Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Caliber debates are nothing new in the gun world, and when it comes to self-defense, the back-and-forth can get heated. And while it isn’t as common as the 380 ACP vs. 9mm fight, the use of 22 LR does come up rather often. Is 22 LR a viable option for self-defense? Does it ricochet all over? Could you kill a rampaging bear with it? We’ve got your answers, and they just might surprise you.
Table of contents
22 LR- Explained
Here’s a quick rundown on 22 LR. Some misconceptions about this cartridge exist because it’s a .22-caliber, meaning it’s technically the same caliber as rounds like 223 Remington. The bullet diameter of the 22 LR is 0.223-inches, and the diameter for the 223 Remington is 0.224-inches—an incredibly minor difference. Because of that, there’s sometimes confusion. The reality is that there’s more to a cartridge than its bullet diameter or caliber. Factors like bullet weight, case size, and their related powder and bullet length come into play (there’s more, but you get the idea).
22 LR was officially launched in 1887 by the J. Stevens Arm & Tool Company. It wasn’t the first .22-caliber or the first cartridge to utilize a metal case, but it is the oldest one that is still in regular production. The cartridge was created mostly for shooting pests and varmints and was the next logical step after the short-lived 22 Extra Long. Thanks to its design, it caught on with target shooters, too. For almost 150 years, it’s been favored for many reasons, such as affordability, nonexistent recoil, and versatility.
Self-Defense Debate
The question of whether 22 LR is a good idea for self-defense use is one with more than one answer. Let’s break it down one piece at a time.
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Caliber Choice Education
Choosing a caliber for carry is a personal choice, but it should always be an educated choice. That’s harder to do when you’re a new shooter or simply one who’s only seen certain opinions in the gun world. Many shooters end up with a 22 LR for specific reasons. Some people choose it for their inability to handle any recoil whatsoever due to injury or arthritis. Others are just familiar with the cartridge from childhood. Still others like how cheap it is, and some believe it ricochets wildly within the target it penetrates (more on that later).
If your only option for carry is one chambered in 22 LR, the answer here is that it’s better to have a gun around for self-defense than no gun at all. Just because your only handgun is a 22 LR doesn’t mean you should give up and not bother carrying at all, because it can work.
Effective With Proper Placement
Ask any emergency room doctors and surgeons, and you’ll discover that a lot of the DOA or unsavable gunshot wound patients they see were shot with 22 LR. While that doesn’t make 22 LR the “Best Thing Ever”, it does confirm that it’s a round that can stop a threat given the right circumstances. For any round to be effective, it needs to hit something vital. If your 22 LR impacts a vital organ or great vessel of the heart, it’s going to stop the threat. It might not be as fast a halt to the violence as you’d get with a larger caliber, but it can work quite well.
The bottom line is that while 22 LR isn’t ideal for self-defense, it is effective with proper placement. Using one as your dedicated carry gun is more iffy than counting on something like a 9mm. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a terrible idea that must be avoided at all costs.
Charging Grizzly vs 22 LR
You can shoot a bear with a 22 LR. How well it’s going to work is another story entirely, but it has been done successfully (granted, it was many years ago). In 1953, Bella Twin shot and killed a charging grizzly with her Cooey Ace #1 22 rimfire single-shot rifle. She’d been out checking her trap lines, and while the story goes that her first shot dropped the bear, she did go ahead and keep shooting into its skull seven more times. The first shot had entered the brain through the orbital bone of the right eye. Could this be done again? It could, but I wouldn’t bet my life on a 22 rimfire versus a bear.
Bullet Ricochet
Every once in a while, someone pops off with the idea that 22 LR is great because it ricochets internally, doing far more damage than a “normal” bullet. In reality, that’s not the case. Any bullet, including 22 LR, could bounce off the inside of the skull or off a rib, but it’s not likely to be that impressive. Also, it doesn’t bounce around like a ping-pong ball. The bullet dumps its energy into the initial wound cavity. Any resulting ricochet within the body is going to have minimal results. There’s no scrambling or mincemeat involved. We need to stop spreading this myth as gospel. It could convince people who would otherwise carry a larger caliber to go for the 22 LR.
22 LR gun – Concealed Carry
There are times it makes sense to carry a gun chambered in 22 LR. Sometimes it’s about injuries, arthritis, or weakness in the hands. Other times, the only handgun the person has just happens to be chambered in 22 LR. Still others flat-out prefer 22 LR, which is something we’ll address shortly.
READ MORE HERE: Dr. Dabbs – Bella Twin: The Tiny Little Woman and the Really Big Bear
Carrying a 22 LR means you have a firearm available to protect yourself from an immediate threat. You’re not unarmed, and you’re not helpless. This is a point especially worth making for those who are elderly or infirm and carrying it. If at all possible, you should practice with it for good shot placement, but it’s better to have it than to have nothing at all. For some gun owners, the 22 LR is the only real option, and that’s okay. If it becomes possible in the future for you to get a gun in a larger caliber, then do so. However, it needs to be a manageable caliber for your skill and strength. Having a bigger gun you can’t handle for rapid-fire or follow-up shots isn’t a good idea. That brings us right back to 22 LR being good for some people.
Bigger IS Better
As for those who carry 22 LR because they subscribe to the belief that the bullets bounce wildly on impact, that’s ridiculous. So is the idea that this admittedly diminutive cartridge is all they need when they’re capable of carrying and firing something larger. If someone has the financial and physical ability to carry a gun larger than a 22 LR, they should. Why would you not want to have the upper hand in a gunfight when your life is on the line? Stack the odds of surviving in your favor by getting something larger.
Conclusion
The gun moral of the story is that you can use the 22 LR for self-defense. The pervasive idea that it’s a garbage round isn’t accurate, but neither is the idea that it magically ricochets on impact. As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle. 22 LR can be a capable defensive round with correct placement, and there are some shooters for whom it’s best (or the only option at that time). After all, the first rule of a gunfight is to have a gun.
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Kat Ainsworth Stevens is a prolific outdoor writer based in North Texas. Her love and enjoyment of firearms extends to both self-defense and hunting, and she’s driven to teach safe gun handling. Kat’s the author of several books and thousands of articles as well as a successful editor with more than a decade of experience in marketing. With experience in everything from defensive handgun use to field dressing a deer, Kat’s background is varied and extensive. She firmly believes in the importance of protecting the Second Amendment as well as the First.
When she’s not behind a gun or processing her own game meat, Kat can be found trapping, boating, doing yoga, and mudding. The outdoors and the Lone Star State are where she belongs.
Experience
Author:
Handgun Hunting and anthologies including The Deer Shot Back: And Other Hunting Tales and How Not to Shoot Fish and Other Deer That Got Away.
Dedicated Outdoorsman:
Year-round enthusiast of hunting, trapping, and fishing.
Advanced Training:
More than 1000 hours of training in defensive handguns, long guns, edged weapons, self-defense law, force-on-force, handgun retention, and related topics.
Focused Specialty Skills:
Expert witness. Massad Ayoob Group certified Deadly Force Instructor and graduate of Active Self Protection The Practice & Preparation of Being an Expert Witness.
More food for thought…thanks.. On several firearms forums & EDC of .22LR starts beating a dead horse thread. Carried an American Derringer. 22 Magnum in pocket for 25+yrs everyday on job of lawn care. Had one ocassion to dispatch dying opossum and one occasion to put hand in pocket on pistol when confronted by angry stranger but never drawn. As is stainless the little revolver has been soaked with sweat but clean lint and debris routinely. Always feel at contact range could control personnal threat with my little “get off me” mouse gun. Never know what the other guy has however!
Thank you for your reasoned approach to rhe question. In my opinion, the “more is better” crowd probably dissuades people from carrying a .22 that otherwise can’t shoot or handle anything bigger. There are plenty of macho types that go out and buy a hellcat or p365, but then can’t hit anything because of the sharp recoil and short sight radius.
Consider the Smith & Wesson 351 PD small J Frame .22 magnum revolver! 7 shots and it only weighs 12.5 ounces loaded with Federal 45 grain ammo!!! Just 12.5 ounces, thats lighter than some cell phones these days. Recoil is minimal, but boy this gun is super load. It sounds like a 357 going off, no joke, it’s LOUD! The sound alone will make your attacker think your shooting a bigger caliber than you really are. Not to mention, that 7 rounds of .22 mag dumped into a person’s body, has a very high chance of hitting some type of organ and causing catastrophic failure of their body. 1-2 rounds could easily miss something important, but because this has low recoil and is very easy to shoot, just keep pulling that trigger! 5,6,7 rounds in center mass and something is getting hit like a liver, kidneys, lungs, something!
Is it as effective as my Glock 26 9mm? I wouldn’t say it will punch a big of a wound channel as the 9mm, but it’s much lighter, less recoil and just as reliable if not more reliable than any automatic. With the revolver, if you get a fail to fire round, you just pull the trigger again. Verses the 9mm, if you can a fail to fire or a round or shell jams in the gun after firing, you have to stop and clear it or rack the slide again. Not very likely to happen with a Glock, but it’s not infallable. So there are some advantages to a revolver.
One last advantage to the .22 or .22 magnum is the ability for those guns to be picked up and used by any woman or elderly person, even one frail or small in stature. Whereas a larger caliber like say 9mm, 40 cal, 45 cal or 357, can be somewhat intimidating and the recoil may not be pleasant to someone elderly or a small handed lady. Also, the weight of the gun may be a bit too much to carry on a daily basis with someone wearing shorts in the hot summer or loose clothing. The weight of most .22’s are considerably lighter, aka the S&W 351PD at a mere 12.5 ounces.
This issue has been debated for as long as I can remember, at least 50 years. But it all boils down to whether or not you’re willing to stand still and ‘take one for the team’ to prove it’s ineffectiveness as a defense round. No, I don’t think anyone would voluntarily get shot with a .22lr to prove a point. Could it kill you? Of course it could. Would it hurt? Of course it would. Raise your hand if you’re man enough! ✋Go ahead, I’ll take your word for it! 😂 Maybe some dumbass teen will start a new Tik-Tok challenge – shoot yourself in the foot with a .22lr to see if it hurts.😂Try a CB Cap first. 🤔
The stopping power argument will go on forever. There are documented cases of people getting shot 10 or 15 times with a 9mm or .45acp and surviving. Then are cases of someone getting shot one time with a .22 and dropped like a hot potato. Were any hopped up on drugs? Adrenaline can cause you to do miraculous things when your body is pumped up with it.
I drop one or two tiny NAA .22mag’s in my pocket every time I step out of my house, no matter what I’m doing or where I’m going, even a quick trip to the mailbox. Been doing it for almost 50 years. There have been several times when I felt safe having it, even if I didn’t use it. You never know until it’s too late.
As they say, any weapon on your person you can bring to bare, is better than the one back home in the gun safe.
I would add, small firearms are much easier to conceal for men and women, 22lr/22mag mini revolvers for example give you 5 shots, and are barely noticeable in weight and concealment. The larger the handgun, the less you want to carry because of the added weight and the bulge of concealment. My feeling for women to get them used to carrying all the time, it must be hassle free. Even if you use it as a backup for a larger handgun, it’s much easier to convince a woman to throw it in their purse and keep it there all the time.
I agree, my Glock 26 is fine in the winter when I’m wearing pants and a jacket, but in the Louisiana summers it’s too heavy with shorts on. It drags the waistband of my shorts down too far and I have to keep readjusting it, so I switched to an LCP Max for when wearing shorts or looser clothing. I’m not considering going even lighter with the Smith & Wesson 351PD, which weighs only 12.5 ounces loaded with 7 rounds of .22 magnum. I’ll use a thin lightweight Kydex holster and I think it will be perfect. Basically I use a concealed gun for trips to the grocery store, gas station, just errands around town. I’m not going into bad areas or known crime zones. However over the years in my city, we have had a few instances of someone getting their purse stolen in the Kroger parking lot, a man got shot at our local Walmart one year, etc. It seems to be like that everywhere these days. If I get jumped in a parking lot for my wallet as I’m heading in to buy groceries, I just want a fighting chance. I figure if I pop off 3-4 quick rounds of .22 magnum, the bad guy or guys, are not going to stick around to find out what caliber I’m shooting at them. The .22 mag is very loud coming out of the S&W J frame, so it’s hard to tell what caliber is being fired in the heat of the moment. For all they know, your shooting .38 or .357, who is gonna stand there and ponder it when the bullets start flying. Panic mode sets into any bad guy and he ducks for cover or runs. That is my fighting chance and I also figure that dumping 5-6 rounds of .22 mag into their center mass is going to hit some type of organ. Just my 2 cents
For many years, MOB enforcers used a 22LR for their “hits”. The early RUGER Mk I’s were the gun of choice, as with a little work, they could be made to fire in full auto mode, and inexpensive. In most “hits”, the low recoil and low noise level means that the “hitman” would be gone before anyone know what happened. However, in normal “hit” use the idea was to get behind the target and dumping all 9 rounds into the back of the target’s head. Had a friend almost get arrested because his Mk I was stolen, and “dumped” after such a “hit”. Sooo – Under certain uses, a 22LR pistol works. But how many folks work as MOB enforcers???
Better use would be to get a 22LR clone of your carry gun, and practice with the 22LR clone.
The Israeli team that went after the PLO terrorists who killed 11 Israelis at the 1970s Munich Olympics were armed with un-suppressed Beretta 22LR( model 70 I think). Although they used bombs and other methods, several were killed with the 22s always double tapped as the retired Marine instructor taught them. Good article.
I carried a Berratta 21A for a few years. I practiced on a 40 pound salt bag at about 7 to 15 yards. I could keep all of my rounds on a 50 foot target at 50 foot. I got to the point where I could hit with it by pointing and looking over the barrel. I usually carried it with fresh ammo and once a month I would start fresh. The 21A was a good functioning little pistol. I figured I would get around the lack of power by doing mag dumps.
HOWEVER the biggest flaw was the rimfire system. It seemed at least one round out of 100 would FTF. I could rotate the round and it would go bang. As far as I know there are no alibi rounds in a gun fight. Plus the 21A did not have an exterator so racking the slide was not an option. The last straw was when I went for my monthly range session and the first round was a dud. That was the end of carrying that little pistol. I had tried every brand of ammo I could find but none was even 99% reliable.
If a .22 was all I had it would be in a double action revolver. I have since gone to a Ruger LCP .380 and a CZ P07 9MM for EDC guns. So far 100% reliable and no FTF due to the ignition.
Well said! My 89 year old father in law bought a .38 revolver and found that it was more than he wanted to handle (he’s had several larger guns over the years, including a Government Colt .45 auto — he was a M1919 instructor in the last year of WWII, wasn’t sent overseas) at his age. Concealment wasn’t an issue as he just kept it in the house, so he bought an 8 shot .22 revolver. It’s a German make that I forget and had never heard of, but a new gun. That was a few years ago (he just turned 95!) and now I have both guns and his 12 gauge pistol grip pump shotgun (he’d have probably broke a writs shooting that!), and he lives with us.
I would like to have seen the 22 Magnum included in this article.