How many times have you heard a "gun jock" tell someone looking for a new gun...

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jrdolall

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that a 22 isn't a good defensive round because "If you shot me with a 22 it would just make me mad."? Really! I wonder how many of these guys would be willing to back up that statement.

I heard a guy working at Bass Pro in Prattville AL make this statement last week and it's not the first time I have heard it. I'm not saying that a 22 is a good SD/HD weapon or a bad one and I'm not advocating that anyone recommend it to a new shooter but making asinine statements like that can give people the impression that the 22 isn't a dangerous round. Like it or not there are a lot of people looking for guns right now that have no clue what they really need and they need a sales person to impart knowledge and make recommendations instead of dumbassery.

Vent over.
 
I saw a story where a .22 saved a girl from an attacking bear.

She and her boyfriend were hiking in the woods when an angry black bear charged and attacked them.
She shot her boyfriend in the knee and ran.
Her boyfriend wasn't able to run very fast and the bear got him and killed him.
That little .22 saved her life.
 
I get your point about people thinking the .22lr is not dangerous and it sure has its place in things it's good for such as teaching, hunting and just plain fun. It's just not a good SD round, sure I don't want to get shot with one, but I don't want to rob, rape or murder you either, JMHO.
 
Used to be more people were killed fooling with 22's than any other caliber. Excluding military use.
 
They drilled us ad nauseum in the Boy Scouts that the .22 was the most dangerous round because people underestimate the damage it can do. I've done the same to my kids. Not a first choice for self defense, but I'd not feel naked and afraid with a 10/22 or MK2 pistol~ especially one loaded with CCI Velocitors or similar. Plain jane 40 gr standard .22's will cut clean through a 2" x 4".
 
Last year here in NM an 11 or 12 year old girl shot a home intruder with her little pink Crickett, mad or not the guy ran off and left her alone.

Another interesting thing is I have seen the same guy say that it would just hurt and that it would go through body armor and thats why 'assassins' use it.

Some people just talk. Its a shame that knowledge of something is not a prerequisite to selling it, but people should not ever count on a salesman to educate them on a purchase, be it a car, a tv, or a firearm.
 
I'm sure Ronald Reagan and Jim Brady would have something to say about .22's..
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From a Saturday Night Special fired by a novice with virtually no knowledge of guns and the hit that almost killed Reagan was a ricochet! I.m sure the last thing on their minds was "ouchie!".
 
When my son first started shooting he used a .22 and I set up stuff like boards and 2x4's and other stuff to show him how easily that round penetrates stuff like that. That experience gave him a good idea how dangerous a .22 is. When kids actually shoot something with it and see what it can go through and/or blow up they learn first hand through experience and that's the kind of thing they remember. They also remember that one .22 LR will put a woodchuck out of business with a well placed head shot at about 50 yards. Even if it's not highly rated as a self defense round neither me or my son would ever wanna be hit with one.
 
Bravado is normal behavior for a lot of people who tend to overcompensate. I got used to it and it doesn't surprise me anymore. I intervene only when it directly affects me or my family. Survival of the fittest and all that.
 
rondog said:
I'm sure Ronald Reagan and Jim Brady would have something to say about .22's.....
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Actually, the Brady campaign has had quite a bit to say, not only about .22s, but about firearms in general … and what they had to say ain't good.
 
I like the .22 and I think it's the best caliber out there. Imagine how many people learned to shoot with one. Hunting with that is usually the 1st time hunting for most people. I have a kel-tec pmr30 in my truck. I have a short gun in every room in the house, be it a .22 .32 .38 .380 .357 or .44. I have 4 .22cal long guns and 3 .22 short guns. I just like them.

Art
 
I really respected it after seeing it side by side going through the same amount of wood as a 9mm round, just made a smaller hole.
 
Last I heard, more people are killed with .22s than with any other round. Problem is (from the point of view of those that want to use it for self-defense), they don't usually go down quickly. A bad guy can do a lot of damage before the average .22 wound begins to slow them down.

That can be bad... .
 
I think a lot of people tend to exaggerate. Statements like:

If you carry a .25, you better hope you don't have to pull the trigger, because if the guy you shoot ever finds out, he'll be mad

If you shoot someone with a .22, you'll just piss them off.

Clearly aren't true, but they speak to a certain point, and that is that they simply aren't the best defensive rounds. If a little humor and hyperbole make a point with a new shooter and steer them towards a better firearm for a self defense gun, is that really that bad a thing?
 
I get that all the time when I tell my gun buddies about my .22wmr carry gun. So far there have been no volunteers to act as a target backstop.
Granted, I usually carry my model 65 K-Frame .357, but on a hot, humid day it's hard to beat my 10 ounce J-Frame 351 PD in my front pocket.
 
I saw a story where a .22 saved a girl from an attacking bear.
She and her boyfriend were hiking in the woods when an angry black bear charged and attacked them.
She shot her boyfriend in the knee and ran.
Her boyfriend wasn't able to run very fast and the bear got him and killed him.
That little .22 saved her life.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that (BS) story has been around since the Al Gore was a pup, and adds a lot of credibility to your argument. :rolleyes:

In case you didn't notice, Ronald Reagan and Jim Brady each lived a number of years after being shot with a .22. Reagan with zero ill effects, Brady....yeah, somewhat.
Neither of them were shooting back at the time.

Bobby Kennedy was shot in the head 6-7 times with a .22...and he lived a number of hours.

The point is not that a .22 can not be lethal, but whether it can be effective (e.g., will it cause the bad guy to stop trying to kill you...and do so pretty much immediately).

The evidence at hand seems to indicate that the answer to this question is a negative.

How many cops carry .22s as a primary? I'm pretty sure I can answer that question right here and now.

Is a .22 "better than nothing?" Sure....so is a pointy stick. Not so many cops carrying those these days either.

So...in the final analysis, it is up to you. Do you want something that is "better than nothing"?
Or do you want something that is "as good as most everything?"

Choose wisely. One day, your life (or the life of someone you love) may depend on it.
 
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theotherwaldo said:
Last I heard, more people are killed with .22s than with any other round. Problem is (from the point of view of those that want to use it for self-defense), they don't usually go down quickly. A bad guy can do a lot of damage before the average .22 wound begins to slow them down.

That can be bad... .
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One of the big problems, in my mind, with the anti gun people going on about "only banning the really dangerous guns" is that hurts the defensive uses of a gun more than the offensive uses of a gun.

Many people may not want to think of this this way, but a school shooting carried out with a 10/22 with ten round magazines would likely kill just as many, or almost as many people, as one carried out with an "assault rifle" with 30 round magazines. Victims might bleed out over a few minutes instead of being dead on the spot, but the shooter doesn't care. In a self defense scenario, you need to do the maximum damage possible to the attacker, because you do need them to go down right now, instead of bleeding out 10 minutes later.
 
.22 caliber is better than no caliber.

Shot placement is key.


And if the .22 situation in Alabama is like it is here, encouraging somebody NOT to buy one is rather sound advice seeing as there is virtually none available....still.
 
I would rather have a 22 than nothing at all. In fact a lot times I carry S&W model 22a because its lighter than my colt trooper III and a bad guy is looking for a unarmed victim. As for teaching my children about the destructive power of a 22 I usually use a small melon about the size of a persons head and let them shoot it and after in all seriousness tell them that's the kind of damage it can do to a person or animal. They know that any kind of gun is no joke.
 
My wife has a Walther 22lr. Every time I get her to shoot a 9mm or 38 special, she complains about the noise and recoil. Thinking about getting her a LCR 22 mag. Add a CT laser and we might have something.
I can't imagine an intruder getting shot, looking down to see what cal. bullet it was. I would guess thought one would be let's not wait for shot two.
 
A few years ago a uncle of mine was shot in the stomach by a .22lr rifle from a distance of about 5 ft while squirrel hunting by his friend. He finished his hunt then drove himself to the ER. They xrayed him and said the bullet stopped after only going into about 3" of fat. He is about 280#. They said it would not be a danger and there was no reason to even remove it. Its still there!
 
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