.22, .22 mag, .380 vs. .45 auto

[longbarrel]

I am just curious as to why so many people know what another guy "oughta be doing"? What I mean by this is that guys constantly down grade people on this site for saying they would use a semi-auto .22 or a .380 for a bug out gun. "U gotta have the knock down power of a .45 or a .40" Really? I would challenge anyone to stand in front of a .380 or even a .22 and stay fearless. I wouldn't do it. Do you really think if it gets this bad i.e.(SHTF) that it is gonna matter? I may just be extremely naive, but why not be proactive? Instead of preparing for the worst, let's try to prevent the worst from happening. Just a thought

 

[mskendall]

Caliber war!! J/K I would rather hit someone with a .22 than miss with a .45. I'm not effective with a .45 that's why I carry 9mm. I sure as heck wouldn't stand in front of a .22. I believe it's all about shot placement and wont knock anyone for their caliber of choice.

 

[FordMan08]

I think a 22 rifle is the PERFECT survival rifle.

 

[longbarrel]

Caliber war!! J/K I would rather hit someone with a .22 than miss with a .45. I'm not effective with a .45 that's why I carry 9mm. I sure as heck wouldn't stand in front of a .22. I believe it's all about shot placement and wont knock anyone for their caliber of choice.

+1 to you for having some common sense

 

[patton487]

JMO, but carry what you are proficient with. I personally am very accurate and comfortable with a 9mm. I have shot .40, .45, .357 and .50 cal

But I keep coming back to the 9mm. I am just not as quick or accurate with the larger calibers, the 9 is more comfotrable for me to carry, plus I like the the ability of carrying higher capacity mags. Again, just my 2 cents

 

[Sailor]

Different tools for different jobs. Bird hunting, shotgun. Wilderness survival, .22, shotgun or combo. Escaping the hordes to your bug out location, semi-auto battle rifle.

Sure I will argue if you tell me the .22 is best tool for bird hunting.

Well I for one think it will matter if SHTF. Useful posts on this forum try to give other viewpoints without offending. What is right for me may not be the best for you.

Prevention and being proactive is good. Ignoring the possibility of a worst case scenario is negligent.

 

[TopDog]

I should not, but I will

These caliber threads, don't they mostly just boil down to common sense?

Yes shoot what you shoot best. Then someone says something like I would rather hit with a .22 than miss with a .45. Of course I would rather hit with a rock than miss with a .50 BMG. But then when you go to hunt large dangerous animals like bear, you don't grab your .22 rifle and head off into the woods either, do you?

So many factors come into play other than just the performance of the round itself. Is it a everyday carry gun or a bug? Is it going to be CC or OC? What can a person afford. Yes you can eliminate everything but the caliber round itself then you are back to 9mm with the proper bullet can perform as well as anything else.

The caliber war threads might be a little misleading / confusing for people new to carry of a handgun for self defense. For all the people on the forum that are new to handguns and self defense just use common sense when picking a handgun and what caliber to use. Nothing beats personal experience go to a range and rent some handguns and try them.

You will get a lot of great & valuable advice and relative information from this forum. Bottom line, basically any caliber hollow point bullet will work, basically. But a little personal experience will go a long way in choosing the right gun and caliber for you.

 

[cosermann]

What are you wanting a firearm to accomplish for you?

What is your definition of "SHTF" (I know what the acronym means, but there is a wide spectrum of such events both in terms of causes and effects)?

What is/are your strategies for dealing with such events/scenarios?

Only by answering those questions can you hope to figure our what cartridge/firearm combination might best suit your needs.

Sometimes it's a .22lr. Sometimes it's a 50 BMG. To suggest that both are capable of doing the same work is patently false.

You'll come across many opinions on this forum. Some are more reasoned and experienced than others. You need to sort out which are which.

 

[JAMZ]

I own quit a few calibers and like them all for different reasons

 

[Marc]

.22 to the head = dead
.45 to the head =dead
same goes for a vital shot. but which one is easier to control my bet would be the 22. yes i carry a .40 and .45 but when it comes to bug out you can leterally throw thousands of .22 rounds in a pack and go where as you do that with .40 and .45 it would be way too heavy

 

[Jack Ryan]

I am just curious as to why so many people know what another guy "oughta be doing"? What I mean by this is that guys constantly down grade people on this site for saying they would use a semi-auto .22 or a .380 for a bug out gun. "U gotta have the knock down power of a .45 or a .40" Really? I would challenge anyone to stand in front of a .380 or even a .22 and stay fearless. I wouldn't do it. Do you really think if it gets this bad i.e.(SHTF) that it is gonna matter? I may just be extremely naive, but why not be proactive? Instead of preparing for the worst, let's try to prevent the worst from happening. Just a thought

It keeps coming up because people who know the gun they carry is inadequate for the job they want to do yet they want the help of others to convince themselves it is good enough.

I never see guys starting threads with the bold statement like "my 45 is just as good as a 22, nah na na na nah nah!" If you don't want to hear the facts, a 45 hits harder and does more damage than a 22 or a 380, then don't start up threads with statements that make you look foolish.

You don't have to share every thought in your head you know. I'm holding back some right now.

 

[redneckmedic]

.22 to the head = dead
.45 to the head =dead
same goes for a vital shot. but which one is easier to control my bet would be the 22. yes i carry a .40 and .45 but when it comes to bug out you can leterally throw thousands of .22 rounds in a pack and go where as you do that with .40 and .45 it would be way too heavy

Careful, thats not 100% true.... by any means, now if you were talking brain stem (aim for the triangle) now you might be onto something. Don't believe everything you see in Hollywood.

You don't have to share every thought in your head you know. I'm holding back some right now.

I vote for more restraint next time you feel you have to share your thoughts on other people perceived thoughts.

 

[6birds]

I vote for more restraint next time you feel you have to share your thoughts on other people perceived thoughts.

I kinda like it when he drops the hammer...

 

[redneckmedic]

I kinda like it when he drops the hammer...

I never understood why people complain about other people starting threads... its kinda the whole, change the channel thing to me. There is something more to be said there... but this is to stay civil.

 

[grunt soldier]

lol i love these threads and i 100 % agree with RNM. if you don't like the thread don't bother opening it. no need for useless comments. we understand you think you have to have a 45 and a 50 cal to eliminate a threat. what makes me laugh about it is anyone who's adrenaline is pumping can take most rounds and charlie mike like its nothing.

i will put some real world experience in it for perspective because all of us here almost own a ar15 and love them so much and swear they are the greatest. when i was in afghanistan helman province we got in to a very serious tic (troops in contact) with a well set up group of taliban soldiers. so we are pushing forward and i see a guy shooting at us about 80 yards away. i pull up put the red chevron of my ACOG in the middle of his chest and squeeze 2 off. they both hit their mark and he dropped. we are still moving forward and i look where he was laying and the sob is up and running. he stopped turned and fired a couple burst at us. bad mistake as i hit him again 2 more times. he hits the ground again. we keep moving. i look over again and he is up and running so i finally take my time and put 1 in his head and he drops. we push through and clear the village and set up our L.O.A. (Limit of advance) and i check my guys. either way end of the story me and my boys check the dead take the rifles ect and i checked him. not only did he have the 5 shots i in him but he had 4 more in the chest from my little hooah's. and he probably made it a total of 300 yards. granted he was doped up on opium but still

moral of the story put your shots where they need to be and it doesn't matter what your shooting with.

sorry i digress though. best bet is to carry what you shoot on a regular basis and what your good with and would trust your life too. if that is a 22 pocket pistol just make sure you know when to pull it and how to hit what your aiming at and

LASTLY pray that the man up stairs doesn't want you cause if he does, it doesn't matter if your shooting a 120 mm from a tank your still done just how i look at it from shooting and being shot at a lot .

 

[amnate2529]

A .22 is what I would take, you can carry a ton of ammo,+ low cost of ammo + low cost of gun + it's accurate what more would you want.

 

[Cpt Caveman]

Way I figger it, I want the biggest gun I can shoot well. For me thats a 45 ACP .But if I had something bigger I'd probably want that! A 22 will kill a feller but it may take him 5 minutes to bleed out, plenty of time to cut your guts to shreds with his pocket knife. I want a gun that'll make a mess of his insides and do it quick. Larger caliber is better for that. Course theres always the weight/ carryability/ concealability thing . Gotta find what works for you.
If all I had was a 22 I'd be taking my time and making forehead shots.

 

[Zoub]

If you have to ask others what you should do you are in deep ****.

If you ask others what they do, learn from that and then take it and make it your own, you are in business...............and no one is wrong.

You can't cover all scenarios in one thread or with one gun. You have to plan to adapt at all times.

PS if you are too stupid to live, Mother Nature is always testing you and will gladly turn you back in to fertilizer. Generaly speaking model yourself after people better than yourself.

 

[WLW]

.22 to the head = dead
.45 to the head =dead
same goes for a vital shot. but which one is easier to control my bet would be the 22. yes i carry a .40 and .45 but when it comes to bug out you can leterally throw thousands of .22 rounds in a pack and go where as you do that with .40 and .45 it would be way too heavy

I totally agree... I know a couple of surgeons and both dig bullets out of people quite often. They've both told me (after much prying because neither wants to focus on killing someone) that its all about shot placement. They've seen people killed just as easily with a .22 as a .45. The stories they can tell are absolutely amazing... but in a nutshell its about shot placement.

 

[88E30M50]

This is a good thread and kind of touches on something I've been thinking about for a bit. I think one of the problems with the caliber debate is that few people completely define the specifics of the situation they are commenting on. There are so many variations of confrontation that depend on variables like the size or intent of the attacker. If someone thinking about a 300# PCP crazed attacker, thinks the attacker would be persuaded by a 45 ACP +P Powerball and not much less, they may be right. If a responding person is thinking of a knife wielding kid in a parking lot, then they are probably right to think that a 380 would get them home. And, if I'm thinking about a 2# squirrel, then I'm probably right when I say that my 10/22 is a good choice.

I think there are cases where a pocket 380 would be more effective than a 45 on the hip, which is why I carry both. For instance, with CC, you often pay for concealment with ease of access. Having a pocket 380 gives you very fast access without tipping your hand that you have a gun. There are plenty of times where I'll either be walking the dog or through a parking lot and will see someone that is out of place. It may be just a couple of guys standing by a car and talking that I don't recognize, but I can keep my hand in my pocket on my pistol and if anything happened, I could have the gun pointed in about a second. In most cases, there is no real appearance of wrong doing and if I put my hand on my 1911, I would become the bad guy. But, with a pocket pistol, I have the ability to protect myself faster than I could otherwise.

I guess I'm thinking that there is a lot of right to go around in this discussion and that before we toss out the judgment of being wrong, we need to consider the context of the statement.