Dude is that your foot?!
Jesus! :eek:
Just out of idle curiosity, how incredible bad of an idea is a .22 pistol loaded with hollow point in any kind of home defense? As a last resort.
I ask because the other day, at 4:30 A.M., there was this loud banging on the ground-level window of my suburban home. I tried to rationalize it as the newspaper man completely missing, but it was definitely a loud series of “knocks”.
It completely terrified the shit out of me. I considered bringing out my policeman brother’s firearm (his first firearm that he left here, not issued or anything) out of storage to defend myself, but I decided against it and investigated the noise anyway. I’m comfortable with firing the gun and have grow up following gun safety, but something tells me a .22 probably wouldn’t have done anything.
For the curious, I can only guess it was the neighbor kids that we got grounded, for trampling in our garden, enacting revenge on us.
You certainly don’t want to shoot them with anything. 
I’d say a .22 is better than nothing, but you are going to make them very angry.
A .22 is a deadly round. It will most certainly kill someone. Do I answer the door with one? No, I usually grab a .40 or .357, but don’t think a .22 won’t do the job. I certainly don’t want to be shot with one.
That said, it’s not exactly a one-shot-stop kind of round. A big guy wearing 2 or 3 layers and a heavy coat? Work on your head shots.
We recently had a woman attackedhere in Atlanta who killed her attacker with her .22 handgun.
If it’s all you have or have access too, do some research on .22 defense rounds, and go practice a bit. CCI Stingers or Velocitors should do the trick.
Not my foot, just a cautionary tale…
Once is all it takes. How much is your life worth?
The general advice is to buy as much gun as you’re willingly practice with, AND can reasonably and willingly carry.
Any less than that, you’re not taking your own life seriously enough. Any more than that, you’re not taking your own life seriously enough. You have to be able to operate the weapon when you need it, instinctively and under extreme pressure - and that means practice. Lots of it. If the weapon is harsh or uncontrollable, you won’t practice nearly enough. Likewise, the weapon has to be there when you need it, which means you’re carrying at all times legally possible. If the weapon is too heavy, uncomfortable, or ‘prints’ badly enough to advertise itself, Murphy says you won’t be carrying it when you need it.
Most defense writers and instructors suggest that .380 is as low as they’d willingly go, but if you can’t find an appropriate weapon in the larger calibers, well, then .32 will have to do - just practice more. Much more - 'Cause with a .32, shot placement is going to be a lot more important.
While you’re at it: If a weapon is prone to malfunction of any sort, like dropping a magazine, don’t buy it. One failure in a thousand is more often than I’d accept, personally - Again, ‘Once is all it takes.’ Murphy LOVES people who accept less than stellar performance.
Pardon me?
Thought I made that clear in my post, above. Guess not.
Let me try again, more slowly:
Choose as much gun as you can carry.
- Ideally, you want to stop a fight before it starts, but if it comes down to shooting, you don’t want to leave an angy-but-wounded assailant on their feet. You want them down. All other things being equal, bigger guns do that more reliably. Whether or not the assailant dies is entirely secondary to whether or not you’ve stopped the fight.
SO:
2) If you go with less gun than you can reasonably carry, you are not thinking hard enoguh about the purpose of having the weapon in the first place.
BUT:
Do not carry too much gun:
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If you plan to use a firearm for defense, you must be ready, willing, and ABLE to use it effectively.
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ABLE means able to operate the weapon instinctively and correctly under emotional stress and pressure, whilst likely undergoing a heavy adrenaline surge. Which means practice. LOTS of practice.
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If you choose a weapon that over-matches your willingness to practice, practice, practice, you will not DO your practice, practice, practice, and so will be less capable of using your weapon to protect your life.
THUS:
4) you are not taking defense of your self seriously enough.
LIKEWISE:
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If you plan to use a firearm for defense, you must be READY, willing, and able to use it effectively.
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READY means (among other things) having the weapon on you when you need it. Since you don’t know when you’ll need it, prudence suggest you have it on you as often as leagally and practically possible.
IF
3) The weapon is too heavy or unwieldy, you will be tempted to leave it behind, or if it becomes too visible, you may be required to leave it behind (concealed means concelaed, after all).
THUS:
4) Choosing an over-large weapon means you’ve not given defense of your self sufficient thought.
^ Preach it.
If you need a gun, chances are it’s already too late by the time you bring it “out of storage”.
Not trying to use a gun too large for what you can train with is sound advice; but unless concealability is an issue, the advice on one carry forum I participate in is “You want to carry less weight? Eat one sandwich less and carry a normal gun.”
Regarding the OP, my problem is eat 1,000 sandwiches and carry a normal gun.
I’d take the .22 I was used to upon reflection. Like the link someone posted, you’d have to follow Matt Helm’s advice: “Point at the center of the body(a couple of feet away, the head) and pull the long skinny thing that comes out the bottom of the gun until it quits making noise.”
They both go for $250-$300, so the Ruger .380 it is. I probably can’t hit anything over 20’ without the Crimson Trace, but it will be a “Gimmie you wallet!” “Sure, Dude!” thing.
I’ve heard that there are Kel-Tecs that actually work, but I’ve yet to see one.
I had a P32 that suffered from misfeeds and stovepipes. I never once got a full mag to go through without a jam. I kept hearing from the Kel-tec fans (who, unless they’re all liars, actually had functioning P32’s) that I was limp-wristing, or I needed to do a fluff and buff, or I needed to try different ammo, or find a magc Kelt-tec wand, or something. Eventually, something when wrong with the trigger - I could pull it all the way rearward but it wouldn’t fire. I ditched the gun.
I bought a Ruger LCP ii .30 caliber, and about 500 rounds later, have never had a single failure of any sort, with any ammo, or any grip. None. It works everytime.
A few points:
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Why buy a .32 when you can get a .380 in an identically-sized gun? The Ruger LCP is a better-quality copy of the Kel-tec P3AT, which is externally identical to the P32. The Smith and Wesson Bodyguard 380 is only slightly larger, and gets excellent reviews.
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Most experts consider .380 auto the minimum caliber for self-defense. See number 1 above.
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The FBI recommends 12" minimum penetration in ballistic gelatin for self-defense rounds. No .32 auto hollowpoints can do this. None. Unless they fail to expand. I’m not aware of any .380 auto rounds that can meet this requiremnt either. So in .380 and smaller, use hardball to achieve penetration. NO HOLLOWPOINTS in mousegun calibers.
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No, I wouldn’t want to get shot with a .32 hollowpoint. I don’t want to get pinched with pliers, either, but I don’t recommend you carry pliers for self defense.
The TV show Burn Notice, 11 August: In one of the ads, Fiona tosses Michael a mouse gun. Was it a Kel-Tec?