rate goes way down. My Taurus 94 (9-shot revolver) carries 9 rounds. My SR22 has a 10 round mag. Both are concealable and are quite reliable. For handling a failure to fire, I think I like the revolver better---just pull the trigger again.

greener wrote:

bearandoldman wrote:Pretty hard to comceal a 155 even under a ;png coat
.

Ok, 105mm, but the effective kill radius goes from 50 meters to 30 meters. I'd have to take more care with the shot. The disadvantage is they are single shot.

With that kind of gun only one shot is really needed the rest would be wasteful.

Just carried my Beretta Bobcat yesterday. Even my Kahr pm9 was too heavy for my liking. The Bobcat is very light and concealable, and I used some CCI Velocitors in it. CCI is very reliable. If you carry a 22lr sd gun, you got to make sure you KNOW it's going to work. I still like the revolver idea.

LCR 22 is my carry gun of choice and I practice, practice and practice some more. I can say that most of the time, I can put all 8 rounds in a 6"circle at 21' in 2 seconds. Of course that's a standing target....not a human being. What happens in a SD situation is yet to be seen, but if I can't do it when the time comes, it won't be for lack of ability. A 6" circle is approx. head size and 7-8 rounds of .22 lr in the face will stop just about anybody........I believe.

I have a Taurus PT22...a Bobcat wanna-be and it just went back to Taurus for a new firing pin. Some things other than ammo can cause a gun to stop firing and a broken firning pin is one. If it weren't so much fun to shoot, I'd probably just scrap it. Taurus did save me $35.00 in shipping though, by sending me a label (I had to pay for it). They wouldn't send me a new firing pin.....saying they had to install it and test fire it. Bull! I could have done it myself.

I will still carry a minimum of 38+P, .381 ZCP is ok for a backup. Not too old yet to carry a .22