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Is a .22LR round plausible for self defense?

It is definitely more reliable than in years past, at least in my opinion. I have run over well over a thousand rounds through my Ruger Mark IV and cannot remember how many misfires I had, but it was very few.

Surprisingly, Aguila is the best for me in reliability. I am at the bottom of a 500 round box without a misfire.

Aguila Super Extra High Velocity 22LR Rimfire Ammunition 500 Round Box
I inserted the wrong link above. Instead, this is the ammo that has been super reliable for me.

Aguila Super Extra Hollow Point 22LR Rimfire Ammunition 500 Round Box
 
Okay Okay, since this topic was broached in a Rabbit trail on the .357 thread, I thought I might as well make a thread for it.

Can a .22LR be a good defense round?

For me the answer is a solid no, let me explain why. (Opinion Only)

First, any round can kill an opponent when placed perfectly, so this is not about that.

Most of the argument for the .22 for defense we read about or have any data on is related to, you get almost no recoil so weak shooters can put X rounds on target, or you have 79 rounds with which to hit your target so... and the FBI stats show that certain .22LR rounds can penetrate deep enough to meet their own gun buying standards (10-12 inches), but in my humble opinion those are outliers.
What are other consideration? Well, when shooting in combat, running and gunning under pressure, putting that tiny round exactly on the X may be harder than you think. Note: I have never tried this with a .22 pistol, I am a GWOT Army guy...
When acting under duress in order to stop an attacker, I dont know that I want to depend on micro precision with a tiny round, hoping that I hit an organ or other incapacitating point, when if I were shooting a 9mm or 10mm or another defense round, one bullet near that area would stop an attacker.
Another thing in the back of my mind is the condition of the attacker. If a person is high on whatever drug, you can stitch them up with rounds but unless you hit an organ that stops life or a bone structure that stops movement, that high person would still get to you, this has been seen all over the world in combat. In this case you could potentially mag dump your .22 on someone who was high and barring that perfect shot you could still get killed.

There is a lot more to this but these are my initial thoughts.

Yes...better than a BB gun.

If it is all you got, try to hit an eye, ear or throat. But hard to do on a moving target. If you know, no body armor, then put a few in the heart area.

Atomic Bomb Vacation 2.jpg
 
I see people talking about running and falling and other kinds of things. I can’t think of a scenario in my house when I am running or falling. If we restrict the scenario to home defense, then a 22 caliber JHP will kill a person. The questions about precision are a little bit misleading. If you can’t hit a human target precisely with a .22 caliber, then you sure aren’t going to hit it with a .38 caliber or a 9 mm.
 
well finally browsed thru this thread - good laughs. Another "is xyz a good/better/good enough" cartridge. We love these discussions/debates it seems. Why not. Fun for everyone.
 
in my opinion it is a summer round, no heavy clothing to penetrate, once heavy clothing is being worn you are down to headshots and that is not a good option,,,,,,,,,, and lets be honest no one would even think about it as a combat round
 
It is definitely more reliable than in years past, at least in my opinion. I have run over well over a thousand rounds through my Ruger Mark IV and cannot remember how many misfires I had, but it was very few.

Surprisingly, Aguila is the best for me in reliability. I am at the bottom of a 500 round box without a misfire.

Aguila Super Extra High Velocity 22LR Rimfire Ammunition 500 Round Box
I shot .22 for the NRA HQ Junior Rifle Team, Pinwheel JRC in the early 70s. I can't a misfire during practice or a match by anyone. I'm sure it happened but I couldn't recall even one.
 
Hot Dog! 22Lr for me!
I love and have had one since 64!
In the Right hands! The 22Lr is a deadly self defense round!
Ask the US government boys of WW2 that developed a High standard semiautomatic suppressed pistol for covert use during the War!
As said, not for the common guy or girl but in the right hands!
An awesome weapon!
 
.22 is as stated a very poor choice for SD. CAN it stop an assailant, yea, with proper shot placement. Is it a good choice? Nope. Simple question-if a 180 lb black bear was to attack you would you choose a .22 over a .357, 9mm, .45 or similar? Of course not. Then why on earth would you choose it for defense against an even more dangerous two legged animal?
 
I see people talking about running and falling and other kinds of things. I can’t think of a scenario in my house when I am running or falling. If we restrict the scenario to home defense, then a 22 caliber JHP will kill a person. The questions about precision are a little bit misleading. If you can’t hit a human target precisely with a .22 caliber, then you sure aren’t going to hit it with a .38 caliber or a 9 mm.
True, BUT in SD the entire purpose is to stop the threat Now-not to kill. .22 is indeed lethal and will “kill” but not necessarily “stop” before a nogoodnik completes whatever his purpose in attacking was.
 
A good read on the subject of stopping power. I have read his work before and it's rather well done.

 
A good read on the subject of stopping power. I have read his work before and it's rather well done.

Very interesting article... I will say that, as we all know, shot placement is king. Aside from perfect one shot stops, the related info I see here, is that the smaller rounds had much higher % of people who were not incapacitated, as we have pontificated to death in this post. This kind of data is difficult to get info out of to a degree, for this to have proper metrics you would have to compare the same number of people shot across all the various rounds and the % of fatal hits would still vary by the shot placement of the shooters in question.

I think my takeaway is that if I can shoot like John Wick Any gun will work, but if I shoot like Ray Charles Ima need to lob some mortars.




9mm Luger
# of people shot - 456
# of hits - 1121
% of hits that were fatal - 24%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation - 2.45
% of people who were not incapacitated - 13%
One-shot-stop % - 34%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) - 74%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) - 47%


25ACP
# of people shot - 68
# of hits - 150
% of hits that were fatal - 25%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation - 2.2
% of people who were not incapacitated - 35%
One-shot-stop % - 30%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) - 62%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) - 49%
.22 (short, long and long rifle)
# of people shot - 154
# of hits - 213
% of hits that were fatal - 34%
Average number of rounds until incapacitation - 1.38
% of people who were not incapacitated - 31%
One-shot-stop % - 31%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) - 76%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) - 60%

 
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