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

Hard to argue with success and sounds like the Op has had plenty of it. Truth be told I'm not far off in his thinkin. When it comes to useful tools in the gun world the .22 is right there with the best. Now if you spend most of the time in the city and only use guns to fend off the boogie man than I could see how your view of what "useful" is could be warped. But for anyone spending a good chunk of their time roaming the back roads and in the field a .22lr makes a hell of a lot better sense than some compact, centerfire brass chucker or a .357 snub doesn't it?

But personally I've decided that when it comes to handguns I'd be better off with a centerfire if forced to pick only one. No, I'm not worried about the boogie man and yes 99.9% of my kills in the woods are small to middle sized critters. So why would I choose a centerfire over a .22lr? Cause I can reload my .32H&R or even my .357 to be more than friendly on small game while still having better capabilities when critters get bigger and tougher.

The only disadvantage I have with that choice is reloading. I know many of you enjoy reloading; I'm not one of them. If I had my druthers I'd never reload another round in my life. But to afford to shoot centerfires I have to reload so it's become a necessary evil and one very very big advantage to the .22lr.

Twixt reliance, reloading, and reality ... it's all a 'Catch 22'.

God bless the .22's.



Travis

Try it - you'll love it.. When ya get old and eyesight decreases, you'll appreciate that FO front sight.. I know I do..

Know what I'd love to see? And SR-22M (.22 magnum)... THAT'D be the catz azz...

Can't speak for CT, but for me there are 2-3 reasons.

-The FO front sights tend to be a bit bigger and blot out a bit more target.

-From what I've seen they are less sturdy than standard sights.

-In bright light they absorb and transmit so much light that they get a big fuzzy and less precise.

Great for certain applications, but not for most uses, IMHO.

Last month, I found something while returning from a bowhunt at about noon that was not there at 5 a.m. when I was going into the woods in the dark. If I carry a .22 handgun in the woods, which is rare, it is a second handgun. I just keep it simple and stick with my city gear almost all the time, maybe with an ammo change.

coyote or wolf

Much bigger than usual coyote scat and also had berry seeds in it.

Bear???

I whole heartedly agree with what Chris said. 22s are just great fun ! Cheap to shoot, low noise, and virtually no recoil. If I could only have 1 handgun, id probably go with some kind of center fire semi, for home protection and make it do for plinking too. But if I were to get a 2nd gun, it would be a 22 of some kind, they work well on alot of small game, and are terrific plinkers ! Travis, did you use snake shot on that thing, or a regular 22 round ? If shot, what was the distance ?

So on the main forum, you were talking about defense, but here I can clearly see that your main purpose for a handgun is for the woods or trail, and self defense against 2 legged varmints is quite secondary; that makes sense.

I�m a big fan of .22lr snake shot. Not it doesn�t kill a snake DRT with one shot, often not even with the second�them snakes tend to hold onto life rather dearly. But .22lr snake shot does STOP most snakes right now�the second and third shots just make me feel better�more humane, that�s what I always tell myself.

For the woods, I often choose my centerfires mostly because I don�t have any picket .22�s. One of these days I hope to pick up a Beretta Model 70 in .22lr to go along with my .32 ACP, and then I�m betting it will go with me into the woods an awful lot. My biggest concern here in the Ozarks are Copperheads�man do they ever blend in, and about the first chance you know they�re there is when they�re sinking their teeth into you. Other than that, it�s just pest animals around the farm when they become a problem, which is pretty rare. We have bears but I�ve never even heard rumor of anyone being bothered by bears. We see their droppings when we go into the woods, but we never see the bears; we must grow them smart round these parts I guess.

If I ever encountered a 2 legged varmint that was intent on killing me or mine, I guess my .22 could get the job done�but. Honestly, as soon as I feel I can�t wander the woods without that threat; first I�ll start packing the .45, then I�ll start shopping for a new place to live.

Yessir, you got it. For me, the most likely uses have always been
non-humanoid, and often enough to warrant carrying something, but something I can shoot well enough. My basic pistol needs are more basic .22 LR needs, and I hope never to need more. Not that I don't carry other things,EVER...I've taken 2 elk & 1 muley buck
with my old SBH, and came near doing another elk, last week. In winter, I've taken to a snubby .357, cause it fits in my coat pocket and there are lions sometimes back of my house. When I'm enroute to my Ozarks place for awhile, my favorite 1911 is on me.
Once I get there, I switch to the .22 except for trips to town-
I know about your copperheads, my cabin is on Big Sugar Creek.
Most of my shooting is around my house, here or there. For perspective, I only live 3 miles from the nearest town- but it's
42 miles to the nearest stoplight, and 90 to the nearest mall.

I am often puzzled by the references to a "trail/defense" gun. The two situations call for totally different weapons in my experience. Not that there couldn't be some cross-over in an unusual situation. While it's "possible" that I might need to defend myself from a human-type threat while in the woods......it's also possible that A satalite could fall from space and land on me too, but it's hardly likely. I go with Kevin.....if I REALLY feel I need to worry about self defense while walking the woods......I'll find a new place to woods walk.

I do carry a .22 in the woods quite a bit because it's just so useful for "normal" game encountered. It will easily dispatch snakes and other small varmits and does a great job on edible small game such as squirrels and rabbits. However, even though I know the .22 "can" be used on larger game, the likelyhood of running across a hog in the areas I hunt means I most often have something a bit heavier whenever I am more than very near the house.

Most often I tend to carry a revolver in .45 Colt or a 1911 type auto in .45ACP or 10mm. The 1911 is NOT because I think it is a "better" defense round, but because I "like" it and know it works well on hogs.

If I somehow manage to dodge the falling space junk and have to defend myself from a human......I really don't think the SAA in .45 Colt will result in my doom. Odd, but in my experience, "packs" of human preditors are pretty rare in my neck of the woods. Six shot single actions seem as effective as 20+ shot semi-autos against any threat I might encounter.

I think most need to come back to reality. If you need a "trail" gun....then talk about trail guns. If you feel the need for (and think it likely you WILL need) a defense gun.....then carry a shotgun in the first place.

Travis, have you shot that gun on paper at 15 feet? I know its not a 25 yard gun however the two 63's I had would not put 8 into less than 3 inches at 15 feet. I am curious! I may need one of those ruger 22 revolvers.

I wear snake boots and carry a smith 38 special, two loads are snake shot 3 are Speer gold dots, I figure I got most things covered with that combo.

25yds. Strong side barricade:


Buy my friend, buy.


Travis