22 Magnum: HP or Solid for Self Defense?

[Al Thompson]

The .22LR will fire in a .22 Mag., but it's a bad idea. The Magnum case (the brass tube) is bigger in diameter than a .22LR and the LR will split upon firing. Not safe at all.

OP, I'd go with 50 grain JHPs. Federal Game-Shok #757 fits the bill.

 

[noob_shooter]

who makes the 22LR varmint point? i would love to try those...

 

[suemarkp]

In most handguns, the 50gr loads keyhole (maybe that would actually be more effective at short ranges where accuracy doesn't matter??). I had an AMT Automag II with the 4.5" barrel. The 50gr loads keyholed every time. I shot Winchester HP's into wet newspaper and was impressed. Not only did they expand, the nose pretty much totaly fragmented. There was a nice wadcutter cylinder that penetrated about a foot. The fragments were between the entrance hole and the stopped bullet.

I'd go with 40gr JHPs.

 

[C-grunt]

I dont think a head shot would be a good choice with the .22 mag, or really any handgun for that matter. Lots of thick strong bones there. Also lots of curved bones to deflect bullets.

A friend of mine who has been in a couple shootings has shot two bad guys in the head with his .45 using 230 grn HSTs. Both times the rounds ricochetted off the round thick skull. Also another officer shot a guy trying to kill him in the face using the same 230 grn HST. The round hit the upper jaw deflected to the side a bit and was stopped after penetrating a few teeth.

Though I have seen a drug dealer shot in the face with a .22. It entered through the bridge of his nose, went through the sinuses and exited his left ear. We finally tracked him down after he ran around for 30 minutes screaming and banging on doors. He nearly died of blood loss though.

 

[Carl Levitian]

Hitting someone in the face with any bullet is going to be a highly trumatic event, and will give them a lot to think about. It's not going to matter if it's a .22 mag hp or solid. It's not even going to matter if it's a .22LR solid or hp.

In the very begining of the book Serpico, Frank Serpico gives a very graphic desciption of what it was like being shot in the face with a .22lr pistol. The bullet bounced off his jaw and lodged in his neck. It also knocked him down to the floor of the apartment hallway and out of action imediatly.

 

[cpirtle]

I'm not getting into the whole .22 magnum as a defense gun debate, but sometimes if it's all you can have with you it beats a stick in the eye.

I have several NAA mini's and a S&W 351pd that serve various purposes in my life. All of them get loaded with Remington Premier Accu-tip's like these.

 

[David E]

I had an AMT Automag II with the 4.5" barrel. The 50gr loads keyholed every time.

I think this is more of a result of the gun the rounds were fired from, not the rounds themselves.

 

[doc2rn]

Remington makes a ballistic tipped .22 mag shell but they run ~$18/50.