Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Usefulness of a .22 revolver?

My Aunt is in the process of selling of some things of my Grandparents estate. One is a Colt Frontier Scout .22 revolver which I've put my name in for. My wife was curious why I want it so bad (besides the fact it was my Grandpas) and I said it's one of the most useful guns you can have. She asked for what? I said you know for hiking and all around carrying. She said "can it protect us from bears"? I said not really. She said "can it protect us from people"? I said not really. She then asked "well how is it so useful for hiking and carrying"? I said it just is.

CBs, CB long, short, rat shot among others.

I disagree about it not protecting you from people. Pretty sure a HP in the torso will discourage most attackers. It also will feed you if you get stuck out in the wild. A .22 on your belt is much more useful than a .357 left at home because it's too heavy.

Let her shoot it a bit at some fun targets and she might make you buy it.

I always have a 22 pistol somewhere close--not just paranoria---but it's a nice caliber for so many reasons
Just imagine an EMP or CME event occuring when your away from home--it is possible and having a 22 would be your best friend--you could carry enough ammo to get home and 22 ammo is something tradeable--just saying

Good points. I've always thought of a .22 revolver as being useful.I could see me keeping it pretty handy. I decided even if I don't get this one (my uncle gets first crack at it, then me if he doesn't want it) I'm going to buy probably a Ruger Bearcat.

Recreational shooting, pest control, foraging, defensive use in a pinch.

What's not to like?

.22 LR revolvers are useful and fun, but .22 Magnum revolvers are more useful if survival is in the cards, but more expensive to shoot and that certainly cuts into the fun factor.

Family members usually carried a .22 rf while hunting rabbits for the chance head shot on a sitting rabbit, so there wouldn't be any pellets to pick out. One uncle carried the same Colt when deer hunting. He would shoot grouse that he flushed into the trees while still hunting or while walking to his stand.

That seems a bit of a stretch for buying a 22 that your wife probably won't bite on. Just tell her that 22s are about the cheapest thing to shoot and that being a Colt it will probably be worth much more than you paid for it in a few short years. There is a value in an argument based on value.

Not necessarily pertaining to a 22 pistol but a 22 in general. Years ago I asked my dad if he was in a survival situation and could only take one gun, what would he take. He said a 22 then explained you can kill anything with it if you take your time and pick your shot, a pocketful of 22 shells is a lot of ammo, you can go into almost any store and find 22 ammo and you can shoot a bird or small animals and still have enough left for dinner. I am still convinced a 22 is probably the most useful all around firearm.

I'm in full agreement on the usefulness of 22s. I also fully agree with a buddy of mine who says the only firearms worth buying are probably 22s and shotguns, though the others can be fun too. What I am saying is that the wife will likely respond to such an arguement by telling you to just use the firearm that you used during the last electromagnetic pulse or solar flare. That's a stretch. Regardless, I'm sure the OP has landed the Colt by now.

and if he hasn't, he should have....

22 was my first handgun,not counting pellet guns, and if I had to get down to just one handgun, a 22 would be the last to go.
No telling the critters I have dispatched with one,not counting a lots of fun.

I'm trying hard. They haven' got it appraised yet. Once they get it appraised they're offering it first to my uncle. If he doesn't want it it's mine at that point. My fingers are crossed because he's not a handgun guy and I'm hoping he stays that way. If they'd just get the thing appraised the ball could start rolling. It's a Florida Sesquicentennial in the case but it's been fired so collector value is out the window. I'm expecting to pay $400-450 for it. I pester them every few days to get it appraised.

That's probably not a bad deal. I've seen people trying to sell early Ruger Single Sixes for more money than that.

I'd get it in a heartbeat. A .22 handgun is the best practice gun you can have, and a gutload of Stingers from close range is enough to give anybody second thoughts about doing whatever it is they were thinking of doing that you didn't want done.

If it comes with an interchangeable .22 WMR cylinder, it is even more formidable--ask any big city trauma doc what he thinks of .22 magnums in the abdomen (I guarantee his answer will be mostly Anglo-Saxon four-letter words, even if he's Indian!).

BUT (the BIG butt) you need to practice extensively at a range if you are even thinking of using a single action for self-defense in order to be SAFE and also EFFECTIVE.

Hope you get it, even if it turns out just to be for "auld lang syne."

You can wingshoot carpenter bees with rat shot.

ABsolutely!!!

People and bear attacks get all the publicity, but the squirrel and rabbit attacks are far more numerous and are the dirty little secret no one talks about.

I mean, folks don't mind getting on an internet site and saying, "I wuz attacked by a big ol' bear but I fought it off and kilt it", whereas few will talk of their near death experiences with a cottontail, something which is much more likely to happen. I myself only narrowly escaped death or serious injury back in 1977 in Northern Utah when an enraged ground squirrel charged me. My 10/22 was out of ammo so I had to butt smash it to stop it. Thank goodness the rifle was a 1968 model with an aluminum buttplate and honest to gosh walnut stock, and not a modern plastic or take down model that may have disintegrated in my hand! *

A Colt revolver would give you the same old timey quality for protection.





* Btw, that's an absolutely true story (mostly).

assualt rabbit attacks are entirely real. just ask jimmah carter's SS men protecting him in the swamp that fateful day. without them, the attack rabbit would have endangered our very president. i think they beat the rabbit off with beechwood boat paddles as a last resort before he boarded.