I'm not a big fan of .22 handguns for defensive purposes, although I know they'll do the job sometimes. But I have a little Marlin 795 .22 rifle with a Weaver V3 scope that will put 10 shots into a ragged hole at 25 yards and is rock solid dependable. I'm fairly certain that it would give an intruder a bad day.
My Dad, tells a story about him and a friend fishing along our local river many years ago. Two tough looking guys snuck up on them and were threatening to beat em up and rob them if they didn't hand over some cash....
Dad's, pal drew a .22 revolver out and pointed it at the biggest guy and made a show of cocking it and aiming at the guys knee. He said " How would you like to be shot in the knee, a-hole"? The two bad guys beat a hasty retreat...
BT53 "Where do they find young men like this?" Reporter Savidge, Iraq Elk, it's what's for dinner....
Investigated a shooting where a fellow resisted during an street robbery. One of the robbers shot him in the forehead with what was determined to be a .22LR. Victim ran off, and walked 15 blocks to a hospital. Recovered the .22 lr round when the doctor removed it protruding from his forehead. Victim had a severe headache and couldn't recall much about the robbery.
"Put none but Americans on guard tonight." -George Washington
Once upon a time, many moons ago when I was a younger man and a Newlywed, my Wife and I had joined one of her Co-Workers, and her husband at her In-Laws Cabin on a lake in Michigan. I had taken along a Ruger Mark I and a supply of ammunition on this trip. The Co-Workers husband and I decided to go do some target shooting in the nearby woods. We had been shhoting for about half an hour when all of a sudden the tree limb next to my head exploded as bits of bark flew like shrapnel and it distintegrated! It was immediatley followed up by more bullets snapping, and "buzzing" through the air around us.....it took but a nanosecond to figure out that someone was shooting at us and I don't think I could have hugged Mother Earth any tighter than I was!
We both started hollering as if our lives depended on it.....and it was met with a few more rounds sent our way. Quickly deciding that we had no choice but to get the hell out of there, I told my acquaintance that I had a plan. I had 2 magazines for the pistol.....I loaded both and when I started returing fire, he was to haul azz for the road and safety!
I popped up on my knees and started emptying the magazine in the direction I thought the shots had come from. Mark ran faster than a scalded dog getting out of there. I dropped back down, changed mags, then jumped up, and began firing in the general direction as before while I ran as fast as I could for the road! Once reaching safety of the road, the pucker factor dropped from around 1,000 to about 20 and then I began to get angry.....I mean mad dog mean angry. I reloaded both mags and we started back for the cabin.
Upon return, we explained what happened to our wives. They informed us that they had been setting outside in the back yard enjoying the weather, when the neighbor's kid came out of the woods with a rifle. One of his buddy's happened along and asked him why he quit shooting....he stated that because there was someone else in the woods shooting....the new kid said "Give me your gun, I'll go find out who it is". Apparently, it was this little bastid that was shooting at us and thought the woods were his private domain!
The Wive's recalled joking about possibly becoming widows if we were the ones out in the woods they were talking about.
Needless to say, if it hadn't been for an older neighbor intervening when we confronted these little azzholes, well suffice it to say, the older neighbor confiscated the firearm, called the boys Father and told him he had the boys at his place and he could pick them up there.
That's the ONLY time I've fired a ".22LR" in anger.......
Investigated a shooting where a fellow resisted during an street robbery. One of the robbers shot him in the forehead with what was determined to be a .22LR. Victim ran off, and walked 15 blocks to a hospital. Recovered the .22 lr round when the doctor removed it protruding from his forehead. Victim had a severe headache and couldn't recall much about the robbery.
victims don't 'run off', when 'shot in the forehead' with a .22LR......
Once upon a time, many moons ago when I was a younger man and a Newlywed, my Wife and I had joined one of her Co-Workers, and her husband at her In-Laws Cabin on a lake in Michigan. I had taken along a Ruger Mark I and a supply of ammunition on this trip. The Co-Workers husband and I decided to go do some target shooting in the nearby woods. We had been shhoting for about half an hour when all of a sudden the tree limb next to my head exploded as bits of bark flew like shrapnel and it distintegrated! It was immediatley followed up by more bullets snapping, and "buzzing" through the air around us.....it took but a nanosecond to figure out that someone was shooting at us and I don't think I could have hugged Mother Earth any tighter than I was!
We both started hollering as if our lives depended on it.....and it was met with a few more rounds sent our way. Quickly deciding that we had no choice but to get the hell out of there, I told my acquaintance that I had a plan. I had 2 magazines for the pistol.....I loaded both and when I started returing fire, he was to haul azz for the road and safety!
I popped up on my knees and started emptying the magazine in the direction I thought the shots had come from. Mark ran faster than a scalded dog getting out of there. I dropped back down, changed mags, then jumped up, and began firing in the general direction as before while I ran as fast as I could for the road! Once reaching safety of the road, the pucker factor dropped from around 1,000 to about 20 and then I began to get angry.....I mean mad dog mean angry. I reloaded both mags and we started back for the cabin.
Upon return, we explained what happened to our wives. They informed us that they had been setting outside in the back yard enjoying the weather, when the neighbor's kid came out of the woods with a rifle. One of his buddy's happened along and asked him why he quit shooting....he stated that because there was someone else in the woods shooting....the new kid said "Give me your gun, I'll go find out who it is". Apparently, it was this little bastid that was shooting at us and thought the woods were his private domain!
The Wive's recalled joking about possibly becoming widows if we were the ones out in the woods they were talking about.
Needless to say, if it hadn't been for an older neighbor intervening when we confronted these little azzholes, well suffice it to say, the older neighbor confiscated the firearm, called the boys Father and told him he had the boys at his place and he could pick them up there.
That's the ONLY time I've fired a ".22LR" in anger.......
Frog----OUT!
Maybe the wives weren't joking about becoming widows. Seems like if they saw and heard the kids with the gun talking all this over the wives could have piped up and told the kids who was out there and to not go in there investigating with a gun.
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
Around 1977 a friend and I were hunting ground squirrels in Utah just west of Bear Lake, I was using my 10/22. They were thick as fleas in that area and we walked into a particularly dense mess of them. The shooting was fast and furious and I lost count of how many I had shot. Thought we were clear when a hold out suddenly dashed out no more than 10 yards away. I fired quickly but only winged him.
The wounded ground squirrel charged straight at me! I raised the carbine and squeezed the trigger but my heart sank when all I heard was "click"! The magazine was empty. My mind was racing as adrenaline flooded my system. With the enraged squirrel rapidly narrowing the distance between us I resorted to the only means of self defense possible and butt smashed him with the solid walnut stock which ended the episode immediately. Thank goodness it was an early 1968 model with a metal butt plate, a newer plastic one might have cracked and then who knows what mayhem may have ensured.
And that is a true story...
That's some intense shixt. I got the goosebumps reading it. Hope it don't give me the nightmares.
Back in my ‘70’s packing house days, when a particularly tough cow didn’t stay knocked out with the pneumatic knocker, the kill floor guy got the .22 pistol and the result was just the same as Huntsman22’s cow above. From what I’ve read, .22 LR wounds in humans while not immediately fatal all the time, often result in septic shock later and that is fatal. It was used for a quiet back of the head hit often because a .22 bullet is so soft that it deforms and is untraceable ballistically.
My other auto is a .45
The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory
The only thing that a .22 handgun has saved, for me, is my sanity. Where I live the largest common predator is the coyote, and I have spent copious amounts of time trying to elicit a hair raising charge from them. All to no avail. Rabbit stampedes at the burn pile are probably more hazardous. What with the beagle charging blindly and running the varmints right past my feet.
I have described how I seek adventure on my home place with the .22 handgun. I confess that the adventures are more mind-set than they are thriller novel material. But the use of a .22 handgun in these small adventures has shown me that the same handgun is capable of larger adventures.
I've said in other threads that I thought the modern prevalence of concealed carry had pretty much done away with the "Kit Gun" concept. Still, if I found myself in rural North America walking stream banks while fishing, or simply day hiking, I can't think of a better companion or "kit" gun. When used this way the .22 is on my belt, instead of tucked away in a bag or tackle box. Pretty much always have enough spare ammo in a little pocket coin bag to make life interesting
And I work 60+ miles from home. I don't have a bug-out bag, or a get-home bag. I do have a bag with enough stuff to make delays or extended detours in getting home more comfortable. The .22 adventure gun, with the coin bag of ammo figures prominently in such preparations. Does this mean the "Kit Gun" lives on?
I killed a wild pig or two with a Single Six. They weren’t charging but they are dead. I’ve killed plenty of snakes with it too.
I carry a High Standard derringer tucked behind my billfold in my pocket sometimes. Not ideal but sometimes there’s no other option and I don’t know anybody who wants to get shot with anything, even a 22.
its legal here to shoot anything with about anything. There were generations of hunters using 22LR for said anything, and still a % who still use it. It penetrates animal skulls, which is not surprising as it beats 2" of pine with most ammo types in rifle and still penetrates a 1/2" pine board at 400 yards which was the old army test for potential lethality. Tests on youtube show subsonic match ammo getting 10+" of gel penetration at 300 yards. Not that you could maintain holdover at those ranges but just to show the 22LR can kill quite a ways out.
I've been pretty proud of the little LCR .22 I picked up in august. Run a lot of rounds, of all types, through it since then. Reliable as the sunrise?
First misfire today. Last round in my first cylinder full. And my thoughts went immediately to the potential of Fail to Fire issues with rimfire priming. I picked the round up and it had a barely visible mark in the rim, which makes it a weapon issue, in my mind.
After that first cylinder, I shot up 50 stingers, 50 Fed Gold Medal, and 40 Fed AE. Never a hiccup.
I'm always impressed with the stingers, but the Gold Medal stuff was the eye opener today. They grouped into tight little knots that really got my attention, albeit they shot 2" higher than most loads at 50'
Investigated a shooting where a fellow resisted during an street robbery. One of the robbers shot him in the forehead with what was determined to be a .22LR. Victim ran off, and walked 15 blocks to a hospital. Recovered the .22 lr round when the doctor removed it protruding from his forehead. Victim had a severe headache and couldn't recall much about the robbery.
Leonard Bryant was his name.. typical Rez party the skins drinking keystone and whatever cheap beer you could getting rainbow market. Well Leonard found his mom’s 22 L.R pistol he was [bleep] around with it. Drunk pointing it at people all the other Indians laughing joking yeah Leonard. Well someone said something about it being loaded. Leonard to prove to folks it wasn’t held up to his head and pulled the trigger. Well you all know the rest of this story.. needless to say ol Leonard died that night..
Last edited by 79S; 12/21/20.
Originally Posted by Bricktop
Then STFU. The rest of your statement is superflous bullshit with no real bearing on this discussion other than to massage your own ego.
Sometimes this is NOT a weapon issue. I would recommend measuring rim thickness on the defective round. I may be too thin, which barely allowed the firing pin to reach it. I've seen it. Another thing, sometimes in the brass rim there are spots that are not hollow, so there is no primer compound in that spot. They don't dent much either because that spot is not hollow; it has brass in it.
Your experience verified what gun writer Bill Jordan used to say "I'll take a revolver, you take your chances". He had a very colorful history in Law Enforcement. If you get a "dud" with a double-action revolver, simply pull the trigger again. The only way I would use a rimfire for self-defense is in a double-action revolver. Just my opinion. Fortunately, I've never been in a situation requiring gunfire.
