22lr for home defence.

I would say that depending on what drugs the intruder is on, and how much clothing he is wearing (summer vs winter up north for example) it's probably going to do the job. The average person is probably going to stop what they are doing if you put 4 rounds of even .22LR into them.

although I'd probabl be aiming for the head.

My brother was shot with a 22 revolver at close range it went in just below the right ribs and crossed the belly 8 time hit everthing but the right kindey, 8 pints of blood and several hours of surgey he's fine but don't count the 22lr out. The only thing wrong with the round for hd is no knock down and if the bad guy is wearing thick heavy clothing you my have a problem, or if he's on drugs it a nogo.

He may bleed out or die from the infection, eventually. Don't count on .22LR to stop somebody that wants to hurt you badly.

I'd get a cheap pump shotgun for a cheapish HD weapon long before I'd rely on a .22LR.

BSW

If all you have is a .22lr to defend your home, by all means, use it. If you are looking for better options, that is another story. Short range, it is hard to beat a shotgun. Lots of energy, fast and furious.

Certainly better than nothing, but I wouldn't say a whole lot better than a baseball bat depending on your stature. It seems to me that someone who breaks into your house, and forces you to use deadly force to stop them are already quite motivated, so a mediocre response might not be in your best interest.

If it's a handy semi-auto carbine with a 20+ magazine capacity that's reliable... assuming the shooter is proficient with the carbine then yeah, I can see it being used in a home defensive role.
That said, I have an M1 Carbine on hand for home defense. There are a few out there that believe even this is not up to snuff.

Having grown up shooting all types of stuff with regular .22LR LRN, I'm certain a few shots to the face/head/neck will put an end to most aggressors. If that doesn't work, try a few more... and perhaps another few more for good measure.

If I had to use a .22LR for defense for whatever reason, I might consider something like the following

Not the best but better than nothing. 22 hits can really do internal damage. The bullet tends travel thru body tissue. A hit in the arm can wind up in the chest. Nasty little things but as mention above, stopping power is not great even though it may result in the delayed death of of the individual. Shot placement is critical.

A mag-dump from a Marlin Model 60 would absolutely ruin somebody's day.

Avoid little bitty pistols in .22 LR, 'cause most of 'em aren't reliable, and for the money you would need to spend to get a reliable one, you could have a nice .357.

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I don't think the .223 is a very good sniper round... but if I got shot in the head with one, I might change my mind.

There's two reasons .22LR is foolish for self-defense. First, there's no getting around the low muzzle energy. Second there's the unreliability inherent in rimfire ammunition.

Go buy something else for your house. Anything. A .32 ACP mouse gun. A 12 gauge. Whatever.

I think the Ruger 10/22 would be a reasonable choice and it would certainly be more powerful than a 22 handgun. They point real easy and also can be used as a club. The disadvantage other than stopping power mentioned above is that unless you practice, you may just shoot one time (human nature, I've done it with deer) and look to see what effect the bullet had rather than keep shooting. I believe you want to keep shooting until they are on the ground.

Make sure you use the most reliable 22 ammunition you are aware of as you are betting your life on them as well as the ability of the rifle to function using that ammunition reliably. I would probably be using something like CCI HV or Velocitors as long as they work every time in your rifle.

If you must use .22lr, then get yourself an American 180 http://www.elmfg.com/am180/articles/mgn12-95.html
If you doubt it's effectiveness, ask yourself how many of your .45's can create a whole in a cinder block wall big enough to crawl through without changing mags?

If you find yourself needing to use a .22 for self defense, the only "stop" shot that you can rely on is the head.

Anything else may kill your assailant (eventually), but I wouldn't be comfortable with the thought that a .22LR to center mass will stop him. Even though Rugers and Marlins are generally reliable firearms, .22's have an uncanny thing for misfiring and malfunctioning at the worst possible time.

How is it, once again, people are defending the least-powerful round available as a self-defense round. Even the OP "knows" it isn't great in a handgun but questions it in a long gun...

More like self-delusion, self-destruction, than a self-defense round (albeit better'n nuthin').

Al

I knew just from the title this was going to be a good post. These type of threads always get people going. To answer you question IMHO..
A .22lr bullet from a rifle will and has killed many people. But like stated above there many choices for home defense that are better. If you were to use this rifle for home defense your shot placement and number of rounds would be key. Some might argue (and they will) about where proper shot placement is. In my opinion again, always practice for center of mass, this gives you the best chance for a hit, and a hit in gut is better than a miss to head. Second thing would be volume of fire. I always preach to shoot until the threat has been reduced. To me that meens that i will continue to fire until the recipient of my fire is on the ground and on his way to a better place. So, to sum it up, a 22lr is deadly, but other rounds are potentially more deadly.

I have lots of large caliber handguns and would always grab those first. I believe the 22lr is a very underated round if the shooter knows what he is doing. They will penetrate better than some widely used pistol rounds. Obviously a load of buckshot is going to put down the drug crazed guy we always reference the best. 35 years ago their was a true story in Outdoor life about a granny in northern canada that killed a grizzly that was looming over her with 9 shots from her 22. I think she had an angel looking out for her besides the .22.

Jim Brady, Ron Reagan, and a whole lot more show how varied the response is to being shot with the 22.

Personally, I would want something bigger.

if you must do a 22lr for home defense, I would look to see if the 60 grain aguila round will work in your semi auto, if not that the Aguila interceptor is the fastest moving full size 22 lr round made, about 1500 fps, with a full 40 grainer.
last but not least , look for cci sgb rounds, a solid lead chunk that breaks into I think 3 big chunks after splitting up.

Shotgun.

It'd be better than a sharp stick I suppose.

Sure not my top pic but I would think that 10 to 12 HV .22 HP rounds up the air intake would mess most anyones day up.

How is it, once again, people are defending the least-powerful round available as a self-defense round. Even the OP "knows" it isn't great in a handgun but questions it in a long gun...

More like self-delusion, self-destruction, than a self-defense round (albeit better'n nuthin').

Al

Click to expand...

.22lr, while not an ideal home defense cartridge, will get the job done more often than not.

Ive been to a suicide where a lady with a short barreled .22 revolver shot herself in the chest and was DRT.

Had a guy accidentally shoot his girlfriend in the face with a little Jennings/Bryco/Raven .22. Round completely penetrated her upper jaw and lodged in her spine. She almost died.

Had a drug dealer take one through the bridge of his nose, exited his left ear and then tore a chunk out of his shoulder.

Is it the best? No, not by a long shot, but the thinking that the bad guy is going to just kinda shrug it off and die later from infection is rediculous.

A .22 through the heart will kill you with a quickness. Several quick accurate shots COM from a semi auto .22 rifle is going to be pretty effective if you hit the vitals.

There's a Reason They Call Their .22 The Chipmunk!

And how's the drug-dealer doing?



Al

I only know one person, personally, who was shot with a .22LR (a mugging). He was shot in the leg, and he said he thought his leg had been blown off. All he could think about was getting himself rolled into the ER.

My HD firearms are .38 revolvers and a 12ga shotgun...But having a .22 handgun or rifle pointed at me would not elicit laughter from me.

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