How Effective is .22 For Home Defense

[Greg]

On guns with less than 6" barrel the 22 magnum does not offer much higher velocity than 22lr high velocity ammo. In most cases 22 magnum will give less than 100 fps advantage over 22lr while creating large muzzle flash and cost at least 5X more. 22 magnum does offer much more velocity when fired from rifle length barrels.
Also, I hear a lot of people mention reliability of 22lr ammo but in my personal experience quality 22lr ammo is pretty damn reliable. Most people complain about 22lr reliability when they use economical bulk-ammo and not quality ammo. My 22lr ammo of choice is CCI 40 gr Mini-mag solids and I personally never had one bad round...same with CCI Stinger. Few years ago my friends and I fired 1,500 rounds of CCI 36gr Mini-mag HP in one afternoon and we did not have one bad round. I have had bad 22lr ammo but they were either economical bulk pack or Russian brands.

That’s some good advice thank you

[jaytwillerham]

More important than the choice of caliber is the know how for using it for self defense.
In the right hands a .22 would do just fine.
But without suitable training, even a bazooka wouldn't help.

[Slartibartfast]

More important than the choice of caliber is the know how for using it for self defense.
In the right hands a .22 would do just fine.
But without suitable training, even a bazooka wouldn't help.

spoke to her daughter today and she ended up buying a Ruger MK2 and
plans on taking some kind of defensive class

[rentprop1]

Well she can always use it to beat them with as heavy as that thing is .....lol

[tcpip95]

A close relative was in 10th SFG. He said the real bad guys use .22 as their weapon of choice, but these guys have exceptional shot placement skills. Grandma & grandpa should get a 28 gauge shotgun.

[Rchrd.miranda]

People who are experts talk about shot placement and effectiveness of the round. May I offer the thought that the purpose is home/self defense for people who are not experts and perhaps not very familiar with firearms. Quality 22LR is very reliable and actually very effective. it makes the appropriate bang noise. Not a lot of people want to stick around when they know they are being shot at. A 22LR revolver/pistol is capable of multiple rounds in a matter of seconds. Multiple hits (or even a single hit) at close range are quite a deterrent to further misbehavior. Large caliber rounds are not guaranteed to have immediate "stopping power". Contrary to popular belief animals/people do not always go down immediately. A 22LR is easy to handle and easy to point. Grandma is not likely to practice improve her efficiency. A 22 revolver is about as simple to operate as it gets. Point, squeeze and it works.
So yes, INMHO a 22 at the typical bedroom or living room range of 10-12 feet is a pretty good defensive weapon and probably a lot more effective than the proverbial baseball bat

[jaytwillerham]

Another reason for considering a .22 for home defense is the huge difference in in possible hearing damage from having to shoot one, vs a centerfire indoors.

[JBubba57]

Another good option is one of the Beretta mini pistols.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_B ... ni_Pistols

It's a semi-auto with tip-up barrel--that's important for older people and young women (i.e., "weaker" muscles) who have difficulty racking the slide for the first shot of a semi-auto, and this tip-up barrel lets you instead load the first round directly (and easily) into the chamber (and similarly lets you check it in the dark to see if it's loaded). The second and subsequent shots then are typical semi-auto, feeding from the magazine.

It comes in .22LR, .25, and .32. One of my daughters chose the .22LR, because she hates noise and recoil, and another daughter chose the .32, because she wanted a bit more bang, but each had trouble racking the slide on my .380's (Browning BDA, Walther PPK/S). Each one likes her handgun, and they are small, easily concealed and carried, and pretty, esp. the .32, with its textured wood grips. I even found a threaded barrel for my .22LR Beretta Bobcat, for what that's worth. Neither caliber (.22LR and .32 app) kicks very much in these guns. And they have an external hammer that can be cocked for a controlled first shot, and they're SA and DA.

.32 is more expensive than .22LR, for sure, but not that bad, if you buy some of the nicer reloads for practice, and then just buy one box of self-defense HP rounds for loading the gun for home defense.

Neither girl has any trouble working my Ruger Mark I and Mark II .22LR pistols, though--it's an easy bolt pull back mechanism.