.22 mag handguns?

Demi-human said:

Did she give any reasons for her decision? Maybe have her try a Taurus Tracker. The ridiculous difference in barrel length may make her think differently about things. Have her put it in her purse, take it out and put it back while in the car. I think the Tracker would be like trying to use an over/under shotgun in the car.

Concealed weapons are the size they are for a reason, portability and maneuverability. (It is definitely not for looks. Four inchers win there.)

I love my Airwieght. I am not a revolver type, but that is the firearm that is ALWAYS on me. I don't suggest that for a new carrier though. They, like myself a few short years ago, are hung up on how it shoots. Which is pretty harshly. A heavier, nicer shooting firearm gets them in the "mood", so to speak. A human won't want to carry if they are unpracticed, practice is easier when it doesn't hurt the pinkie.
Had I seen one first, I would have bought a Lady Smith for myself. Gorgeous gun, sized just right, wood grips, stainless steel for durabillity and recoil absorbtion. No, it's not a girls gun, her name is Lady!

New carriers are not thinking of the daily dead wieght that will be hauled around. Not so bad for a female with a purse though.

Keltec makes a thirty two auto-loader. The atp, p-at, ...pthree... Well at any rate, it is light and holds more than five.

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My P-32 has a 13-shot extended magazine. I would still recommend a .380 and only half of my Kel-tecs are reliable. I added a Kel-tec extension to their extended magazine. I guess they don't make the ones I have anymore but they do have a 10 rd magazine for the P-32.

https://www.keltecweapons.com/quickview/index/view/path/p32-37-10rd-magazine-223

That said I would sure recommend a .380 or 9.mm loaded with light rds (115 gr. Gold Dot). If Sig get's it together on the p365 that would be my choice.

Winchester makes a 105 gr. 9mm:

https://ammoseek.com/ammo/9mm-luger/-handgun-105grains-

Here are a few great resources for women CCW:

https://thewellarmedwoman.com/

https://www.gungoddess.com/

https://ammo.com/articles/womans-self-defense-guide-concealed-carry

https://www.pewpewtactical.com/7-best-handguns-women/

http://www.wideopenspaces.com/6-best-self-defense-handguns-women/

Excellent resources! As your moniker suggests, you are quite keen.
With some of the small nine millimeter pistols and soft shooting ammunition made today, I encourage every female to consider concealed carry, as there is a vast array of choices.

To that, God Bless America.

If it's not too late please allow me to offer another suggestion or second one which has already been made. The .32 caliber should not be ignored as a choice and in the .32 H&R Magnum or the 327 Federal Magnum they are both better self defense rounds than the .22MRF or the .22LR cartridges plus the .32 S&W Long and the .32 Short can be fired from the same revolver. My choice for a revolver would be the Ruger LCR, the double action pull is very light compared to most revolvers of similar size is much easier than the majority. Recoil will be mild shooting the .32 H&R Magnum and remain better suited as a self defense round than either the ,22LR or the .22MRF. My suggestion is to go to a range where any revolvers you wish to try are offered for rent and give all these and the other suggestions a try, you may be very pleasantly surprised.

The irony of your handle, in contrast with your advice is not lost on me.

I think that a thirty two would definitely be a much better choice as well.

Purrfect!

.22 mag revolvers: Not a fan due to the huge cylinder gap blast - I'd rather shoot a .38 special plus P without ears.

The PMR30 - gets a bad rep, but IMO is a lot of effective firepower and the two I had ran well. 50 grainers will not only cycle it better, but will penetrate a lot at over 2100 fps. Multiply by 30 and the ability to VERY rapidly shoot accurately, and it's nothing to sneeze at, in my view.

Been down this road, wife started with a 38 snub taurus, then a 22 mag lcr, LCP, then lc9s, then a micro 9, now is on and loves her sig p238(s). The sig is the softest shooting 380 I have had my hands on, and has proven reliable. She is happy, that makes me happy and I have some toys for the range or to carry if I choose.

d

my .22 mag revolver is a old Stanford conn. charter arms pathfinder with a 6" barrel and adjustable sights, its like a 7/8(J-frame) size light weight K-22 and is very accurett.

I've always wanted her to carry but she brought it up on her own. I was surprised
She is a proficient shooter with her 1911.

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If she shoots a 1911 well have a look at these. I had one and can say it was an excellent gun that I regret trading off. What did I trade it for. A Taurus 22 mag with 4" barrel. It had a hell of a trigger and the rounds were hard to extract even after I polished the cylinders. It didn't stay around long. I sure wanted my Star BM back. It was slightly bigger than the common 380s and because it was a locked breech instead of blow back like common 380s the recoil felt about the same. Actually the recoil seemed less from what I remember.

http://www.jgsales.com/star-bm,-9mm-luger,-compact-semi-auto-pistol,-blued,-vg,-used.-p-85501.html

In a small revolver try a 32 long snub with a 3" barrel. Light recoil and low blast. Hard to find and expensive when you do but worth every penny you paid. I have a like new one in the box from S&W and its a shootin' dude.

I also load Lee 124gr round nose bullets intended for 9mm in 38 cases with 3.5grs of Bullseye and they are as easy to shoot as the above mention 32. For SD loads a light load with a Speed Gold Dot 110gr bullet would make an easy to shoot load.

My daily carry is a .22Mag, but I wish the .32 caliber platform was more popular. A 13-oz J-frame in .32 Long would be a nice summer carry option.

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I am lucky enough to have a S&W 431PD airweight in 32 mag. It stays in my night stand for home use. Its loaded with full power 85gr Hornady XTP hollow points and weighs 15oz loaded. But a lead bullet load at 1000fps is fun to shoot in all my 32 mag guns and adds 150fps over my 32 long loads with the same 94gr bullet.

I forgot about it because I just got it and haven't shot it yet but is an H&R 32 long revolver that looks almost new with just a drag line on the cylinder. I paid $120 for it on GB and of course the added shipping and transfer when it got here so the total was $170. Still not bad for a like new 32 caliber gun.

There are several on GB all the time and might be just the thing for your wife.

Take her to several gun stores,make it a fun day include diner.Let her pick “Her Gun”.

DannyLandrum said:

.22 mag revolvers: Not a fan due to the huge cylinder gap blast - I'd rather shoot a .38 special plus P without ears.

The PMR30 - gets a bad rep, but IMO is a lot of effective firepower and the two I had ran well. 50 grainers will not only cycle it better, but will penetrate a lot at over 2100 fps. Multiply by 30 and the ability to VERY rapidly shoot accurately, and it's nothing to sneeze at, in my view.

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Yep, I have a PMR30 and love it. It's light, it carries 30 rounds in the mag, the pistol fits very nicely in my hand and outside of the large flash and the noise from the "bang", the gun is just super fun to shoot. If you want a pistol that you can fire rapidly and still be accurate, this is the pistol for you.

The biggest issue with the PMR30 is buying the ammo. It's expensive and if you buy the cheap stuff (Amscor crap) be prepared to be disappointed with the ammo (not the pistol). So, if you go ahead and buy the good ammo (CCI for example), it's expensive, but well worth it.

Lycidas Janwor said:

Yep, I have a PMR30 and love it. It's light, it carries 30 rounds in the mag, the pistol fits very nicely in my hand and outside of the large flash and the noise from the "bang", the gun is just super fun to shoot. If you want a pistol that you can fire rapidly and still be accurate, this is the pistol for you.

The biggest issue with the PMR30 is buying the ammo. It's expensive and if you buy the cheap stuff (Amscor crap) be prepared to be disappointed with the ammo (not the pistol). So, if you go ahead and buy the good ammo (CCI for example), it's expensive, but well worth it.

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A good friend of mine, an older gentleman owns and carries a PMR-30. He raves about it. I personally thought the gun would be crap, being a rim fired semi auto, but nope, the gun is awesome. Its a shame I cannot own one here in CT. We are limited to 10 round magazines, not matter the caliber or type of primer. I am really fascinated by the .22 magnum for some reason. I would love to get my hands on 30 rounds of .22 mag. It appears to be a great deal of fun and an awful lot of fire power in one convenient package. I never heard good things about Keltec with the exception of PMR-30 and from what I hear their shotgun is quite bananas.

I just am crazy about my Kel Tec .32 and have had it for a number of years. It is a great pocket carry gun. The .22 WMR is a great cartridge but seems better suited in a rifle than a handgun. But I am impressed with the NAA Pug and Black Widow pistols. They are very well made.

Will

I used to have a Taurus 941UL (IIRC) in .22 Mag. I finally traded it off because the blast made it painful to shoot even through double ear protection. I'd rather shoot a .357 any day. Now, maybe the loads made specifically for short barrel pistols are better in that regard; they weren't available when I had that gun. If I couldn't stand to shoot it I certainly wouldn't try to talk someone else into it.

but will penetrate a lot at over 2100 fps. Multiply by 30 and the ability to VERY rapidly shoot accurately, and it's nothing to sneeze at, in my view.

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Not quite. The velocity cited here is when the 22 magnum is fired from a RIFLE. Pistol velocities are substantially lower.....on the order of 800-900 fps slower, depending on the weight of the bullet.

My 8 3/8 model 48 no dash and my 9" 3 screw Single Six both shoot over 1700 FPS with Winchester 40 Grain Hollow point . My AMT Auto mag 2 has a 6.5" barrel and shoots the same at 1600 FPS. I don't buy the light Hyper Velocity .22 Mag, the Winchester 40 Grain HP has proved it's self for me on game and is what functions 100% in the Auto Mag. I have an 18" Excel Arms Excaliber rifle that shoots that load at 1900 FPS and an Anschutz Exemplar 14" .22 Mag pistol that shoots it at 1800 fps. The old Mossberg Chuckster with 24" barrel hit 2000 FPS , I have been monkeying with .22Mag for years. It is a very popular livestock slaughter cartridge, thru steers , and has proven a dead 200 yard gun in the Anshutz pistol and the Chuckster for 25+ years for me . The 9" Ruger was my favorite livestock slaughter gun for 40 years and longer time for the Chuckster on Ground Squirrels. I also have a couple .22 mag derringers and a 4" Colt Trooper MK 3 and a 4 3/4 Colt New Frontier in .22 mag. Where the .22lr is fun and quiet and cheap, the .22 Mag is a good small game hunter much further out and for heavier stuff like coyotes and , yes even cougar back in the day !

Those velocities are appropriate for those barrel lengths...1600 to 1800 FPS. It is the rare rifle that will give 2100 FPS with the basic 40 grain bullet.
The shorter barrels found on carry guns are going to have yet more velocity loss. One can easily find ballistic test results for 22 magnum pistols in general and the PMR-30 specifically. One such test, using 10 types of 22 mag ammo from the PMR-30 yielded a velocity range of 1187 to 1518 FPS.
See http://rangehot.com/22-magnum-ballistic-test/

The testing of .22 magnum rounds on "ballistics by the inch" is quite interesting.

ballisticsbytheinch.com - .22 Mag Results in fps

Their results indicate that most .22 magnum rounds from 4" barrels give ballistics very comparable to .22 long rifle from a rifle lengh barrel. This is the approximate ballistics I expect from most carry sized .22 magnum pistols. .22LR has killed lots of medium and even larger sized things, but that still does not make it an ideal choice for defense.

With a little more barrel length, many .22 magnum rounds change dramatically. With a 6" barrel they pick up quite a bit, and with a 9" barrel, some .22 magnum loads deliver near rifle performance. And from a rifle barrel, .22 magnum is much more powerful than any .22LR.

So my expectation from carry size .22 magnum pistols is that they will deliver .22LR type performance, but with much more flash and noise. These are not terrible ballistics, but they are much less than the flash and noise would seem to indicate. In some cases, .22 magnum carry guns may be a good compromise, but as I suggested in a much earlier post, I think many people would be better served by a .32.

There may be some .22 magnum loads that do better in a short barrel, but tests I have seen on the "short barrel" loads have had ballistics pretty similar to other loadings.

In pistols with a bit longer barrels, .22 magnum shows much more of its potential. But most of these pistols are more suited to open carry and hunting than concealed carry.

It's been a couple years since I've gone shootin' with my shootin' buddy when he's had his chrono out for use. I do have this little excerpt from his KelTec PMR30 and my Ruger Single Six 9.5".

.22 Magnum informal chronometer results June 26, 2015.

Ruger Single Six 9.5" bbl
Hornady VMax 30 grain = 1714 fps average
Remington 40 grain PSP = 1406 fps average
Winchester Super X 40 grain JHP = 1367 fps average

Keltec PMR 30 4.3" bbl
Hornady VMax 30 grain = 1579 fps average
Hornady Critical Defense 45 grain = 1264 fps average
CCI Choot Em 40 grain JHP = 1236 fps average

The only handgun .22 that I know if with a barrel under six inches that will give you 2100 FPS is a centerfire, the FN FiveSeven and that is with specialty ammo from Elite Ammunition.

I think this thread is way past its experation date but I don't think a 22mag in a short barrel is a useful thing at all. They are loud as all heck and give very meager performance. My father in law has an old 3" barrel H&R.

If my wife asked me to get her a carry gun I would not give her a revolver. My first suggestion would be a glock 42 or an M&P Shield 380ez with no thumb safety. If ruger made an LC380s pro, that would be a slam dunk of a carry gun.