{"id":74168,"date":"2017-08-24T08:30:46","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T12:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=74168"},"modified":"2017-08-24T08:21:38","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T12:21:38","slug":"why-not-a-22lr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=74168","title":{"rendered":"Why not a .22LR?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want to start a gun fight? Just state on the Internet that the 9 millimeter is the best self-defense handgun round available and likely within seconds, most certainly within minutes, you\u2019ll have a pack of .45ACP and .40S&W aficionados burying you in studies on one-shot stopping power, muzzle velocities, foot-pounds of energy on impact and bla, bla, bla. But there\u2019s a curiosity which appears in almost all those studies and data tables to determine which ammo round is the best for personal defense, and that curiosity is the lowly .22 Long Rifle caliber. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a very good reason that the .22LR is usually included in those studies even while being the smallest of the standard pistol rounds, and that is that it frequently outperforms other larger calibers like .25ACP and .32 calibers in both one-shot stopping effect and lethality and may equal even larger calibers. I\u2019ve always wondered how that\u2019s possible, yet federal statistics on gun homicides tend to support it. Skeptics would sneer, \u201cThat\u2019s only because they\u2019re so common!\u201d to which I would respond, \u201cWell, yeah, but they still kill those large numbers of folks.\u201d Then I\u2019d usually follow up with, \u201cIf you think a .22LR is just a pea-shooter, would you want to be shot with one? If someone pulls a .22LR on you, are you going to challenge them anyway because the gun isn\u2019t a serious weapon in your opinion? Of course the answer is always no, and as it turns out I was onto something regarding the relatively high number of one-shot stops for the .22LR.<\/p>\n

Writing in NRA\u2019s Shooting Illustrated, Richard Mann explains in his article, \u201c.22LR for Self Defense?<\/a>\u201d that a critical reason for any gun\u2019s one-shot stopping power is psychological; by shooting the perp the first time, you have put him on unmistakable notice that you are armed with a gun and that continued advancement on his part means he is about to be shot again. At that critical moment, his brain is not calculating the caliber with which that is about to happen only that he does not want to be shot again and therefore, retreat is the preferred option. That explanation, coupled with the widespread ownership of the .22LR would appear to answer that long debated question.<\/p>\n

As to the relatively high lethality data regarding the .22LR, Mann, as do others, attributes that to the ability to place follow up shots on target more easily and more rapidly due to lower recoil. With some .22LR pistols the recoil is so minor that the sights rarely leave the target during firing so that there is no necessity to reattain the sight picture as with larger caliber handguns. This will of course allow faster trigger pulling and more rounds fired accurately in a shorter time interval. Mann and friends tested this hypothesis and found it held; I was unable to find any data to support it but it does make sense.<\/p>\n

Do not misunderstand me; I\u2019m not advocating one caliber over another here. Of my several handguns, only one, a Ruger SR22, is a .22LR caliber which occasionally goes with me from the house. But the go-to guns in my cars and by my bed are all 9 millimeters loaded with personal defense ammo. However, for many women who need a smaller handgun and prefer it to have less \u201cKick,\u201d a .22LR is a better choice than no gun at all. So, would I bet my life on a .22LR? You bet your life I would if it were the only gun available. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Want to start a gun fight? Just state on the Internet that the 9 millimeter is … Why not a .22LR?<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":622,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/622"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}