David LaPell writes [via ammoland]
In this day and age of high-velocity small bore rifle cartridges that have speeds advertised as almost capable of breaking the space-time continuum, older and slower rounds that while dependable are often shoved aside as being obsolete, and one of those is the venerable .22 Magnum . . .
History
Developed by in 1959 by Winchester, for their Model 61 pump rifle, the .22 Winchester Magnum, also called .22 WMR or Winchester Magnum Rimfire was a rimfire round designed for small game. Especially varmints like fox, raccoon, and even coyotes out to 100 yards, without doing a lot of damage to the hides.
The .22 WMR was very important thirty and forty years ago when fur prices were much higher. These days hunters don’t worry as much about the pelt damage. In the last sixty years, dozens of new rounds have been introduced that are both faster and more destructive than the .22 Magnum. So what does the little rimfire round offer in this day and age?
While the .22 WMR Magnum might not be the fastest and most glamorous round out there it does make a very decent all-around survival and personal round in a rifle.
So why would someone want a .22 Magnum when you could instead choose something like a .223 or a round reasonably similar? One of the reasons to have a survival round is that you want to be able to shoot game with it and that includes small-game, and while you might get some bloodshot meat on a squirrel or a rabbit with the .22 Magnum, that cannot compare to the damage of a higher velocity .223.
I was once given a whitetail deer that had been struck by a car only enough to break its leg. It had to be dispatched by a sheriff’s deputy with his .223 carbine. The deer had been shot in the head from about 15 yards away. Most of the skull on the left side past the eye and to the ear and nearly halfway across the top of its head was just gone.
That swore me off ever wanting to shoot a .223 at any small game animal that I intended to eat. I once shot a squirrel back when I was about nineteen years old with a .25-20 rifle. It was a clean shot right behind the shoulder, and afterward, there was no shoulder or much of anything else.
This is important because the .25-20 has less than half the muzzle energy of a .223 round. If you were to shoot a small animal you wanted to eat with a .223 or something like a .17 WSM, .204 Ruger or .22-250 you can bet there wouldn’t be enough left of what that critter to make even a small pot of stew.
.22 WMR Ammunition for Personal Defense?
When it comes to personal defense, granted the .223 is hard to beat with its proven track record, the .22 Magnum is not as anemic as one would think. A 40-grain bullet from the little rimfire with a muzzle velocity of 1,900 fps has 325 ft. Lbs of muzzle energy.
While that doesn’t sound like a lot, it’s more than the .380, the .38 Special and is knocking on the door of the 9mm. The .22 Magnum is simply not the weakling you might think. There are a variety of rounds out there, everything from a 30 grain V-Max with a muzzle velocity of 2,200 fps to a slew of 40-grain bullets like the soft-jacketed point, jacketed hollow point, and full metal jacket, all averaging around 1,900 fps.
.22 Magnum Ammo Price
Another reason to pick a .22 Magnum: the cost of the ammunition. It might not be as cheap as it once was but I can still find a box of fifty rounds for about $15 or so. Ammo for the .22 Magnum takes up a heck of a lot less room than fifty rounds of even the smallest of centerfire rifle rounds; convenient if you want to keep the gun in a truck or take it on a long hike.
Just about every gun maker offers a .22 Magnum, from semi-autos like the Savage A22, the Remington 597 Rifle and the CZ-512 Semi Auto Rifle to a number of bolt actions from Mossberg, Marlin, Ruger, and others.
The market also offers lever action .22 Magnum rifles. Henry Repeating Arms makes them, along with a pump action .22 Magnum, a rifle that evokes the good old days when Winchester made the Model 61 pump.
I decided to take a pair of .22 Magnum rifles to the range that couldn’t be more different from one another: a Henry lever action with a 20 ½ “ octagon barrel that holds twelve rounds and has an MSRP of $550 and a Keystone Arms Crickett rifle (no laughing please), a single shot bolt action with a 16” barrel and has an MSRP of $179.
I found that neither the Henry nor the Crickett liked the Hornady 30 grain V-Max bullets; in fact, the Henry seemed almost allergic to them. At 25 yards the groups were terrible, and the rounds were not only landing left, but they were also keyholing. The Crickett was slightly better, but just with a pretty broad group opening up.
On the other hand, both guns did well with CCI 40 grain JHP loads. At 25 yards the Henry put out a three shot group of only ¾” with the factory open sights, and the Crickett with the same ammo shot a one-inch group. Most of the .22 Magnum rifles I have shot over the years all seemed to shoot better with 40-grain bullets versus the lighter loads, but you need to test out which work best in your gun.
The .22 magnum round started life almost sixty years ago as a small game and varmint round for those who wanted to use it on furbearers when the prices for pelts brought you more than just the cost of a Happy Meal. That time might be passed but .22 Magnum ammunition can find a new life as a survival rifle and if need be for personal defense, something that few other rounds can do and do well.
About David LaPell:
David LaPell has been a Corrections Officer with the local Sheriff’s Department for thirteen years. A collector of antique and vintage firearms for over twenty years and an avid hunter. David has been writing articles about firearms, hunting and western history for ten years. In addition to having a passion for vintage guns, he is also a fan of old trucks and has written articles on those as well.
Sounds like Glock has gone full Apple by putting an ‘X’ on the end of the name to get you to buy a new plastic POS that’s only marginally better than everything they’re already selling.
I will never touch a POS from Springfield.
Rocky squirrel found, Natasha, but where is moose?
If you support stop and frisk, you clearly don’t live in an anti-gun, highly populated, city of the first cl(ass).
Philadelphia cops will abuse this for any law abiding carrying citizen with an LTCF. Not all Philly cops will, but regardless, it will be done. The search of people with known records is not what is in question here. This will inconvenience law abiding gun carriers so badly that they will probably choose not to carry. I’m white, so I may not be affected too much. I personally know a few black guys who legally carry and they are terrified of a cop seeing their gun print, because they are aware of what can happen regardless of their compliance. This would allow those cops the legal right to basically profile them because of minor printing. This would create a big scene and cause tensions to rise, this is a recipe for disaster.
In a perfect world, this could be used to identify bad guys, if we lived in that perfect world (bubble) then we wouldn’t be worried about carrying and we could join the snowflakes in thinking that everything will be ok.
If you live out in the middle of nowhere PA, this will not affect you so please stop supporting it.
I don’t think police should take squirrel calls. The aren’t a free pest control service.
Better than no firearm or as in the pointy stick reference, better than throwing rocks.
My ex wife has a Ruger 22lr pistol that she keeps in her apartment for self defense. Only pistol her tiny frame can handle and manipulate.
Surprised a dog didn’t get shot for some reason or another…
Otherwise agree with a poster above, not a good use of tax dollars. Hire an exterminator, don’t feed your pet cat or dog for a while, or buy your kids a pellet gun.
I have read the article, and at this point the only question I have is this
Is it a waterfowl gun? Can I shoot steel shot out of this over and under?
Need a grading of which cal. will kill: dead………deader………deadest…..
“ This one is just mostly dead! If their all dead, there’s only one thing you can do…”
About as funny as when Jimmy Carter was attacked by a rabbit.
People complaining…..I’m sure if the 19X is a hit, then then maybe they will do other crossovers. Can’t stand all the bitching. Me, I’m excited and will be buying.
They still screwed it up by losing the hole underneath the back strap after gen 3. That sure is handy for a stock or “brace” attachment. Makes for a very budget friendly pcc/pistol thingy.
Can’t carry it all in one trip.
In your pickup.
I like this one.
…Well, time to buy more guns…
A safe, healthy and happy 2018 to all, except for the Leftists.
May they get cancer and a doc who refuses to provide them pain meds.
*snicker* 🙂
Well if ‘large arsenal’ is what you find on the bottom of any popular fishing lake (what with all the boating accidents), I suppose a ‘small arsenal’ is what you find at the bottom of a mud puddle?
Astigmatism beat me to it. After “I did not have sexual relations with THAT woman,” one can re-define words however one wishes.
More seriously, if a person makes the dubious decision to bring a small arms collection into a hotel room, then they should make extra sure that they don’t A) get drunk, and B) get belligerent.
Another reason to never live in New York. Any state that voluntarily strips law abiding citizens of their Constitutional rights because they miss a date inadvertently by as little as one day with no recourse and then to in essence steal their legally obtained firearms should be avoided at all cost. Once again these idiots prove that other than the police the only people that will have firearms will be the ones that want to do harm to others.
I see a lot of criticisms for this gun based on civilian CCW requirements, but I think we should take this gun for what it is: a civilian production version of the Glocks MHS entry. Glock designed this around the intended purpose of being a backup weapon for a duty soldier, likely carried outside in a holster – the requirements for which are different than for civilian CCW. I have no experience in combat, but in a combat/duty scenario I can see how the quicker draw and lighter weight of the shorter barrel being a reasonable tradeoff for a BACKUP weapon where a longer sight radius isn’t as crucial. The extra rounds could be crucial.
At the end of the day Glock has already spent the money on developing this, and they are just trying to recoup some of those costs. This gun wouldn’t work for me, but if they sell some to police, armed security or military collectors to recoup their investment, more power to them. Honestly, I’m just thankful that we (for now) still live in a country (and for me a state) where we are still allowed to own the same handguns as our police and Military as the 2A intended. Now where is my select fire M4?!!
Looks more like an ‘all the tacticool stuff I own dumped on the bed’ to me. 😉 quality stuff though.
I’m surprised that they did not deploy a SWAT team so that they could have (legally) shot up and destroyed the place…
Looks like a good time was had by all. I love how everybody in the video, cops included, is laughing.
Good luck on enforcing that.
How much does the Inconel cost by itself?
I carry a Ruger p89 with 15/20 rd mags on an owb holster. In my pocket a Phoenix arms hp 22 loaded with mini mag hp. One day I was taking out the trash and didn’t have my 9mm. I found myself confronted by two large angry/hungry dogs it was kind of dark they could’ve been coyotes living on the edge of the desert in Arizona and all. Needless to say two mini mags persuaded them to move along. I don’t know if the shots put them down eventually as I didn’t persue them into the darkness. But if 22lr is good enough for charging critters I think its good enough to change the mind of a two legged critter with a bit of sense.
A small arsenal is one gun less than you will own when you buy the next one. The next purchase makes that one a small arsenal and so on.
Yeah I used to compete in weightlifting and bodybuilding. I know how to concentrate. Sadly old age has degraded things like eyesight and reflexes…I do the best I can and don’t overthink anything.
Nyet! Accuracy by volume comrade!
Haven’t seen an M-60 fired for years (or have I dated myself or exposed my failing memory which led to miss-identification?)
I shot 56 squirrels in 2017. 2018 should be even better. Tree rats, that’s all they are. Destructive rodents.
I have heard that if you do have your finger on the trigger and grasp something with the other hand you can sympathetically squeeze the trigger.
I wonder if something like that happened when he tripped and reached out to catch himself?
Sootch00 has a video up on it on YouTube https://youtu.be/8c3P1X0PTkg if you want to see a video. The gripframe would make sense with a standard or long slide, but not with a G19 slide. That droopy bit on the front of the grip is stupid, but can easily be removed with a file.