[pluspforyou38]

any opinions?

[jordan89]

There are much better options out there. I would never buy a .22 strictly for self defense. But if that's all that you have its better than nothing.

[pluspforyou38]

i just have a friend who is afraid of recoil but i cant talk him into getting anything bigger. he might budge for a .22 mag but i wonder if they make any decent LR ammo that would give him a better chance

[rigjumpr]

Originally Posted by pluspforyou38

any opinions?

opinions? opinions you ask, we have opinions most of the time we will tell you without the need of asking..... and my opinion of a .22 as far as a self-defense weapon goes, there are better choices, but if you have nothing else yeah, but shot placement becomes paramount.

[jordan89]

Originally Posted by pluspforyou38

i just have a friend who is afraid of recoil but i cant talk him into getting anything bigger. he might budge for a .22 mag but i wonder if they make any decent LR ammo that would give him a better chance

With proper technique recoil is almost unnoticed. I can't notice much of a difference between my ruger 22/45 and my smith and wesson model 36 (.38 spl). One problem with the .22 is that it is a rimfire weapon...which tends to make it a little less reliable. Also, the idea of a weapon is to immediately stop a threat. A .22 can and will kill someone ....but it may or may not stop a threat immediately. I would try to get your friend comfortable around firearms . Then maybe he or she will not be afraid if a bigger round.

[Shoobee]

With a .22LR you absolutely need to shoot your opponent in the head. Then it works like a charm.

With a .45 ACP a chest shot is more than sufficient.

With a 9 mm several chest shots are needed.

It all depends how cool you are under fire.

I prefer the .45.

[Shoobee]

Originally Posted by rigjumpr

opinions? opinions you ask, we have opinions most of the time we will tell you without the need of asking..... and my opinion of a .22 as far as a self-defense weapon is there are better choices, but if you have nothing else yeah, but shot placement becomes paramount.

Exactly right. Shot placement ... to the head.

[Tell_Sackett]

Originally Posted by pluspforyou38

i just have a friend who is afraid of recoil but i cant talk him into getting anything bigger. he might budge for a .22 mag but i wonder if they make any decent LR ammo that would give him a better chance

If you can get him to go for the 22 mag then hornady is offering their Critical Defense ammo in the 22mag. I would want something bigger but at least these rounds are designed for it.

[Vikingdad]

Why is your friend afraid of recoil? Did they have the unpleasant experience that many have had where they are given a 12 gauge at a young age and got knocked on their butt?

I suggest that you bring your friend to the range with a variety of guns that have low recoil and have them try them out. I have a Ruger GP100 in .357 magnum that I would use with .38's loaded for this exercise. Very mild recoil and a pretty intimidating gun. (of course any .357 mag heavy revolver would work just as well). I have fired a couple of mildly recoiling 1911s that have been worked over.

I can imagine that one of those little .22 Derringers might surprise someone. Never fired one myself though.

[willfully armed]

Originally Posted by Shoobee

With a .22LR you absolutely need to shoot your opponent in the head. Then it works like a charm.

With a .45 ACP a chest shot is more than sufficient.

With a 9 mm several chest shots are needed.

It all depends how cool you are under fire.

I prefer the .45.

100% flawed. For sooo many reasons.


There's no solid logic to the effectiveness of calibers.

My detective friend witnessed a man shot 5x center mass with a 45 survive, yet the 22 to the chest was DOA.



It comes down to this... a 22 is a HORRIBLE cantidate for primary defensive weapon. It honestly sounds like the guy isn't ready to carry at all.

I'd rather have a pointy stick than a 22 in close quarters.