The .22 Rifle: Practical and Tactical?

The .22 rifle is an infinitively practical firearm that fills many-a-niche. The rifles themselves can be had for much less than their more powerful centerfire counterparts, as is the ammunition.

The .22 LR cartridge itself is ubiquitous, easy to pack, and lacks the noise and recoil associated with other rounds. For the first-time or last-time gun owner, there is a place for a .22 rifle whether it is for training, small game hunting, or any number of tasks where a light rifle is advantageous.

The humble .22 has even been employed for tactical purposes, although that little round’s use in that role is controversial. The .22 LR has its advantages, both obvious and hidden, but there is enough to balk at.

As a long time rimfire aficionado, I know by virtue of availability that a significant number of gun owners will use a .22 in that role. But just how capable is the .22 and are the disadvantages pronounced enough to dismiss it entirely?

The Virtues of the .22 Rifle

The debate over using the .22 for personal protection or for tactical purposes often revolves around the power of the .22 LR cartridge or the reliability of the ammunition. These are realities of using a lower powered rimfire cartridge, but these can be mitigated. Indeed, you might opt to accept it if you gain more than you give up in the context of your defensive plan.

For example, that lightweight lower powered round and a consequentially lighter rifle might just be the ticket if your situation calls for it. Shorter statured shooters, particularly those with limited upper body strength, won’t feel unbalanced or pushed around with the .22, where even an AR chambered in 5.56 NATO might prove unwieldy.

Outside that niche, the .22 rifle might get the nod if you are planning on a mobile defense, particularly if you are envisioning an on-foot scenario.

Beyond their compactness, that lowered powered ammo has low noise and in rifles equipped with a suppressor, can be reduced to Hollywood quiet—particularly with standard velocity and subsonic loads. This could be important to both save your hearing and reduces the possibility of unwanted attention that even the squawk of a suppressed AR or bolt gun can warrant.

Where the .22 Falls Short

The advantage of light, suppressor friendly ammo is juxtaposed with the disadvantage that the .22 LR simply does not have the power of centerfire rounds.

The .22 LR was built from the ground up as a small game cartridge. Although it has been used to kill game as large as bear, it is marginal on big game without perfect shot placement within a shorter distance. Most .22 LR loads available today consist of a 40 grain heeled lead bullet traveling at 1,280 feet per second. That is a lighter bullet traveling at a good handgun velocity that leaves you behind the curve with true rifle rounds.

This is born out in both power and range. The .22 LR round can travel hundreds of yards and be potentially deadly at that distance, but the lighter bullet at lower velocities gives gravity and the wind plenty of opportunity. Some rimfire shooters consider the .22 LR to be accurate at 50 yards before bullet drop comes into play. Ever the optimist, I am comfortable on game past 100 yards with some Kentucky windage.

With a 50 yard zero, 40 grain high velocity loads like CCI Blazer print seven inches below point of aim at 100 yards. At 150 yards, the same ammunition has dropped thirty inches and completely off silhouette at 200 yards. Lighter-grain ammunitions that fall into the hypervelocity category perform somewhat better. The CCI Stinger drops only 3 inches at 100 yards and is still on paper 30 inches low at 200.

The ballistic drop of the .22 LR is readily compensated out to 150 yards, but the wheels start to fall off afterwards. Depending on your environment, 150 yards is a far shot, but in other circumstances the .22 LR is waning where centerfire cartridges like 5.56 or .308 are only getting started with much more energy to spare.

The good news is that, despite its low power starting out, the .22 LR is more than capable. In fact, the .22 LR cartridge out of a rifle exceeds some larger handgun cartridges in penetrating power, but it lacks the penetrating power of conventional rifle rounds—giving you some leeway when shooting targets at longer distances or punching holes through concealment.

The .22 LR might best be viewed as a handgun cartridge in terms of power and range when fired from a rifle. But there is some ballistics to work with. A clearer disadvantage lay with the construction of the ammunition itself.

.22 LR cartridges use a heeled bullet that sits on top of the case. The bullet’s lubrication grooves are exposed to dirt and debris. But the biggest flaw with any .22 LR round is that it is rimfire.

Priming explosive coats the inside of the rim of each case and when crushed, the cartridge ignites. The problem is that that compound may not be uniformly applied all along the rim. Sooner or later, you will get a round that will fail to go off. In my own experience, it can happen with any brand of ammunition but more so bulk pack options. Small-box ammunitions like those from CCI are well known for their reliability and consistency, but duds still sometimes occur.

The last thing we want is for the rifle to go click instead of bang and it is the most serious flaw of using a .22 for personal protection. It can be mitigated to some extend with good ammunition and keeping a cool head to clear duds instinctively, but it is something users of centerfire ammunition very rarely struggle with.

The Tactical .22

There are some definite disadvantages to using .22 rimfire rifles for personal protection, but those reasons are more nuanced depending on your particular situation. With the right ammunition, a .22 rifle can be quite reliable and have enough energy to work within its reasonable ranges. The light ammunition and weight of the rifles also allow you to be nimbly armed when you otherwise might not be.

The expense of the ammunition and firearms also mark a low barrier to entry and an ease to practice doing shooting and reloading drills—something that can translate to better shooting, whether you stick with a rimfire gun or use the same principles with a centerfire model.

For training, the .22 rimfire is the caliber to have and for other purposes, it has more potential than its size would suggest.