.22 LR Personal Defense Ammo

[Astro14]

CCI makes good ammo. My experience with semiautomatic rim fire pistols is that some ammo will not generate enough recoil to operate them reliably. CCI works without fail.

I just bought a case (5,000 rounds) here: https://www.sgammo.com/product/22-lr-amm...llow-point-0031

5,000 rounds for $347. About .07 a round. For quality ammo. Not as cheap as it once was, but a good price in today's market.

 

[Ws6]

Originally Posted By: BlueOvalFitter
Originally Posted By: Ws6
Originally Posted By: Bobaloo22
A friend of mine is a cop here in Va. He was chasing a guy on foot and could only get his back up for some reason and shot the guy with a 22 (CCI mini mag) he hit him in the elbow and the bullet came out his neck behind the ear. I sure as heck would never want to be shot by one. My 2c, By the way I carry a Beretta PX4 Storm in 9mm.


Probably because the man was pumping his arms with his head down and the bullet went in/out of the elbow and triceps region and then hit him behind the ear, as it was all in a straight line.

That's amazing!

Just physics. The bullet penetrated a few inches of soft tissue in a straight line. About what you'd expect from a .22.

 

[Ws6]

Originally Posted By: AZjeff
BOF, anytime you put .22LR and self-defense in the same sentence this is what you get, period, every time. It's easy to search and find examples of people doing actual testing in gel or phone books or goat's heads or watermelons but it's more fun to poke the hornet's nest. Do some real research if you're serious about carrying a 22.

Anyone who thinks they can put multiple shots in a bad guy's face/head in a life threatening situation needs a reality check. Suppressed .22s used to kill people with rifles or pistols point blank have zero to do with self defense.
[color:#FF0000][/color]

THIS.

Instead try social engineering your question. Say..."I want a .22 round for dispatching coyotes or the random wild hog. I've got a pistol I'm ridiculously accurate with and carry it with me, and it happens to be a .22 and I'm not going to spend $3-500 on another gun just for a hog/coyote. What should I stoke it with?

That way you will probably get the same product recommended, minus all the "Don't do this it's stupid" comments...

 

[Smokescreen]

unlike the magic bullet used in the Kennedy assassination....

 

[billt460]

Before this thread gets anymore silly, let's examine 2 prominent deliberate killings involving the .22 L.R. cartridge.... One was an assassination, the other a mob hit. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was assassinated by Sirhan B. Sirhan on June 5, 1968, in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. He was shot 3 times in the head, as close as an inch away. He lived through a 3 hour and 40 minute surgery, only to die nearly 26 hours after the shooting.

The mob hit was on Sam Giancana in the basement of his Oak Park, Illinois home on June 19, 1975. A gunman entered Giancana's basement kitchen and shot him in the back of the head with a .22 L.R. pistol of unknown type, as he was frying sausage and peppers. After Giancana fell to the floor, the gunman turned him over and shot him six more times in the face and neck. He died at the scene, never moving.

These 2 deliberate killings prove that while the .22 L.R. cartridge can be, and is in fact lethal, it is a horrible choice to use to try and stop someone who is attempting to do you harm. In Kennedy's case, he lived a full day before succumbing to 3 shots in the head at extremely close range.

In the case of Giancana, a .22 L.R. was used because of the noise factor. The mob doesn't like to attract attention when they're whacking someone. Still it took 1 shot to the back of the head, again at very close range, and 6 more shots to the head and face before the gunman was convinced the job was done.

And also remember that Robert F. Kennedy was a small framed, very thin man. And Sam Giancana was 67 years old, and had heart trouble. Not the hardest guys to kill in the first place.

So translating this into a self defense scenario, I really can't think of a worse cartridge to use for that purpose. Except for perhaps a .25 Automatic. There is no "good" .22 L.R. self defense cartridge, anymore than there is a good low fat grade of Prime Rib.

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
I've got one coyote broadside into the chest cavity with a hollow point 38gr at 40 yrds(which maybe handgun energy levels?) and it did go 100 yrds before it dropped, but that's was like 5 seconds.


Never been in such a situation, but I'd think that, in close quarters against a fire-armed opponent, 5 seconds could be a rather long time.

Plus people are bigger than coyotes

 

[Win]

Given the scope of the question, CCI Mini Mag.

After Katrina, we were overrun with folks from NOLA, and the round of choice when they were capping each other was 22LR. One thug, sitting in the back seat, took ten rounds from the front seat, to which he succumbed, but unclear how quickly.

But wasn't there a story a while back about a woman who put five rounds of 38 Spl into a thug intruders face, and he was still able to run away before he succumbed?

 

[kmrcstintn]

*** IF THE PISTOL IS A BLOWBACK DESIGN, LIKE THE BERETTA TOMCAT OR TAURUS PT-22, YOU NEED TO GET A HIGH QUALITY CONSISTENT AMMO TO MINIMIZE MALFUNCTIONS!!! ***

target ammo, bulk ammo, standard velocity ammo may not have enough oommph to properly cycle blowback pistols...CCI Minimags, Stingers, and Velocitors should offer enough oommph and consistent performance to top the list

 

[Win]

The Tomcat is .32; the Bobcat can be .25 or 22LR. They look similar, but the Tomcat is bulkier and heavier than the Bobcat.

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: Ws6
Originally Posted By: AZjeff
BOF, anytime you put .22LR and self-defense in the same sentence this is what you get, period, every time. It's easy to search and find examples of people doing actual testing in gel or phone books or goat's heads or watermelons but it's more fun to poke the hornet's nest. Do some real research if you're serious about carrying a 22.

Anyone who thinks they can put multiple shots in a bad guy's face/head in a life threatening situation needs a reality check. Suppressed .22s used to kill people with rifles or pistols point blank have zero to do with self defense.
[color:#FF0000][/color]

THIS.

Instead try social engineering your question. Say..."I want a .22 round for dispatching coyotes or the random wild hog. I've got a pistol I'm ridiculously accurate with and carry it with me, and it happens to be a .22 and I'm not going to spend $3-500 on another gun just for a hog/coyote. What should I stoke it with?

That way you will probably get the same product recommended, minus all the "Don't do this it's stupid" comments...


Dunno what US wild pigs are like, but I've come across wild Bearded Pigs in Borneo and they are bloody huge, with big curvy tusks, massive heads, and, of course, beards.

The ones I encountered weren't looking for trouble and neither was I, but if I was going to shoot at them at the close ranges likely on forrest tracks I think I might still want more gun.

 

[CT8]

Originally Posted By: BlueOvalFitter
Moderators, ADMIN, PLEASE close this thread!
WHY?

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Ducked
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
I've got one coyote broadside into the chest cavity with a hollow point 38gr at 40 yrds(which maybe handgun energy levels?) and it did go 100 yrds before it dropped, but that's was like 5 seconds.


Never been in such a situation, but I'd think that, in close quarters against a fire-armed opponent, 5 seconds could be a rather long time.

Plus people are bigger than coyotes

Yep, that's why I don't get into gun fights...

Even a man sized deer can go quite a while when poorly shot with a 12g slug which is 20 times the energy of a .22 rifle and something like more than 5 times the energy of any practical hand gun.

 

[TOMJ]

Minimag 40 grain round nose. No hollowpoint is going to expand out of a pistol. I tried Stingers and Velocitors in my "wife's" SR22 and there were too many FTE causing stovepipes.
They may have too much power and cycle the slide too fast. I don't know. But I do know that Minimags are 100% reliable in the SR22.
This is my wife's nightstand weapon and is loaded with 11 Minimags.
I know that 22LR is not the best choice for self defense but my wife can't handle my .380 or 9mm. See knows to aim for center mass and empty the mag as fast as see can.
The SR22 has a laser sight to make aiming easier.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

I keep my S&W Model 18 loaded with CCI Mini-mag HPs.

 

[Panzerman]

I agree with .22 solid bullet. CCI mini max is good.
Ive had good luck with everything except Thunderbolts. That being said as the owner of almost 100 guns. By my bedside is a .22 semi automatic rifle. There is a 9 mm M&P Smith Wesson in the drawer but my first choice is that .22 rifle. They are accurate, fast shooting without over pentration.
I have seen them drop cows with a head shot from a .22 rifle and seen hogs get shot several times with a 9 mm pistol in the head and keep going. Most butchers use a .22 rifle. Don't believe all that tactical [censored].

 

[AZjeff]

It's always interesting to learn what people choose as their save-my-life self defense weapon and the reasons for the choice. Thankfully 99.99% of us will never have to find out if it was the right choice.

 

[853okg]

Hey, to be fair, at NO POINT during that 60 hour period was anyone in any danger of being attacked by Bobby Kennedy.

 

[MParr]

Remington Thunderbolt or CCI Stinger

 

[ZeeOSix]

High velocity and 40 grain hollow point is about as good as you're gonna get with .22LR as a defensive round. As others have said:

 

[bunnspecial]

I agree in general with the folks who are suggesting a round nose vs. a hollow point. Lack of penetration is going to be your biggest enemy, and I'd rather have a round nose that's going to penetrate reliably than a hollow point that might expand large but only penetrate a couple of inches. Aside from that, most 22 bullets are soft swaged lead and are likely to expand at least somewhat if they hit bone or anything else moderately hard(I've seen plenty of nicely mushroomed round noses just from shooting stuff in the back yard).

Also, short of high end target ammo like Eley, I'd consider CCI something of the gold standard both in terms of reliability and muzzle energy(at least for mini-mags on the latter). Rimfire ammo as a whole is less reliable than centerfire, but I get far few FTFs with CCI than with other brands. I consider that especially important in a semi-auto as you're stuck if you to get a failure to fire(I've also run into "soft" rounds with some of the bulk boxes that wouldn't cycle my semi-autos.