Carrying a .22

[Patton]

Semi-auto, no. Revolver, yes.

Exactly what I was getting ready to say.

[JAB]

I think if I were going to carry a semi-auto in the class of a .22LR then I would opt for a .25acp, instead, for the simple reason that the .25 was designed as and always intended to be a semiauto round.  The fact that the .25 is a centerfire round rather than rimfire doesn't hurt, either.  Often the guns are the same size (with the exact, same models being offered by some companies and the only difference being the caliber for which they are chambered) and it is said that Browning designed the .25acp to be roughly the equivalent of a .22LR that would actually be reliable in a small semiauto.  In fact, he supposedly set out to design a .22LR 'vest pocket pistol' only to realize that .22LR wasn't a very good choice for the platform due to reliability issues - prompting him to create the .25 round and pistol.  Yes, .25 ammo is more expensive than .22LR (assuming you can actually find .22 ammo) but I doubt this is going to be a 'plinker' and isn't it worth spending a little more $$$ on ammo to gain reliability in an, "Oh, crap," type of situation?  There are those who claim that the .22LR has more velocity ("power") than the .25acp but I believe that is usually because they are comparing .22LR fired from a rifle to .25acp fired from a pocket pistol.  That is an apples and orangutans comparison.

 

All that said, while I own a small .25acp pistol and sometimes carry it around the house I think the advent of the KelTec P32 several years ago further marginalized .22LR and .25acp pistols as primary carry guns.  I don't own a P32, myself (although I do have its sibling, the P3AT) but my mom does.  Having fired hers, I can say that the recoil is pretty minimal - not much (if any) more felt recoil than a small .22LR pistol.  The trade off is that the .32 offers a (slightly) bigger, heavier bullet that seems to move at comparable velocities (at least based on what I found at Ballistics by the Inch.)  Sure, if JHPs are used without taking steps to prevent it there is the potential for rim lock but the steps to prevent that potential are pretty easy to take.  Of course, that gets in to the debate over whether or not one should even use JHPs for carry in a .32.

 

As others have said, if I were going to carry a .22LR it would be a revolver.  However, I'd feel better with one of the higher-than-standard capacity .22WMR revolvers that are out there (like the 9 shot Taurus that Jonnin mentioned.)  The only bad thing I have to say about rimfire revolvers is that the triggers are often pretty heavy and apparently can't be lightened much without further compromising reliability.  

 

So is running out of bullets..........either tap, rack, flip or slam another mag in.  I'll stay with my semi-auto.

 

Consider, however, that many .22LR (and .22 WMR) revolvers hold more than the five or six that are standard in centerfire revolvers.  For instance, Jonnin mentioned that his wife has a Taurus .22LR revolver that holds 10 rounds.  That is as much as most semiauto magazines will hold (possibly more than some.)  Therefore, one could have as much ammo 'on board' in the revolver as the semiauto and be able to keep firing after a 'dud' without having to tap, rack, flip, slam, scatter, smother or cover :) .  Okay, you could up the semiauto capacity by one with a round chambered but is that one round really that big a deal?  Were I going to carry a rimfire revolver for SD it would definitely be one of the higher capacity models in WMR.

Edited December 17, 2014 by JAB