.22 magnum in revolvers...are they something to consider

[JHC]

I thought it blew up and I blew up.

That's just hilarious!

[OlongJohnson]

22 Mag costs more than inexpensive .38 wadcutters.

In a bolt-action rifle, you can download .223 to 22 WMR levels.

The only place I see a point for WMR is with a semi-auto like a CZ 512, where you may want to take out a bunch of varmints in a hurry (like all five racoons as they come down the tree, as an example that's been posted elsewhere).

[taadski]

Short .22 mag story:

I had a conversation with a fellow in passing while on duty the other day in one of the rural small towns in our County. It took me a couple minutes and his name to put together the reference, but it turns out he was the "victim" in a shooting we investigated about 15 years prior. He and his brother had jumped a visiting Texan (hint) and his son outside a bar after some words had been said inside. Short story is the son was getting his ass kicked on the ground pretty badly in the dark parking lot while Dad was fighting with the other brother. Father, in fear of his son's well being, produced a .22 mag revolver and pressed the trigger thrice. The first two rounds fired and struck dude COM. The third went "click" with a light primer strike. The recipient's comments were that he didn't initially know he'd been shot, but the noise ceased the assault. Twenty or so minutes later, he walked to the ambulance and was transported to the nearest medical facility (about an hour away). He underwent minor surgery and was kept overnight, but was released the following day.

The thread reminded me of the encounter and I figured I'd share. Take from it what you will.

[UNK]

Depends on what you want to do with it but there are some real negatives concerning any caliber being shot in barrels shorter than that which they were designed for. Velocity being number one and associated bullet failure to perform based on velocity. Blast and flash number two I guess?
Here is a link to the numbers. http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/22mag.html

[RichY]

When I was in college decades ago I ran across a 6" barrel S&W M-48 five screw in 22 magnum. I just had to have it, and I had just enough money to buy it. It was, even then, expensive to shoot, and the magnums from a 6" barrel it sounded like a snubby 38 Special when you fired it. Every 18 rounds the cylinder would not want to revolve any longer, so I had to scrub under the ejector star, the front of the cylinder, and the rear face of the barrel. It would then work for another 18 rounds, then repeat the process. I wanted it to hunt with, but quickly found it was essentially a 22 L.R. from a rifle, and all the noise was just wasted powder. It was no more accurate than a K frame in 22 Long Rifle. I sold it off fairly quickly.

Later on my brother bought me a 6 1/2" Ruger Super Single Six Convertible in 22/22 Mag. I used it to hunt with for years, but again, it did nothing for me that a 22 rifle did not offer. I used only the 22 Magnum cylinder virtually the entire time I owned it until just before it was sold. I switched to the 22 cylinder and in all honesty, from a wound ballistic standpoint, if there was any difference in performance, I certainly could not tell it. By the time I sold it I had moderate arthritis in my lower back, and it was no longer fun to carry afield. I went with the Ruger 22/45 with the Pac-Lite factory barrel, but never really liked it either. Then my wife wanted a S&W M&P 22 Compact pistol, and I found it to beat all the previously mentioned handguns, as it is amazingly accurate, reliable, compact, and easy on the lower back. I decided at that point that any rimfire use I would need in a handgun was easily done with the little M&P. Now I need to get me one!

[Malamute]

S&W rimfire revolvers have heavy triggers.

I had a 22 in a J frame, it never had a very good trigger action and the DA pull was heavy. All the K frame Smith 22 LRs thats Ive had or shot have had great triggers.

[Wheeler]

That has not been my experience with my [example of one] early 80's S&W M18. Very smooth with a reasonable pull weight [not that I've measured it].

The Model 18 is a .22LR. The Model 48 is the .22 WMR.

[Wheeler]

I had a 22 in a J frame, it never had a very good trigger action and the DA pull was heavy. All the K frame Smith 22s thats Ive had or shot have had great triggers.

I have a 17-5 and have played around with some 617’s. I’ve always felt as if the DA triggers were heavier in the stock configuaration. My 17 has a pretty good trigger on it due to the custom trigger job of shooting the crap out of it.

[Jeep]

When I was the dumbest and most junior 2LT in the Army, I just had to have a .22 Magnum. The nice lady in the gun store tried to warn me off, but I knew better than she did and so bought myself that .22 magnum. The trigger was terrible, the blast was excessive, the ammo was expensive and while its terminal effects on rabbits was more impressive than a normal .22 it was a dog. (Admittedly it was not a S&W).

I think the .22 mag can work well in bolt-action rifles when you want to reach out and touch something but don't want a centerfire. It needs that barrel length to get good velocity, though--it doesn't add much in a pistol, except the psychological effect of the flash and boom.

[JHC]

Trigger is a bit heavy but I was diggin it rolling as fast as I could see sights at 7 yards. My 1970 K-22 DA trigger isn't quite as heavy but not far off.
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