American Rifleman 1/8/2022
This article is not an argument that the .22 LR is “the best” round for self-defense, or even a good choice for many firearms owners who can use a more powerful cartridge. But the .22 LR may be the best option for certain shooters, as a primary or back-up firearm, and if this is the case, they need to choose the best ammunition and firearm for the job. To that end, in a two-part series, we will review both ammunition (Federal Punch .22 LR and Winchester Silvertip .22 LR) and a firearm (Smith & Wesson Model 43C) specifically designed for self-defense with the .22 LR cartridge.
The .22 rimfire cartridges has a long history as a self-defense round. The cartridge was introduced by Smith & Wesson in 1857, when they chambered their first revolver, the Model 1, in the tiny rimfire. The petite handgun was not a military or law enforcement firearm. It was designed for civilian self-defense. The seven self-contained .22 rimfire rounds its cylinder held could be rapidly loaded, offering a distinct firepower advantage over the single-shot pistol or five and six-shot blackpowder revolvers of the day, whose ball, powder and primers had to be loaded separately. While the ballistics of the .22 Short (as it later became known) blackpowder cartridge were pretty poor (it launched its 29-grain bullets at just over 800 f.p.s. for an energy yield of about 44 ft.-lbs.) it was a close-range weapon of last resort.
Over the years, the .22 rimfire grew in performance. A “Long” version was introduced in 1871, followed by a “Long Rifle” cartridge in 1884. The Long Rifle (“LR”) .22 rimfire round, the most common today, effectively tripled the power of the original .22 Short. As self-contained ammunition advanced, more powerful rounds were developed that had the .22 rimfire’s quick loading advantages, but the .22 LR remained a popular choice for self-defense. A wide-range of small and affordable handguns were available in the caliber and in many rural homesteads, a .22-cal. rifle served triple duty by putting meat on the table, eliminating varmints and dissuading two-legged predators.
The .22 LR has found modern military and law-enforcement applications, especially where noise or over penetration are a consideration. The quietness of the round when suppressed meant it was used by intelligence agencies, like the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. Long-range U.S. bomber crews in the same conflict were issued Stevens 22-410 rifle and shotgun combination guns as survival weapons. Full metal jacketed ammunition was supplied to the flyers, just in case they had to use the .22 LR for defensive purposes.
Military and law enforcement use of .22 LRs continued after the war. U-2 pilots carried a suppressed High Standard .22-cal. pistol. In the 1970s, the British Army issued .22-cal. Walther PPs (designated the L66A1) to their soldiers in Northern Ireland for self-defense while off-duty. The Israelis have used the .22 LR in several law enforcement and military applications. Their air marshals famously carried Beretta Model 71s in .22 LR and successfully used them in several incidents against heavily-armed terrorists attempting to hijack an airliner. The Israelis also modified a version of the ArmaLite AR-7 survival rifle into a “personal defense weapon” for their F4 Phantom pilots.
While technological advances creep forward in the firearms field, one of the biggest revolutions in the past two decades was in ammunition. Modern advances in powder and bullet designs have turned formally “obsolete” or “inadequate” cartridges, like the .32 S&W or the .32 ACP, into viable options for self-defense. The .22 Winchester Magnum has recently been given serious self-defense consideration, with several manufacturers developing a load for the rimfire cartridge for their premium self-defense lines.
In 2021, two ammunition manufacturers, Federal and Winchester, introduced a .22 LR cartridge specifically designed for self-defense applications. These two cartridges take different approaches to how they are designed to work. The Federal Punch .22 LR is designed to meet the FBI standard of 12" of penetration in ballistic gelatin from the short barrel length of common concealed carry handguns.
More:
https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/22-lr-for-self-defense-ammunition-test-comparison/
