.22 Magnum Pocket Pistols

[Nightcrawler]

Does anyone make a pocket/backup/holdout pistol in .22 Magnum? If I were in the market for such a pistol, I'd prefer a .22 Magnum over a .25 or a .32. Here's why.

The .25 and .32 have "questionable" penetration abilities, meaning that in many cases (from what I understand, this is NOT first hand knowledge) they don't penetrate deep enough to do a lot of damage. If they are equipped with hollow points, that seems to be making the shallow penetration problem worse.

.22LR is seen in many pocket pistols, but I've heard of instances where .22LR won't penetrate a human skull all the time.

.22 Magnum, however, in FMJ form, has very good penetration. (in fact, according to 2nd Chance Body Armor, it takes a level IIIA vest to stop a certain .22 Magnum FMJ Load).

So, like I said, does anybody make a good .22 Magnum pocket pistol? I know of the NAA Mini Revolver, but are there any semiautos?

[johnwill]

One thing you're failing to consider about .22 Mag is the performance out of short barrels isn't going to be anything like the performance out of a rifle, which is the normal firearm that is referenced when speaking about how effective the .22Mag is. Perhaps the best known .22Mag pocket pistol is the NAA mini-revolver, you might try looking there. They also have some charts about the MV and energy of various .22LR and .22Mag loads from their revolvers. NAA Firearms (http://www.naaminis.com/)

Here's my .22Mag mini with the 1 5/8" barrel in the RYBKA pocket holster...

http://www.armscenter.com/johnwill/SmallGunPictures/NAA%20mini-rev%20Pocket%20Holster.jpg

[WESHOOT2]

Know of instances where other calibers don't penetrate skull. Suggest aiming elsewhere.......

[Hkmp5sd]

I own a NAA .22 mag revolver and a few years back, we were about to butcher a hog and got the bright idea to use the little NAA to kill the hog. Shot the hog at about 12" in the head. The hog got real PO'd about that one. The second shot, from my Charter Arms Pathfinder .22 Mag w/ 6" barrel cured his attitude.

[burrhead]

High Standard use to make a real neat two shot derringer in 22 mag. I see 'em around for $200 or so for very nice ones.

[johnwill]

IMO, a derringer has all the bad points of the NAA mini, and more! Not only is it SA and has to be cocked, but you only get two shots!

[Cal4D4]

The High Standard is a DAO .22 mag. Still only 2 shots but very accurate (for a derringer). Standard grips a little bulbous, flat ones make it disappear.

[Ala Dan]

There's nothing wrong with a NAA .22 magnum mini,
as a back-up weapon. It's my "always" carry CCW.

Regards,
Ala Dan, Life Member N.R.A.

[johnwill]

While there may be "nothing wrong" with the NAA as a BUG, there's also even less wrong with the P32 as a BUG. :)

[Oleg Volk]

My tests showed that 32ball penetrates far better than most 22mag from barrels of identical length. Further, a long and skinny rimmed 22mag doesn't feed well (see AMT Automag and Grendel threads). And most of the powder goes into noise and muzzle flash.

[johnwill]

Oleg,

I agree on the fact that the .32ACP is probably a better choice, performance wise. OTOH, we were talking about the NAA mini-revolver, so feeding reliability isn't much of an issue. :)

[Walt Sherrill]

While the .22 magnum round is far more potent than a .22lr and, arguably a .25, this doesn't seem to be the case when its fired from a very short barrel.

I'd look elsewhere for a backup gun -- perhaps the Kel-Tec P32 which is only slightly larger (and probably lighter) than many of the small guns that will shoot .22 or .22 magnum.

[MADISON]

It use to be that you could compare the Velocity and Muzle Energy of a two inch barrel .22 Magnum with that of a 4 inch barrel .38 Special. The .22 Magnum in two inch barrel would come out OVER the .38 Special.

My answer would be to find a "J" frame S&W in .22
Magnum. I have seen then in 2, 3 and, 4 inch barrels.

[johnwill]

I'm having real difficulty with finding any ballistic tables that show a .22Mag from a 2" barrel beating the .38Sp in energy, care to point us to an actual reference?

[EnochGale]

Taurus makes a snubbie in 22 mag. SW made a special run of the 651 in a snubbie a few years ago. You would have to search for them.

The two semis out there from AMT and Grendel are too big for pocket guns.

If you can carry the snubbies, you can carry a 38 spl, so why bother.

The NAA minis are special purpose last ditch guns.

[Walt Sherrill]

Bah, humbug.

Even if a .22 magnum came close to the performance (fps) of a .38 special, its still pushing a bullet that roughly 1/3 to 1/4 the size...

It takes more than velocity...

[Inspector Callahan]

Mini Revolver ballistic tables (loads of info here) (http://www.naaminis.com/naatoc.html#vel)