I would never carry a .22 for self defense (if I had an option), but do not underestimate its ability to incapacitate or kill.

I know personally three people that were shot with a .22LR.

The first was a 12 year old that accidentally shot his best friend in the forehead (Tragic and stupid). Dropped like a rock and died instantly.

#2 was a 16 year old boy rabbit hunting with his dad. The son went in some bushes to relieve himself. His dad heard the rustling in the bushes and took a shot (stupid). The son was hit in the abdomen. He felt a burning sensation and blacked out. Never knew what hit him till after he regained consciousness.

#3 was a man “cleaning” his gun when he accidentally shot himself in the foot (stupid). The bullet did amazing things inside his foot, bouncing around and tearing things up. I think the bullet finally ended up in his calf muscle. It put him down hard.

These were not defensive shots, but still anecdotally show the capabilities of a .22LR.

In my opinion, placement will always be more critical than caliber. The problem with placement is the countless variables that occur in a gunfight. There is no way for certain that you can control exactly where the projectile travels or ends in the body (or outside the body for that matter). Even if you were to place the firearm in a Ramsom Rest and strap the bad guy to a wall, the exact pathway of the bullet through tissue and bone cannot be determined for certain. The reason I use a larger than .22LR is to provide some fudge factor. Larger calibers or higher energies will provide better, more consistent results with less than ideal placement.

Personally I feel the biggest problem with .22 for self defense is reliability. Overall the ammo/primer is not as consistent, and the gun/ammo combination seems more prone to jamming or misfiring compared to center-fire ammo/firearms. Never carry a firearm for serious social purposes till you have run several hundred rounds up the pipe without failure. Never skimp on the quality of the ammo. “Care enough to send the very best”.

Regardless of caliber, placement, tactics etc. there are no guarantees in a gunfight. The best you can do is attempt to stack the odds in your favor.

My priorities:

#1 reliability- a gun that doesn’t go bang or jams is not your friend.
#2 placement- A miss or a wing shot will not get the job done.
#3 caliber- improving the odds of any given shot “stopping” the baddie.

My 2 cents, TR