Lethality of the 22 LR standard velocity round

Im not a big fan of match grade ammo. My interest is top shelf quality ammo that shoots,goes bang in any type of weather. I find that CCI surpasses most of the other brands of rim fire in this category . Frozen, cold, damp, nasty conditions CCI has been more reliable in my tests. However even CCI has failed me one time. I have never had a centerfire dud in any caliber. I have had a bad firing pin in an old bolt action 30-40 Krag but never dud shells. Bulk pack .22 rim fire has proved to me to be only good for hunting or target shooting.

 

I've really enjoyed this thread. It reminds me of a buddy, now long dead, who was a bit of a survivalist. He'd been an armorer in the Marines, been at Gitmo around the time of the Cuban Missle Crisis and was later in Vietnam. He was a wonderful BS'er, but he knew his stuff. He owned his own gun store.

His plan for the end of the world as we know it was to hole up with a bunch of bimbos. He had a brick house, and he'd modified the basement so that it provided gun ports through the front hedge. He'd issue 10/22 with 50 round mags to the bimbos and that would leave him to pick off the stubborn ones with 30-06. He also had a cannon that could fire a full box of roofing nails. That was stationed on the front porch and could be fired remotely.

The point was this: 22 LR might not be immediately lethal, but if you get hit with it, it's going to occupy the rest of your day and make you think twice about coming further up the driveway. Without body armor, you're going to be hurting.

 

Sorry Yard Dart, you like the rest of us have taught your wife to be more self sufficient and more proficient with larger caliber weapons to be able to get away with that particular "prep".

 

Yes and definitely No. In my case.

 

Jerry was one of a kind. You need to have a stable of bimbos that get along with each other before you want to lock yourself in your bunker with them. Jerry could put up with them. Lord knows I had trouble dealing with them one at a time.

However, it would not be out of the question to adapt this idea to a family of 4. That is, Dad shoots 30-06, Mom shoots a .223 REM. Little Sis and Brother shoot 10/22's with 50 round mags. You teach the little ones to keep heads down with suppressing fire. Dad picks off the ones that aren't responding to the treatment. Mom fills in the gaps.

 

I always thought that a 10-22 would be good for suppression fire. Cheap ammo is why, I mean who can afford to throw .223 away or 7.62 by 39 ? I have been in at least a hundred threads discussing the .22. I was at first one of those guys who thought I could use one for anything including defense which is why I have such a huge stock pile of these little rounds. But today after many tests and hours of discussion I am in the group that says they are important but not perfect. In some locations like Grizzly bear country and the Plains states they are not much good.

However here in Lower Michigan I don't have large animals to fear. I don't have to worry about being mauled by a grizzly while deer hunting so a .22 will do fine. In terms of how many rounds you can physically carry the .22 rim fire cant be beat. The worst for weight is the 12 gauge shotgun shell followed by large center fire rounds like 30-06 . Being able to bring bigger rounds to bear really forces a person to rethink "bugging out" unless you are heading to a stocked BOL/bunker etc. In my world if I had to run it would mean my wife is dead my house no longer safe or livable and Im on the road looking for food and shelter I would carry my bolt action .22 with as many rounds as I could carry along with camp supplies, fire starter, water filters etc. By the time you add up the weight of those supplies you don't have much room left for ammo.

So my plan is staying put in all but the gravest of scenarios. This way I have the use of all my guns and tools. My wood stove, my well, my little lake, my rabbits and chickens and garden. I am dug in like a big wood tick. Ill hunt with crossbow or .22 and keep my bigger rounds for defense. The little .22 fits in great for my A.O. as a food gathering tool and long term fire arm. I will always have several of them in both hand guns and rifles. KF

 

Yeah you have to admit, when you can slip a box of ammo in your pocket that doesn't even take up as much room as a half a pack of cigarettes and it contains 50 rounds, that's a bit of an advantage.