What is the lowest caliber you will carry

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I too would agree that there's nothing wrong with a .22 In the end the bullet that wins the firefight is the one that hits its mark. The .22 and certainly be lethal. I think if I were taking a sidearm with me into the mountains on a hunt and risking a possible Bear, now I'd up that caliber.
 
.22 for me. Alot of people say that it isn't a big enough caliber, but believe me it will work. I have an NAA .22lr that I use for a CCW. The way I see it, if I need to shoot you then you are close enough for a center of mass hit or a headshot. If you are farther away, I can just leave. You won't see a small .22 coming till it's too late.
 
I wouldn't count on those headshots with a .22.


I was at a friends when one of his teenage kids got shot in the head with a .22. He was howling like a short changed arab but upon inspection of the wound we found the bullet was stuck in the skin of his forehead.

His mother pulled out the bullet with some tweezers and put a band-aid on the hole, and their dad took the gun away from them.

Seeing that kinda shook my confidence in small caliber weapons.
 
One other thing... How many people that say they feel "undergunned with anything less than a 9mm" have ever been in a shootout? Not many. We live in the USA, not Falluja. IMHO and I mean no disrespect to any other members but I think that the feeling of being undergunned is more paranoia than a realistic mindset.
 
The forehead is the thickest part of the skull, but I really can't see that happening too often. That would be a once in a lifetime shot. I knew a guy from a while back that got hit twice in the chest with an AK and lived to bs about it. Unless you use some kind of poison tipped bullets even a .45 won't guarantee a kill. I'm not saying that if I knew I was going up against another shooter I wouldn't prefer something a little more convenient, but for every day carry I am perfectly comfortable with the NAA .22LR.
 
cpljohn said:
One other thing... How many people that say they feel "undergunned with anything less than a 9mm" have ever been in a shootout? Not many. We live in the USA, not Falluja. IMHO and I mean no disrespect to any other members but I think that the feeling of being undergunned is more paranoia than a realistic mindset.
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Well when and if you ever are in a gunfight that wouldn't be the best time to discover you're "undergunned".

Since I've never been in a gunfight and hope I never will be, I use the examples of those who have and are on a fairly regular basis such as the police and the military. I don't know of any LEOs or military units that issue .22s.

What's more I don't think the local badguys are gonna be any easier to stop than the ones in Falluja.

I used to carry a Beretta 950 in .25acp but after what I seen personally with that .22 getting stopped by bone, I no longer trust small calibers.

To each his own though, if you feel a .22 is more than enough gun for any potential risks you might encounter then by all means carry one.
 
No that was it.

What's more it wasn't some little pocket .22 it was one of those cowboy six-shooter types with at least a 5 or 6" barrel.

I have also read of several cases of .22s and larger calibers being stopped by the skull or simply going between the skin and the skull and exiting the opposite side.

The skull is very thick and hard and not easily penetrated.

Most of those "executions" you hear about with a .22 or a .25 are into an ear cavity and the small caliber round richochets around inside the skull because it isn't powerful enough to exit the other side. Clean and neat and no nasty blood and brains to clean up afterwards.
 
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Weevil said:
Well when and if you ever are in a gunfight that wouldn't be the best time to discover you're "undergunned".

Since I've never been in a gunfight and hope I never will be, I use the examples of those who have and are on a fairly regular basis such as the police and the military. I don't know of any LEOs or military units that issue .22s.

What's more I don't think the local badguys are gonna be any easier to stop than the ones in Falluja.

I used to carry a Beretta 950 in .25acp but after what I seen personally with that .22 getting stopped by bone, I no longer trust small calibers.

To each his own though, if you feel a .22 is more than enough gun for any potential risks you might encounter then by all means carry one.
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I agree with you that everyone's particular needs are different. I don't really want to get into my personal experiences, but I will tell you that I did a few days of training with IDF guys. They said they are issued .22lr rifles for taking out potential threats like suicide bombers and their ilk. I doubt that those particular guys used them on anybody but who knows. That whole region is going nuts these days.
 
Well a .22 rifle is a different story.

A rifle has a lot longer barrel and the bullet can get up to a much higher velocity than a handgun.
 
i normally carry a 9mm sig p228 with 124gr +p gold dots. sometimes i carry my commander size 1911 in .45 acp. the smallest i have ever carried is a cz 82 in 9x18, but usually this is my bug/truck gun. i sometimes wonder if my p228 is to small. it is not that a 22lr couldn't kill a person. its that they have more of a chance to keep shooting at us and/or our familys becuse of only being wounded & still a thret. i know there isn't a magic one shot bullet, i just feel you have a better chance of stoping them from being a thret with a higher caliber round. in the end at least to me, its all about protecting your family or getting back home to them.
 
I month ago or so in my home town here in Oregon a homeowner woke up to somebody trying to break into his front door by force. He fired two warning shots which did nothing but make the intruder more angry and finally got the front door open. When he stepped inside the homeowner shot him once in the chest with a 22long and it dropped the intruder dead. About a week later a guy got into a fight with his brother in law. The brother in law returned with a 9mm handgun and shot him in the head 5 times at point blank range. He was able to walk a mile to the closest neighbors house for help and is doing fine now and released from the hospital. Just goes to show you anything can happen.
 
I own a .380 (LCP) and a 9mm (PM9) but have carried each approximately 2 days each in the last year (although I have carried each more frequently than that in the past.

FWIW, I carried the PM9 every day for 3 1/2 years. I will not let it go because it is (IMHO) the perfect combination of size and power for a small pistol.

These days I have found that I can carry a .45 every day, and do so.
 
My EDC is 9mm or .38 Special. Kudos to you guys that toe around .45, or even .50 GI and .454 or what have you, I just like these guns.

I'll go lower depending on the gun. Before I got the .38, I have carried my Ruger Mk3 while my 9mm CZ was soaking to get lead out of the barrel, because I know it, trust it, and could (intentionally) put an eye out.

I'm more comfortable with that .22 than I would be with some of the super-compact .32's, and .380's would be a tossup.

I'm a big subscriber to the thought that a high-velocity .22 in the face is a quicker stop than a .45 in the arm.
 
If it was my only option I would carry a .22lr/mag. There are some nice Heritage pieces that Bud's has on close out due to being factory blemished models. 3" barrel, Single Action, and birds head grips for around $130 aint bad for a 22mag. I prefer my G19 in a Crossbreed scabbard.
 
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