I asked my dad when I was 19 or so, why don't you have a pistol?
(He has .22 rifles and 12 gauge, and 20 gauge shotguns.)
"Pistols? , they're man-killers. That's all they're good for."
The problem is, he was deadly serious.
Years, later with much disdain, when both me, and my nephew purchased magnum revolvers, he kinda accepted that he wasn't going to talk me out of buying multiple handguns.
He is one of the wisest men I have ever met, so arguing the point would have been moot.
Many years later, I came to accept the fact that he was prolly as much right as wrong.
They ARE for killing. When killing is better than dying.
People don't seem to understand this.
When some people train on paper or steel, they try to B.S. themselves into thinking that you're hunting or something.
I hate to break it to you, but regulation silhouette targets are silhouettes of people. You shoot them to stop them from taking your life.
That means you kill them.
If you can't accept that, maybe you should buy rifles. (Or .22s)
(But they are just as good for killing most things, maybe a little better.)
Same with .22s and other calibers.
.22s prolly kill more people in a year than .45s do, so I don't understand his malfunction on that.
There's no pretending that .22s don't kill.
They work dandy for varminting, and for personal protection.
It's really hard to say that a .22 rifle isn't intimidating, even if it's a 10/22....
***EDIT***
I do understand that there are silhouette targets of various animals, and other stuff, but the most common targets at the range that I go to (Besides sheets of paper or paper plates.) are the little round targets, or big BG type outline.
As for me and my dad, I got him to understand that acceptable accuracy can be had from a pistol with a little practice. Enough to make me a better shot at most ranges with a pistol than an average person with a rifle. At 70 yards, a rifle is easier to shoot, no doubt.