Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns why I "rely" on a.22

Post in main forum made me think, such as I'm able. Guess I'm counting on a poor 'lil .22 more often than not, because it's on me most. Not in the house, or traveling. I've got .38s,.357s,.44s,.45s,
more than I need, and shoot them all at times. Shotguns, rifles, ditto. But I've lived in the Rockies (CO,UT,WY,MT) or Ozarks (MO)
all my life, now split time between, always in rural areas. With .22 handguns, I've killed mice,gophers,ground squirrels, tree squirrels, rats, packrats,muskrats, beaver, skunk, possum, coon,
3 non-trapped coyotes (don't know how many trapped), armadillo, snakes, lizards,prairie dogs, badger (tough!), deer/elk/antelope
(road casualties), beef, chickens, lamb, hogs, 1 suffering horse,
and even fish (long ago, no tackle, 2 days hungry), cottontails, jackrabbits, dogs and cats- that's all I can think of right now.
Mostly I just had it with me when I needed it. It's light, easy, and works. I'm no LEO or serviceman, God bless them. But I'm blessed enough to live where few mean folks are, most of the time
and if they ever show up I guess I may be stuck with a .22, if I don't see them coming. I rely on it because my main reason for it isn't really defense. Now I feel a little better about myself... I use a .22 most because I think I may have more use for a handgun,
than most people.

I remember reading a story about an American Indian who hunted for regular sustenance. He only used a Smith & Wesson K-22 (Model 17). He regularly took deer with it, and insisted on using longs vs long rifle because he insisted the latter was too destructive of meat. I believe he always found a side shot through the lungs.

Well, I've only shot 1 healthy deer with a .22, an old rifle. I was a kid working in high country and my boss kinda insisted. Knocked him down in the garden, then he got up and took off and we chased him til he got a .270 in him. Never again. To put one down, from behind where the head joins the neck is my spot. Lots of roadkill around here.

I hope your decision does not come back and bite you in the azz. As I said in the other thread, the reason to carry an effective caliber pistol is to stop the threat right then and there.
Yep, a .22 will kill a squirrel, or rabbit, or human. It may well NOT stop an aggressive attacker though, until he has done grievous bodily harm to you.
Free country, so carry what you want, for what ever reason makes sense to ya.

...the last three shooting cases I worked...the BadGuys in those cases would argue with you...all dropped right there and none survived.

Putting the bullet where you want it to go is generally much more important than caliber. Having to deal with a big bear is one thing but 99% of will go our whole lives without ever being in the same state as a big bear let alone ever even seeing one.

Bob

The .22LR may be the most useful cartridge of all.

hackelwrap01,what .22 handgun was it you did all that killing with?
Back in the day I carried a High Standard HD Military ,22 pistol and killed quite a few specimens with it,all though I never killed big game with it.I would never shoot big game with a .22 handgun unless it was a life or death situation.I did shoot a spike buck one time with a .22 rifle at about 50 or 60 yards and drooped him in his tracks.I hit him just next to one eye with a Remington Yellow Jacket and it was lights out.

I want another one, I have been through 1 Ruger mark III hunter (too heavy too big), two Smith 63s (both would not shoot for beans), and one Bersa 22 (trigger stuck back when you shot it) in the last year, all had issues. There may be some Karma against me and 22's. I may try the ruger SR22 in a month or two. I keep wondering how well those little ruger 22 revolvers shoot as well. Finally why does every one want to put that stupid fiber optic front sight on a 22?

maybe you could talk all the LEO guys in your state into packing a .22 then. Bet they would jump all over that idea.

and you fall into the fallacy of suggesting that only a fellow shooting a .22 can place his bullet accurately.

Fiber optic sights are the work of beelzebub.

+1.........

I've used several neat .22s as regulars- an HD Military, a Sport King, a Woodsman Match Target (wanna cry even now) were all among them. For the last 2o years, it's been mostly a Buckmark,
but I also have a 22/45 that sees regular service. As far as it coming back on me, I hope it doesn't, too- when I go where more people are, I usually pack a 1911.

hacklewrap:

What you're doing right now is perfect. Don't change a thing.

more deer have been killed with a 22 lr than any other cartridge
I would gamble to say ALL other calibers put together!

As a youngin we shot our share.
My brother insisted on a neck shot. My FIL? only eye shots!
I would always shoot for the heart. And most never took more than a few steps.

I hunted deer with subsonic lr's and a homemade silencer on a Marlin rifle. You could only hear the spring and hammer drop.

I usually found the spent slug just inside the hide on the far side.
And lots of protein was put on the table.

The Smith 17, BuckMarks, Woodsman all fine handguns, I take my 17 to the range everytime as it's a darn site less expensive to run a brick thru than the .357 ,44 ,etc.
I have killed quite a few butcher hogs and beef with the 22lr, and considerable small game with the 22 shorts even.

I don't carry it when on the mule though. Thank God I have never had to put down a mule in the back country,but I have had to put down a few horses that did not belong to me that had met with mishaps. It's darn hard to insure an eye shot or the like with a thrashing around horse thata 22lr requires.

If I have to go back the next day to a pack an elk out there is a definite possibilty of having to chase a black bear from the kill.I did it last year. Although most will run that sow with a cub was intent of getting her fill of meat. Further confrontation might have left me a little anxious if all I had was a 22.

For those reasons I carry the .357 Security Six or Ruger 44 mag BH if I don't have a rifle along.

An African bull elephant has been take with a 22.
I have put 6 hollow point 22 rounds through the bodies of many 1 pound 6 month old roosters, and they do not even develop a limp.

So obviously, shot placement is important.

I have shot many raccoons with a 22, and body shots are no good, I need a head shot.

There was some Quickshock 22 ammo from Brazil that was loaded hot. It will stop the big rock chuck marmots with a body shot, so they don't make it back to the hole.

Stevens 22 single shot with 6" barrel chronographed at 1240, 1286 fps with 32 gr.


I would pay $1/ round, if I could get more.

The best gun for the job is the one you have with you. I've killed more critters with a .38 special than all the others I've had combined, and usually because I had it with me at the time.

Clark...check out CCI..they are now marketing the Quik-Shok and it is much more accurate that the old stuff was...

Bob

Agreed. Fiber optic sights were zombie before zombie was zombie.

CT, don't leave us hanging....elaborate, please! How's come?????
....U 2 Bruinruin.....