Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Who is carrying a 22 for the porpoise of self defense?

JohnW's thread got me wondering about the future, I hope this is not a retarded question. However one begins to wonder with the scarcity of ammunition if some of the 22 long rifle pistols may soon be or already be carried by people with CCW's. The ruger LCR. G44 etc come to mind.

For several years, my everyday carry here on the farm was a Charter Arms 22LR, 8 shot stainless 2 inch barrel. I found myself shooting something with it all the time, and killed a bunch of stuff with it. Can't say that I ever worried about it not being enough gun, as I figured it was better than not carrying.

Beats a sharp stick, but not by much.

Now days I know of only a few. When I was growing up just about every adult owned just one handgun and that was in 22 caliber. My dad's only handgun was a Ruger Bearcat. We lived in the country and he found no need for anything larger. Before his brother got it, he had a S&W K-22 that he used to keep us and 3 other family's feed with venison. About every old outdoorsman had a 22 on his hip or in his glovebox. My grandfather had but one handgun for his remote travels through the still lawless southwest and it was a 22 High Standard with just one magazine. I myself, now in my late 60's worked the rather lawless deserts of southern Arizona in my youth, often standing guard on constructions sights far into the uninhabited desert and had a Ruger Mark 1 with 1 magazine. Was too young and inexperienced to know better. I could continue on about outdoorsmen I know that wandered from Alaska to Mexico with nothing but a 22 handgun, Even the legendary African white hunter Harry Selby carried a 22 Colt Woodsman on all his Safaris'. I carried nothing but a pre war Colt Woodman for decades while guiding hunters and wandering to west. Now days I read more than I experience and carry bigger things because ????

I only carry a 22 for dolphins.

Since merely producing a gun stops the majority of criminals, and the majority of defensive stops (i.e., from being hit by a bullet of any type) are psychological ("Oh crap, I've been shot!"), they can be enough in most cases.

For a few years, back in the 1990s, my only carry gun was a NAA Mini Revolver in .22 lr that I carried in my front pants pocket. Once, just putting my hand in that pocket and taking hold of the Mini Revolver was enough to turn back a determined approach by an unsavory looking character. He quite clearly noticed the move, and literally did a 180. Had he taken another step or two towards me, it would have been produced.

This is a subject that I really enjoy and will relate a few people I know or have heard about who's only handgun was 22 caliber. These will be real people who used them daily, not just leave them in their sock drawer. Bud was a outdoorsman extraordinaire, from his youth in the 30;s he wandered , trapped, carried US mail on his back between mining camps, and prospected. His only companion was a pre war Colt Woodman that was so worn by his 60's that one grip was worn though to the metal. Read an account of a man that walked to Alaska in the 30's before there was a road, and he carried a Woodman and said he never felt under gunned till he had to shoot grizzly bears. Wow. Earnest Hemmingway, while not too gun savvy, swore by the Woodsman and carried one often as did Patton. Castners Cutthroats, a group of Alaskan outdoorsmen pressed into service during WW 2 carried self loading 22 as part of their kit while perusing the Japs on Kiska and Attu islands. An Alaskan cattle rancher on Kodiak island had a 4" barred Colt Woodsman on his hip daily that was so worn that the front sight was missing, He took a Kodiak bear that surprised him with the little gun. While the little cartridge is far from ideal, it is easy to hit with thus good shots are easier to accomplish. The largest grizzly ever killed at that tine was killed with a single shot from a 22 long cartridge.

I put down a lot of game with a NAA in 22 mag. Small package, but 5 rounds about the power of a standard 22.

I carry a 43c when I run and sometimes when I go to town in my running shorts. 8 shots of Winchester Power Points in a gun that I shoot well, doesn’t have me worried about being under gunned.

It’s better than a 45 in the truck console...

I believe Deflave carries a .22 revolver, too.

Back before Michigan had Shall Issue, I occasionally carried a Beretta 21A.

Like you, I carried a 22 Woodsman during my career as an elk guide and used it to finish off at least a dozen each, deer, elk, and antelope along with a number of other odd critters. Two uninjured elk became burger and chops after a run in with the little Woodsman.

I carry a Walther TPH in my left pants pocket for just in case. It didn't function for squat until I polished the feed ramp with Flitz and my Dremel buffing wheel. Now I trust it.

I used to carry a 22, but then the Raccoons eating off a deer feeder I put out got so big that shooting one with a 22 resulted in them looking at me like - “that ain’t a knife”...

I moved up to a 22 Mag pistol... kind of better

Then I got a 32 H&R Mag - that seems to work on raccoon & opossums.

Awesome concept. Looks like a great little gun.

I often carry a Beretta 21A in a pocket holster when out walking with wife and dog in our neighborhood. Fits nicely in a hip pocket, always there if you need it. In the summer, first round in the barrel is a CCI snake load for rattlers. Highly concealable and lightweight are pluses, IMO. If coyotes in our area get bolder, as they sometimes do, then a 9mm gets carried.

I think a .22 LR loses too much velocity in handguns.

I don't personally believe in ammo shortages. I carry a .22 around the place as I frequently come across targets of hopportunity.

And I like to shoot. Take an average day with normal aggravations and frustrations, add a .22 revolver and a coon trying to get in the dog food, and you now have an adventure. Hauling brush to the burn pile and attacted by rabbits? Adventure boys, adventure...

Howsoever lilliputian that adventure may be, it beats a day without.

And the youngest son and I are batching it this week as wife/mom is up with the grandkids who are schooling from home. Fried a couple of bunnies for supper last night. Attack rabbit gravy on our biscuits this morning.

Would I carry a .22 revolver for self defense? Not by choice. Think of how silly it sounds. Add in the potential for rimfire primer FTF, and I will always choose a centerfire for self defense.

That said, I'll bet I've run 1500 rounds through my LCR since august, and some of those rounds likely as old as the average poster here. Not a misfire yet, of any sort.
If I'm going about my daily adventures here on the place, I consider myself to be adequately armed with a .22

Been carrying various ones for years, BUT my risk level is pretty low. When I go to the Big City (Leesburg, VA) I may swap it out for a .357 or 9.

Since wearing any handgun for long on my belt eventually causes my lower back some trouble, my JIC gun now is a pocket auto that holds 10. Took some break-in and ammo trials, but now I feel I can depend on it. If I’m wearing pants, it’s in ‘em. Finished off a nearly dead deer not long ago with it. In snakey conditions, my 3” M63 gets 2 or 3 shot loads on top, and 5 or 6 Stingers right behind.

Hawkeye is right, I think, as no one wants to be shot with anything. I’ve read that in the old early days, bad guys were afraid of the popguns because being shot with one likely led to a long, painful death from infection, “Lead Poisoning”.

Some .22 loads still step out pretty well in short barrels. Stingers, Velociters, and possibly some other high-speed types can yield 1000fps, give or take, in short barrels. There’s at least one report on the web on velocities taken in the NAA guns.

I carried a Colt Diamondback .22 for years when I was young cause its all I had. Suffice it to say it worked on everything I ever had to use it on.