Wouldn't a small 22 pistol be a better defence gun than a 25 or 32 auto?

Question

I'm talking abouta sub-compact Beretta or Taurus. The 22 long rifle has more energy in ft-lbs than the 32. It would also save a ton of money when practising too.

Answer 1

You answered your own question when you posted the power of the rounds, IN A WAY.
Take into account that they're all powerful enough to kill, but the larger bullet diameter may help you if your gun is lodged against your chest and you can only get one shot off.

HOWEVER I would suggest you get a .38 revolver instead of ANY semi auto.

Reason? Because revovlers take the possibility of a cartridge swelling jam, a limp wristed stove pipe jam, or a slide stopping jam (when the gun is pressed up against your stomach, for example, and the slide cannot travel backwards).

The .38 Special is not an expensive round, FMJs are cheap and you can buy a little box of hollow points for carry.

But any gun's better than no gun. My 2 cents=get a .38

Answer 2

The 20 gauge is a much better choice for home defense. A .22 is better than nothing, but if you shoot someone, you want to shoot to kill. The .22 is good for targets, but the problem is that it doesn't have much stopping power and you have to be much more careful with aiming, which is really hard in a hone defense type situation. Load the 20 gauge with #4 or #6 shot, and practice at a range where you can shoot at human-size silhouette targets until you feel comfortable with the shotgun. Two more things. First, in a close quarters situation, an intruder might be able to wrench a pistol out of your hands, which is a lot less likely with a shotgun. Second, a shotgun pointed at an intruder is a lot more intimidating than a pistol which would probably be shaking. And one last comment. I asked a friend once who was a police detective about a gun for home defense, and he was really against handguns because there's always a chance the round might go through a wall and into another room or even another house, causing a lot of collateral damage. He preferred a shotgun, but said that the only downside was that if you fire a shotgun inside your house, be prepared to put a door in where there used to be a wall.

Answer 3

No. The .22LR out of a snub-nosed pistol barely breaks 1000 ft/sec. And this is for the so-called hyper-velocity loads. Also, the hollow-points in this caliber are designed to be shot out of rifles at squirrels, bunnies, and four-legged varmints under fifty pounds in weight. Most offerings won't expand, drilling a tiny .22 caliber hole clean through the target. The ones that do perform, they tend to fragment, penetrating no more than five inches into ballistics gelatin.

If you're looking to drill holes in someone, then .22LR pistols beat .25 ACP guns hands-down. It will likely be fatal to the person being shot by it, but generally not fast enough to actually stop an attack.

Admittedly, .25 ACP rounds are little better. The best performing JHP rounds barely penetrate eight to ten inches of ballistics gelatin, with FMJ being the best choice in this caliber.

The hotter .32 ACP loads, like WInchester Silvertips or the European loads, such as those from Fiocchi penetrate and expand just enough to make the .32 ACP pocket-pistol a better self-defensive firearm than most any smaller-caliber pocket-pistol.

These days, though, there are .380 ACP pistols offered in the same compact dimensions as .32 ACP guns, and the .380 ACP round is a better performer than any of the so-called mousegun calibers. If one is willing to go up a little more in size, then one finds that they can buy quality compact guns in 9mm Luger, which definitely beats .380 ACP.

Answer 4

Please note I am not trying to be critical.
When you buy life insurance do you buy the cheapest and hope you wont ever need it, to save money?
Just having a pistol or pulling a pistol will not solve the problem, it may very well inflame the situation more so.
If you pull a gun you better be ready and willing to kill, and have one that is able to kill, if not don’t pack one.
And if you do decide to pack one, I would not recommend any one of the 3 you listed.
Get a weapon that can kill with 1 shot, not just piss them off.
Yes the 22 is the best by far, but not for self defense.
If you wont to do a lot practice then buy a quality (not cheap) 22 for the range practice.
But have at least a 9MM for self defense to carry.
Now you are looking at 2 guns one for cheap practice and one much larger for self defense.
If you buy name brand quality it is an investment that will hold its value.
Cheap guns will only waste your money that you will never get back.
Back in the late 70s I bought a Ruger 22 auto (they back then called the Standard)for $79.00.
Today it’s the same as the Mark I or Mark II I still have that Ruger and it’s worth $250.00
Now, and it is still an outstanding weapon that has never given me any trouble even after shooting God only knows how many rounds I put through that pistol, while living out in the country all my life.
When you practice with a 22 pistol it will help you to become more efficient with the larger self defense weapon.
But don’t stop there, every now and again shoot the bigger self defense weapon also.
Or just buy the bigger self defense weapon and shoot it for practice.
But what ever you do you need to practice and you need to carry a weapon that can do the job right the first time.

Your life or a loved ones life is worth more then you could save going too small of weapon.
I my self pack a 357 mag or 45ACP and I don’t own a cheap weapon nor do I wont to.

Answer 5

The .22 is a rimfire and rimfire rounds are far more likely to misfire than centerfire cartridges. If I were going to use on of the three it would be the 32Auto. I am not a fan of any of these little cartridges for defensive purposes.

Clint Smith, owner and operator of Thunder Ranch, one of the countries premier defensive firearms training facilities in the country says that the only reason to use a pistol is so you can fight your way to a rifle. This makes good sense.

If you are desperate enough to shoot someone, you need for them to stop doing the thing that made you shoot them. While hits to the central nervous system can put them down quickly, the most common way a round "Stops" is through loss of blood pressure so that no oxygen gets to the brain. The vast bulk of blood loss is due to internal bleeding via damage to the internal organs. This takes time to accomplish and the less powerful the round the longer it will take. We are all brainwashed by TV into thinking that everyone will fall down as soon as they are shot. It just doesn't happen that way every time.

Bullet construction has a significant impact on how much damage a bullet does when it hits and as far as I know, no one makes a .22 designed specifically to inflict damage on the human body.

Nothing, and I repeat nothing will make up for poor shot placement, but even when the shot is properly placed you've got to have enough mass and energy to get the job done.

Avoid the mouse gun.

Answer 6

Of the three John, the .32 acp is the best defensive caliber. With the hotter JHP bullets (Fiocchi, Silvertips, etc.) you are close to the better .380s and standard .38s; the .22 is a better stopper than the .25 acp but all these calibers are quite deadly. The .22 in particular tends to bounce around inside wrecking havoc on the internal organs.

Is there any reason why you aren't looking at something bigger? The only advantage I can see with the tiny calibers is less penetration through dry wall. Of course, you can always get pre-fragmented loads in all the calibers mentioned except the .22 and not worry about over-penetration at all. With pre-frag ammo even the .357 Sig, .40 S&W .9mm or .45 acp should not over-penetrate.

H

Answer 7

the 22 would better than the 25 but the 32 would probably do more than the 22. For a defense gun I would go with a 380 or bigger. You can get some really small 380's if you are worried about size.
22's are cheap to shoot/target practice. The next cheapest would be the 9mm

Answer 8

I think the answer is no.I have a Beretta 950 loaded with MagSafe prefragmented ammo.It is not my primary handgun,but is a hopefully unneeded backup.The MagSafe in .25ACP is a round that outperformed nearly all .380 autos in a few tests several years ago.That's not to say that I would bet my life on a .25 but it is better than the.22LR which will offer penetration but little expansion.It might cause a little discomfort and maybe let you run away,but it is not most likely to cause the type of wounding you are looking for in a defense gun.However,anyone who doesn't think that one well placed round to be fatal is fooling themsef.My brother-in-law was murdered and the fatal shot was from a.25 auto.
That having been said,I would advise you buy at least a 9mm handgun.Don't trust your life to something with marginal power.

Answer 9

I THINK THERE´S A SEMANTIC PROBLEM CONCERNING TERMS LIKE "RELY" AND "RELIABLE". OBVIOUSLY, IF I KNEW I WERE GOING INTO HARM´S WAY, I WOULD PREFER A .25 TO A .22, A .380 TO A .25, A .357 OVER A .380, AND A 12 GAUGE SHOTGUN OVER ANY OF THEM! HOWEVER, DIFFERENT HANDGUNS HAVE DIFFERENT TACTICAL NICHES: THUS, ONE CAN CARRY A .380 WHWN A .357 IS IMPRACTICAL AND A .25 OR .22 WHEN EVEN A .380 IS TOO OBTRUSIVE. CLEARLY, ANYONE WHO PACKS NOTHING MORE A .22 IS MAKING A TRADE OFF: A FEEBLE, RELATIVELY INEFFECTIVE CARTRIDGE IN RETURN FOR A GUN YOU CAN HAVE WITH YOU ALL TIMES. THUS WHEN I TELL SOMEONE THAT HE MAY BE ABLE TO "RELY" ON A .22 PISTOL, I AM REFERRING TO THE PISTOL´S ABILITY TO DO WHAT A .22 IS SUPPOSED TO DO. I WOULD CERTAINLY NEVER TELL ANYONE THAT THE .22 IS A "RELIABLE MANSTOPPER", WHATEVER THAT MAY BE.

Answer 10

Energy means diddle. Terminal ballistics is a field of its own, but of the factors involved, if you have to use a product of mass and velocity, use momentum instead of energy. You aren't going to knock your assailant across the room with the energy of a 22LR.
I'd pick the 22 over the 25ACP, but the 32 is almost sure to be a better choice. On the other hand, you really don't want to choose any of those unless you have to, so if you want the 22 for fun, go for it.