22 Rifle for Home/Defense?

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entropy said:
The dud rate for .22LR (any and every brand has duds; if you do not believe this, you don't shoot much .22LR) is unsatisfactory for a weapon than needs remedial action to get back in action. Add in the Nylon 66's action is inset way into the plastic, and you've a recipe for disaster for HD-not a combination I'd stake my life on. I have a Rem. 552, the action is basically the same, just an aluminum receiver, and it is not my choice for HD, whereas the Iver Johnson Cadet I had was used for HD for a while; 8 shots and if one didn't go off, keep pulling the trigger.
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I have probably shot as much, if not more .22lr ammo than most folks ever will. I have had my share of duds, mostly with Remington bulk golden bullets. I have shot thousands of cci stingers & many more thousands of cci, aguila, federal & others with zero duds. The nylon 66 is the most dependable .22 semi auto ever built, owing much of it's reliability on it's "plastic" construction. I have had one since 1969 with zero problems, zero jams & untold thousands of rounds or ammo. It's the only .22 semi auto I would trust period.
 
Buy a lottery ticket! You got a good one. I have worked on 66's that were total jam-omatics; same for Marlin 60's, etc., that people swear up and down theirs doesn't. If so, great. But it is disingenuous to recommend the Nylon 66 (as a model, not your individual one) as a reliable HD rifle, even with premium ammunition, because a good percentage of them aren't 100% reliable. This is why I recommended a revolver, pump, or lever action because when the inevitable dud happens (remember Murphy's Law?) you can simply chamber the next round and Charlie Mike.
 
entropy said:
Buy a lottery ticket! You got a good one. I have worked on 66's that were total jam-omatics; same for Marlin 60's, etc., that people swear up and down theirs doesn't. If so, great. But it is disingenuous to recommend the Nylon 66 (as a model, not your individual one) as a reliable HD rifle, even with premium ammunition, because a good percentage of them aren't 100% reliable. This is why I recommended a revolver, pump, or lever action because when the inevitable dud happens (remember Murphy's Law?) you can simply chamber the next round and Charlie Mike.
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Over the decades I have owned no less than four nylon 66's. Most so called jam-omatics were probably due to the over tension of the dust cover screws which will bind up the action. I never stated they were 100% (nothing is), but even with neglect all of mine were as close to 100% as a semi auto gets.
 
For home defense I would much rather have a .22LR rifle than a baseball bat. By that same token I would rather have an AR, shotgun, or handgun in any kind of duty caliber.
 
As others have said, a .22LR is better than no gun. In the apartment scenario you describe, I would want a shotgun.
 
351 WINCHESTER said:
The nylon 66 is the most dependable .22 semi auto ever built, owing much of it's reliability on it's "plastic" construction. I have had one since 1969 with zero problems, zero jams & untold thousands of rounds or ammo. It's the only .22 semi auto I would trust period.
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I agree. I've had a number of tube fed Nylon 66 rifles (10) over the years (since 1968) and one Nylon 77. The Nylon 66s have all been 100% reliable. I have had a few malfunctions with them but each time it was because the ammo (Remington bulk pack) was bad. With quality ammo like CCI, I have never had an issue in nearly a half century of shooting them. The Nylon 77, however, was not as reliable due to the cheap plastic magazines it used.
In my opinion, the Nylon 66 is the best .22 rifle ever made. I've given more than a few as gifts to friends, girl friends and family members. I have also used them to teach new shooters how to shoot. It's a great rifle for that.
If I had to choose one rifle to keep in a survival situation, it would be the Nylon 66.
 
My only concern about mag dumps and over-penetration the former usually leads to the latter. Whenever firing in self defense well aimed shots are required no matter what caliber you are using.
 
While not my first, second, or even fiftieth choice, if all I had available was my 10/22, I would sure try to make the best use of it that I could. This would include a couple of BX25 magazines loaded with CCI MiniMags and a flashlight mounted on the barrel.
 
Maybe look into a Hi Point 9mm, .40 S&W, or .45 ACP carbine? Fairly inexpensive in a better caliber for bad situations. They are ugly as a mud fence, but they seem to run and run and run...
 
entropy said:
The dud rate for .22LR (any and every brand has duds; if you do not believe this, you don't shoot much .22LR) is unsatisfactory for a weapon than needs remedial action to get back in action. Add in the Nylon 66's action is inset way into the plastic, and you've a recipe for disaster for HD-not a combination I'd stake my life on. I have a Rem. 552, the action is basically the same, just an aluminum receiver, and it is not my choice for HD, whereas the Iver Johnson Cadet I had was used for HD for a while; 8 shots and if one didn't go off, keep pulling the trigger.
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I never said a .22 would be my first choice for hd, but if all I could have was a .22 it would be the nylon 66 as I stated. I cut my teeth on these, this was my truck gun for several decades. The nylon was designed from the ground up to be the most reliable, trouble free .22 semi auto ever built. It never let me down - no jams, failures to eject, miss feeds over thousands & thousands of rounds - just some duds with cheap Remington bulk golden bullet which has been problematic for at least 45 years. Over the past 50 years I have shot just about every brand of .22 lr ammo there is & misfires are pretty rare with good ammo. If one does have a dud in a nylon a swift finger to the cocking piece will eject the offending round & chamber another. FYI I have had more problems with revolvers in .22 than semi autos.
 
.22 wouldn't be my first choice. If I had to pick a. 22 rifle, it wouldn't be tube fed one, though. As much as I despise them, I reckon I would pick a 10/22 or perhaps a Charger due to the ease of reloading.
 
I have a couple of Browning Buckmark .22LR pistols that will put ten rapid fire rounds in a hole that can be covered with a dime at 25 yards.
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I sure hope you are on the Olympic team next time. You are better than any of the world class shooters they have now.

Many years ago a kid armed with a Marlin lever action 22 killed two burglers with 3 shots. No "Mag Dump" was needed. Just a few well placed shots. There was a movie made about it that had Gerald McRaney in it.
 
Steel Horse Rider said:
I have a couple of Browning Buckmark .22LR pistols that will put ten rapid fire rounds in a hole that can be covered with a dime at 25 yards. Good enough for me and I would not be worried about the recipient getting back up.
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you sure you are not talking about 2.5 feet ?
 
Okay, this goes along with another thread about carrying the .25 acp instead of a larger caliber.

I recently had some pretty major surgery. I can't handle the recoil of anything larger than the .25 acp for a bit.

I've just gotten to the point where shouldering a long gun is possible for short periods. So, instead of a 20 ga semi auto shotgun my HD long gun is now a Ruger 10/22. Reliable, accurate and wearing a red dot / laser combo I can lay down considerable fire if necessary. Backed by a holographic sighted Ruger MK I Target model I'm using the best I can in the current circumstances.

By the way, I've used said same 10/22 to take coyotes and if the bullet placement is done correctly, they don't go far if anywhere at all. So while our coyotes aren't quite the size of a human, they do tend to be a bit more tenacious.
 
For those who doubt it was a heavy barrel Buckmark with a 4X scope. The scope would probably not be good for home defense though, my remark was intended to illustrate that there are accurate .22 caliber pistols available. I still have the target in my reloading stuff but those who "know" the truth will not be convinced by facts.
 
If I were to use a 22rimfire for home SD it would be a Ruger MK pistol tuned to be 100% reliable with CCI Stinger or Velocitor ammo. Mag dump of 5 in the chest and 5 in the face is going to stop and disable the intruder. The Stinger has less chance of penetrating apt walls and injuring neighbors. Your thoughts and concern about what is around you is very commendable.
 
^^ I'd rather use HPs in a pistol than in a rifle. In a pistol, they may not actually expand, giving more opportunity for penetration, which I consider crucial.

In a rifle, I'd keep solids (in fact, I do) for penetration. The higher velocities a rifle generates might induce expansion that might occur before the bullet penetrates as far as I'd like.

Still, I feel that opening fire with a .22 rifle, regardless with what it's loaded, on an intruder is going to have a profound effect on that intruder's mission. If he's not immediately disabled, he's not gonna stick around to see if those are HPs or solids being flung so loudly and rapidly at him.
 
I think a Ruger 10/22 would make a very capable home defense firearm. You want something that is quick to point and probably open sights. The choice of a 22 rifle needs to take into account how good you are "pointing" the rifle versus typical aiming using the sights. I used to practice a lot with pointing a 22 rifle and got pretty good shooting things like christmas light bulbs (moving) and so forth. Lots of fun actually and a good memory.

I won't deny that a center fire handgun might be a better choice. But many folks have a 22 and not the center fire. Plus they may well not practice at all with the more powerful caliber.
 
I've got a 10/22 in a Butler Creek side folder with the Ruger for-end laser and taclight mounted to it. With a couple of BX25s, I think I can keep things pretty well in hand at the urban homestead.
 
10/22 with stingers is better than a sharp stick. Ruger magazines are better made than many others.
 
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