If you have been smart enough to not "corner" your attacker,and get your gun visible to him and "trained" upon him, in TIME for him to stop and flee, 80% of the time, he will do so, in normal times, justifiable civilian self-defense, without your having to fire a shot. About half of those who are not convinced by merely the sight of your gun, (ANY gun, regardless of type or caliber) will flee at shots by you that MISS them. So caliber has no effect 9x out of 10 attacks. what matters is your HAVING the gun, AND getting it out and usable in TIME. Once he's UPON you, it's too late, and it's probably too late for the .45 to make any difference, too, you know.
Nobody wants to get shot, even with "mere".22lr, cause everyone knows that if you don't get medical attention after getting torso-hit with a bullet, you DIE of the infection. It might take a week, but you'll die. also, even with modern medical care, bullet wounds are seriously debilitating, requiring lots of rest, you can't work or even committ many burglaries or sell much dope when you are laid up recuperating from a hole in your lung.
.22's to the liver or heart or brain DO kill a lot of people every year in the US, too. It's not a joke, in other words.
By law, all medical personnel MUST report all gunshot wounds to the cops, and an investigation into the circumstances WILL take place. So the punks know that being shot =death or prison. Given the choice to be shot or flee, only the insane, doped up, drunk, desperate or enraged will risk being shot, with any caliber, even "just' once. If this were not true, you can bet your life that derringers, mini-revolvers, and .25 automatics would have long since been driven off of the market, cause they aint worth a hoot, except as "bluffs". But "bluffing" with an aimed in gun, an air of confidence and determination on the part of the defender, and the great majority of attackers will flee. they might come BACK (later) with their own gun, friends, etc, IF they can find you.
If you are highly skilled with the "mere" .22, you can draw and hit the 4" circle of the brain, at the usual defensive range of 5-10 FEET (not yards) from concealment, 5 x, in 2.0 seconds. It takes the typical cop 2.0 seconds to make that same concealed draw and hit the chest ONCE with his .40 Glock, at the same distance. The first .22 hit can be on the brain in 1.2 seconds, guys. With .22 ammo being 5c a shot or less, and .40 ammo being 40c a shot, which do you think you are likelly to be highly skilled with, hmm? Airsoft costs about 1/2 c per shot, is silent, safe in your home, and can teach you almost all you need to know about the fast draw, movement, pivots, use of cover, use of a light, hitting movers, hitting while moving yourself, etc.
1/2 of the time, the 10% who DO make you actually hit them with a bullet, will stop at being swiftly hit a couple of times in the chest with a .22, with a smaller percentage being stopped by swift(enough) hits to the head. So, 19x out of 20, the 'mere" .22lr IS enough IF you are skilled enough to use it well and understand practical tactics.
less than $1000 spent on the .22, the airsoft, the ammo, books, coaching, and videos, will get you to where you are actually safer than the average off duty cop who is ccwing (concealed carry of weapons) his .40, 9mm, or .45. Very few cops are any good, despite their required 40-50 hours of training. That's just not enough, if it's done the way they do it. They might fire 500 rds, at a cost of $200, and their "training' may well have cost the taxpayers $3000 per cop, but their apathy and distractions just don't lead to ability.
Cops normally, on duty, at least, KNOW when they are entering a high risk situation, so their gun is in their hand, they are wearing concealed body armor, and normally, they have either a partner or backup is on the way and WILL arrive in a minute or 2. You have none of those advantages. Also, they don't get prosecuted, or even get kicked off of "the job", because they do things that would get YOU 20 years to life in prison. So, despite the fact that they have to respond at longer ranges, at guys using cover, and have to try to CATCH bad guys ( you don't) their skill level is WAY lower than what yours had BETTER be, if you want true defensive ability, not to just KID yourself about same.
If you want to be able to adequately cover about 60% of that 5% that the .22 (and real skill with it) won't cover, you have to spend SEVERAL thousand more dollars on coaching and centerfire ammunition, and it will cost you another $1000 a year to STAY that good, with the much more expensive, harder to use well centerfire guns and cartridges.
I derive the stats about distances, % who will flee, etc, from Jim Cirillo's book on gunfighting, he and his Stakeout Unit, in NYC, confronted 280 armed robbers in Harlem, in 6 months of 1968, Also, from the NRA's Armed Citizen column in their mag, (I've been a life member since 1978, and the mag comes out monthly, with a full page of armed citizen incidents in each issue), from much conversation with hundreds of gun people and cops, from my 45 years of involvement in such things, competition, selling cast bullets, reloading ammo for sale, teaching shooters, teaching karate, and so on.
I've held men at gunpoint 4x, wished I had a gun with me another dozen times, and WOULD have drawn another 1/2 dozen times, but my demeanor told the punk(s) to not push things any further. I've read, and you can read, stats about such things at the Dept of Justice (DOJ) website. Search there for the ANNUAL CRIME SURVEY, and also for the FBI'S NATIONAL CRIME REPORT (NCR)
Nobody wants to get shot, even with "mere".22lr, cause everyone knows that if you don't get medical attention after getting torso-hit with a bullet, you DIE of the infection. It might take a week, but you'll die. also, even with modern medical care, bullet wounds are seriously debilitating, requiring lots of rest, you can't work or even committ many burglaries or sell much dope when you are laid up recuperating from a hole in your lung.
.22's to the liver or heart or brain DO kill a lot of people every year in the US, too. It's not a joke, in other words.By law, all medical personnel MUST report all gunshot wounds to the cops, and an investigation into the circumstances WILL take place. So the punks know that being shot =death or prison. Given the choice to be shot or flee, only the insane, doped up, drunk, desperate or enraged will risk being shot, with any caliber, even "just' once.
If this were not true, you can bet your life that derringers, mini-revolvers, and .25 automatics would have long since been driven off of the market, cause they aint worth a hoot, except as "bluffs". But "bluffing" with an aimed in gun, an air of confidence and determination on the part of the defender, and the great majority of attackers will flee. they might come BACK (later) with their own gun, friends, etc, IF they can find you. If you are highly skilled with the "mere" .22, you can draw and hit the 4" circle of the brain, at the usual defensive range of 5-10 FEET (not yards) from concealment, 5 x, in 2.0 seconds. It takes the typical cop 2.0 seconds to make that same concealed draw and hit the chest ONCE with his .40 Glock, at the same distance. The first .22 hit can be on the brain in 1.2 seconds, guys. With .22 ammo being 5c a shot or less, and .40 ammo being 40c a shot, which do you think you are likelly to be highly skilled with, hmm? Airsoft costs about 1/2 c per shot, is silent, safe in your home, and can teach you almost all you need to know about the fast draw, movement, pivots, use of cover, use of a light, hitting movers, hitting while moving yourself, etc.
1/2 of the time, the 10% who DO make you actually hit them with a bullet, will stop at being swiftly hit a couple of times in the chest with a .22, with a smaller percentage being stopped by swift(enough) hits to the head. So, 19x out of 20, the 'mere" .22lr IS enough IF you are skilled enough to use it well and understand practical tactics.
less than $1000 spent on the .22, the airsoft, the ammo, books, coaching, and videos, will get you to where you are actually safer than the average off duty cop who is ccwing (concealed carry of weapons) his .40, 9mm, or .45. Very few cops are any good, despite their required 40-50 hours of training. That's just not enough, if it's done the way they do it. They might fire 500 rds, at a cost of $200, and their "training' may well have cost the taxpayers $3000 per cop, but their apathy and distractions just don't lead to ability.
Cops normally, on duty, at least, KNOW when they are entering a high risk situation, so their gun is in their hand, they are wearing concealed body armor, and normally, they have either a partner or backup is on the way and WILL arrive in a minute or 2. You have none of those advantages. Also, they don't get prosecuted, or even get kicked off of "the job", because they do things that would get YOU 20 years to life in prison. So, despite the fact that they have to respond at longer ranges, at guys using cover, and have to try to CATCH bad guys ( you don't) their skill level is WAY lower than what yours had BETTER be, if you want true defensive ability, not to just KID yourself about same.
If you want to be able to adequately cover about 60% of that 5% that the .22 (and real skill with it) won't cover, you have to spend SEVERAL thousand more dollars on coaching and centerfire ammunition, and it will cost you another $1000 a year to STAY that good, with the much more expensive, harder to use well centerfire guns and cartridges.
I derive the stats about distances, % who will flee, etc, from Jim Cirillo's book on gunfighting, he and his Stakeout Unit, in NYC, confronted 280 armed robbers in Harlem, in 6 months of 1968, Also, from the NRA's Armed Citizen column in their mag, (I've been a life member since 1978, and the mag comes out monthly, with a full page of armed citizen incidents in each issue), from much conversation with hundreds of gun people and cops, from my 45 years of involvement in such things, competition, selling cast bullets, reloading ammo for sale, teaching shooters, teaching karate, and so on.
I've held men at gunpoint 4x, wished I had a gun with me another dozen times, and WOULD have drawn another 1/2 dozen times, but my demeanor told the punk(s) to not push things any further. I've read, and you can read, stats about such things at the Dept of Justice (DOJ) website. Search there for the ANNUAL CRIME SURVEY, and also for the FBI'S NATIONAL CRIME REPORT (NCR)
