.22LR for pistol use

[Josjor]

I shoot a lot of rimfire....primarily rimfire, actually.

CCI's are almost always a good, consistent round in most .22lr.  The only exception being the Stingers which use a longer case and can be a bit inaccurate.

The bulk stuff is pretty much all crap.  The Remingtons you see at Wallyworld are perhaps the worst thing in the world and Remington should be ashamed.  The only bulk I've ever shot that was worth a dang is the Federal Automatch.

You may also want to try some of the Aguila loads.  The Super Extra and Super Maximum are hi-velocity rounds that do pretty danged well and are priced really well.

22lr's pistols and rifles all have their quirks and tend to like different ammo's so there isn't any standard rule.  The best thing to do is to buy some 50 round boxes of different brands/loads and go try them.  It's cheap to do and it gives you a good excuse to go shooting!

Now, just to stir the waters, here are my thoughts on the .22lr as a self defense load. 

You could do worse, such as having no weapon at all.  I know it isn't the hardest hitting, but a HV round will go through a rabbit at 25 yards from a pistol.  It'll surely do some good damage to an intruder from the typical self defense distance of 12 feet.  Use CCI v-shock fragmenting load and you're sure to do some damage.  Is it the best for the job? No.  But it is better than nothing.

I own a .25 auto that I inherited from a friend when he passed away.  And I always thought he liked me.   I guess not.  Anyway, I've owned it for about three years and hadn't ever taken it out to shoot it so I did  just that a couple of weeks ago.  It's one of the little pocket guns with a 2" barrel.  From 15 feet only 13 of 20 rounds got on an 8.5" x 11" paper.  I guess you could say that it shoots to 1MOBG (minute of bad guy).  FWIW I keep it hidden in the dresser drawer just in case.  It's right next to the Taurus Judge and that'd be the first grab, thats for sure!

[JimP]

I have heard of those little 25's as a "nostril gun", as in if you want it to be effective, you shove it up the nose of your adversary and empty it....... and hope the guy isn't congested.....

[Josjor]

Actually, the .25's are pretty effective.  All you gotta do is duct tape it to the end of a baseball bat!

[Rule#.308]

Sorry kids but I'm going to have to disagree.  When I was young, back when the Rockies were ant hills, there was a gentleman who claimed he could kill any animal on the planet with a .22 and then proceeded to do just that.  Sorry I have forgotten his name, but he did drop an elephant (African) with a .22.  It all boils down to two things, range and bullet placement.  Personally I do not have much use for any of the high velocity ammo in .22, I prefer subsonic either in Eley target ammo or Aquilla.  CCI Green Tag at 1070 fps would probably work well in an auto loader and it is pretty accurate.  The problem with high velocity .22 is when the sound barrier catches back up to it at about 90 yards, it causes the bullet to dance a bit.  When using sub sonic in my CZ 453 I can cover 3 shots with a dime at 50 yards and a nickle at 100 yards.  That being said, I will also offer up that I would not want to be the guy shooting at me from 100yds with his .45 ACP when I have my trusty High Standard HD Military .22 to shoot back with.  By the way, again years ago there was a small town meat locker/butcher shop in my home town and guess what they used to dispatch cattle on butchering day.  Yep, a little .22 rifle with one shot right between the head lights.  The only time it didn't work was on a huge old range bull and they had to find the local Marshall and have him shoot the bull with his .357.  Be safe and have fun everyone and remember "Shooting is the most fun you can have standing up with your clothes on"

[armed and humorous]

I'm gradually wandering through some of the threads that do not have real recent comments, and I stumbled upon this one.  I don't think anyone here would disagree that at normal self-defense range, a .45 is more likely to stop an assailant than a .22.  However, Rule#.308 brings up a good point about distance (and related accuracy of the two).  Also, I might remind everyone that it was a .22 that killed Bobby Kennedy, and I can't even recall how many deaths from either accidental or intentional shootings with .22s I have read about over the years.  I once read a true story about a family that purchased a small island off the east coast of Canada.  There were a number of bears living on the island, including grizzlies.  One confrontation involved the entire family (four individuals), all armed with rifles from .22 through .270, 30.30, and 30.06, against a charging grizzly coming at them from about 40yds down the path they were on.  they fired continuously as fast as they could as the bear charged and actually continued on past them for some distance before finally dropping dead.  Upon skinning the animal, they found 37 bullet wounds in its body.  About a week later, the wife/mother of the family was out getting water from the well when another grizzly popped out of the woods and came at her.  She had only a .22 rifle, but she fired one round and the bear collapsed dead in front of her.

[FarmerRick]

I'm gradually wandering through some of the threads that do not have real recent comments, and I stumbled upon this one.  I don't think anyone here would disagree that at normal self-defense range, a .45 is more likely to stop an assailant than a .22.  However, Rule#.308 brings up a good point about distance (and related accuracy of the two).  Also, I might remind everyone that it was a .22 that killed Bobby Kennedy, and I can't even recall how many deaths from either accidental or intentional shootings with .22s I have read about over the years.  I once read a true story about a family that purchased a small island off the east coast of Canada.  There were a number of bears living on the island, including grizzlies.  One confrontation involved the entire family (four individuals), all armed with rifles from .22 through .270, 30.30, and 30.06, against a charging grizzly coming at them from about 40yds down the path they were on.  they fired continuously as fast as they could as the bear charged and actually continued on past them for some distance before finally dropping dead.  Upon skinning the animal, they found 37 bullet wounds in its body.  About a week later, the wife/mother of the family was out getting water from the well when another grizzly popped out of the woods and came at her.  She had only a .22 rifle, but she fired one round and the bear collapsed dead in front of her.

 
Fine example of "it's better to be lucky, than good".

[armed and humorous]

I didn't bother to mention, the second bear died of old age!