I go with your reasoning as well... For me, my Henry 22LR lever is a great little game-getter/knockaround rifle. Light, accurate, not too threatening looking (unless it's pointed at you - and any rifle looks threatening then), and with 15 shots on hand - it'll put out decent amounts of lead without reloading. A single Spee-D-Loader gives me eight 5-6 second reloads.Pistol caliber carbines are such weapons. I know a lot of online communities have ingrained hate for PCCs, but next to the .22LR they could well be the most useful overall weapon class when you figure out reasonable real world scenarios, and look at the stats objectively.
The .22 WMR cartridge is nearly ideal in terms of weight and power, is widely available, and can be had in several different application loadings, but . . .
* for some reason, finding a semi-auto rifle chambered for it is hen's teeth