OK.
OP.
If all I were allowed to carry was a.22lr for everyday carry for self defense ... my choice would probably have to be from what I already have in .22 pistols.
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The choice would depend on what I was defending against. My defense scenarios are mostly "broke down on a trip to the mountain" in a cell phone dead zone and waiting overnight for someone to notice I'm not home.
Hunger? The AR-7 is practical for still hunting edible game at a waterhole on the mountain (but not for much else.) Trouble is, I usually put a sixpack of bottled water and a couple of MREs in the truck anyway.
Coyotes or rabid animals? I have holster carried the Ruger MkII riding ATV and have great confidence in that gun.
I am gaining confidence in the Heritage Rough Rider revolver, especially with the .22 Magnum cylinder.
I have had that J22 for decades as a curiosity first. It has proven reliable with CCI Stinger and MiniMags. With Aguila 60gr SSS penetration is better than with a similar size .25 ACP (except the last empty case fails to escape the ejection port). But safe carry mode is striker down on empty chamber, safety off, loaded magazine. Barely better than a pointy stick, but better.
Limited to EDC with one of my .22 handguns, I'd pick the Ruger MkII, inside the waist band holster at 11:30 which is how I usually carry my Rossi .38 snub EDC when I carry.
Of the 4 handguns shown.
The revolver is the only one that probibility of a stoppage is almost nill.
Three of handguns could pose a challange to extract a failure to feed jam from the actions breech area.
I learned a few things when hunting raccoon at night.
If a gun is going to jam, it will happen at the worst time, most likely in the dark in the heat of the action in an environment less than ideal for dissembly.
So its your open carry in a rough cold dark and sometimes wet environment.
I found any firearm you couldnt clear quickly better be a really good first shot, single shot.
Firearms with a milled ejection port dont always play along when It comes to clearing a jam, especially a double feed jam.
Especially if a bushytail is dusting it to the next township.
In rifles the two main flavors for hunting raccoon was the Marlin model 60 vs. the Ruger 10/22 rifle, the Ruger was hands down the best for clearing because you could drop mag and you had an open access point the size of the grand canyon to to clear any offending jammage.
The ruger MkII tube receiver will shoot fine as long as its clean, but if you get a feed jam in the Ruger Mk series, youd hope you dont need something to pick out a stuck round.
It seems night always makes it worse, pluse drop mag, hold tge bolt back to get the misfed offenders the heck out of party town.
Even modern handguns.
Look at the breeches and tell me which handgun would easy clear in a hurry?
The ejection port Taurus Tx-22 or the opentop S&W?
The MHO best clearing .22 handgun is the toggle release high standard sport king, if it got so bad you could slide the barrel fwd n off in like 3 seconds.
The flip side is the revolver system is pretty reliable and slow to reloa, esp if its a 6 shot with a ejector rod.
The great thing is the revolver can sit all day loaded for weeks and you wont have to worry about the full capacity magazine NOT feeding.
With transfer bar safety on DA's you can carry a revolver ready to rock and roll without cycling a slide/bolt or bolt mechanism
I kinda like revolvers with swing out cylinders.
Most new .22 semi-autos come with a spare magazine, it seems like the gun shoots best with one of them.
Now the question is how you carry that topped off spare.
If its loose in a jacket pocket they tend to pick up pocket lint and crumbies, then you got the potential of wopper jawing the top rounds.
All it takes is the top round to scootch a tad out of place.
Then you change mags in a heated moment, and you go to chamber that top round that may or may not chamber.
The revolver reloads can be a cludge in dark with loose rounds.
They do make speed loaders for da rimfire revolvers.