[Guest]

Gents,

While I'm not a proponent of the .22/.25/.32's for self defense, they do have their place.
I really put these in the fun gun category...at least that's what I use mine for.
I've had the usual Jennings cheapies, a couple Beretta's, and sold them all.
The small gun I'll keep is a mint(still in the box) pre-war Galesi in .22 short. Beautiful workmanship, real ivory grips, and it feeds/functions 100%. It does put a smile on your face!

 

[derek]

Still enjoy my NAA mini revolver. Great craftsmanship ...more of a novelty but once in a while will carry it in a newt livesay neck holster if I'm at the beach or in the gym and have no pockets.

 

[lelandray]

My smallest pistol is an old AMT Backup .380. The smallest revolver is an NAA .22 Magnum. What a surprise, huh? I don't know too many people who don't own at least one NAA gun.

 

[yul]

A Walther's 7.65 mm (.32 cal) PPK my dad brought back from northern Italy at the end of WWII as war booty. It's compact, shoots well, and is fun.

Yul

 

[cajunbass]

Smallest caliber is a 22 Ruger Single Action. Great shooting little gun. Althought my wife has dibs on it as "HERS". I just put her a new Bersa 22 on layaway at our local gun shop. Hopefully she'll let me have the Ruger back. Knowing my luck she'll have two 22's then. :-/ Oh well.

 

[oldgranpa]

the NAA mini .22magnum short barrel revolvers (1-1/8 & 1-5/8) might look like only a fun gun, but with a CCI maxi-mag 40gr FMJ you get serious penetration and some tumbling (keyholing) that leaves a tremendous "wound profile" in a wetpack. (See my thread under Calibers below.)
Better yet, if you can find some CCI maxi-mag GoldDot 50gr JHP, the bullet is a full 1/2" long, tumbles out of the NAA and leaves even a bigger wound profile with excellent penetration.
I'd hardly call that an only for fun gun.
You will not find much data on .22magnum in any of the M&S books. Just have to do your own testing.

I do not include .22LR in the same category and don't recommend it in the NAA mini. Poor penetration.

And note, none of the NAA minis get any expansion with hollow point ammo. QuikShok fragments with very poor penetration. "SnakeShot" is even more pitiful, don't waste time on it.
Cheers,
og

 

[derek]

Ditto on the QuickShocks.

 

[randomman]

I love fun guns...althought I thought they were all fun?

Hmm smallest gun I own..

.22LR Erma/Excam RX22, the same size as a Walther PPK. Reliable, accurate, pocketable. The smallest gun I have around here in a 1906 Vest Pocket .25 Browning, but I haven't shot it yet(this weekend), so I dunno how fun it is.

Other "fun" .22s are my S&W 22A target pistol, H&R .22 revolver, and .32 CZ27.

I really like the CZ in .32 it's a great shooting little piece, reliable, accurate, and it just digests any .32 ACP round you put in it.

-Rob

 

[pff]

Smallest caliber I have is the .22LR (in several platforms) and the smallest physically is prolly a Beretta 21 in .25ACP.

Smallest .22 is the Kit Gun I recently acquired. Sock-drawer gun; 98%, pinned, box, papers, tools. Shoots into 1" at 25yds with _my_ eyes.

Regards,

Pat

 

[cpw]

Baby Browning - 25 acp

 

[briand]

Right now it would be a 9x18 Makarov, with second place going to my S&W model "937" ( a mod. 37 with a 9mm Para cylinder installed.)

Sometimes I possess a Beretta model 950 or 20, but swapped off the last one towards a Beretta 96 Vertec.

 

[Guest]

S&W Model 34 2" .22LR

 

[Guest]

I bought a Walther TPH quite a while back and really love that little thing. I can't believe how thin they made that little gun; flat as a pancake and it just disappears in your pocket. It's amazingly reliable for me. Even more amazing that it's reliable with those little truncated cone hypervelocity 'yellow jackets.' Groups well, too. The only problem I have with it is that the safety is tough to flick off with your right hand thumb. Other than that, it's a gem. Also, too bad they don't make 'em anymore in the States.

 

[strider72]

Iver Johnson TP22. Sweet,little gun...finicky though. Likes CCI Minimags and Rem. Thunderbolts...hates Win. Xpert22 HPs...

 

[Guest]

A Kel-Tec P32 that I also carry a lot. Before the Kel-Tec, I had owned several different Beretta 21A pistols, but always ended up trading them because of feed problems. The Kel-Tec is much more reliable with more power and less weight, and I think it is a really innovative design that will long be remembered.

 

[cajunbass]

We picked up the Bersa we had on layaway yesterday, so now we got two, 22's. We didn't get it to the range, but did take it "down the hill" and shot a few rounds at a couple of soda cans. It went bang every time she pulled the trigger.

While I agree with the original post that 22's and such aren't the best for defense, I do think that a 22 that somone will shoot enough to learn how to shoot, and will carry because they're not afraid to shoot it, is better than a bigger more more powerful gun that would be left at home 90% of the time. My wife had her choice of a couple of 38's and a 9mm that she could have carried, but the recoil turned her off to them. Being that she had never fired a handgun until a couple of weeks ago, I could understand. I'm hoping she'll really learn to shoot with the 22, (which she does well with already at "defense" ranges) then as she get's more comfortable with the idea, she'll want something more suitable for defense.

First choice for defense? No. But much better than screams and fingernails.

 

[Chris Stephens]

Hi there,

The smallest handgun I own is my Kel Tec P-32 which is my everyday carry gun for work and around the house.

Its not much of an accurate plinker, but it is a challanging handgun to plink with because of its diminutive sights.

Loaded with Glazer Blue Safety Slugs, it will give a someone a very bad day.

Chris

 

[derek]

Regarding the .22's, I've always thought they were a great inexpensive way to learn/practice trigger control. If I've been lax in my training for a while I'll sometimes take a Taurus .22 and spend the first 1/2 hour with it practicing trigger control before shooting the bigger more expensive stuff. Sorry to get a little off thread here but just another plus for the .22 fun guns.

 

[Guest]

My smallest is a High Standard "Sentinal" snub nose 9 shot .22cal revolver.

RC

 

[kkramer673]

My smallest is a Beretta 84FS, which is .380. Very reliable little pistol w/13 round capacity.