Indians For Guns

As a daily carry, is a .22 LR or a .32 Acp more preferable? At ranges of say 15-20 yards, a pistol in which cal would be cheaper to own and practice with?

I do know .22 LR Ammo is comparatively cheaper, but what are the pros and cons of each caliber and also the guns available here for someone looking to start out?

I have heard there can be some issues with rimfire ammo?

Thanks

Hi,
.22LR is easily available in India and also easy on pocket for practice and self defense (Rs 21 a pop for KF and Rs16 for wax- as of 15th June). .32ACP is expensive and its ammo is around Rs70-90 a pop (check with your dealer).

IOF .22 revolver is an alloy make, so people consider it as cheap. As of my personal preference IOF .22 is quite reliable and friendly but comes with extra notes of caution-cannot dry fire, KF ammo fits tightly in the camber etc. If your budgets allows go for .32.

Self Defense with a .22 LR or the .32?
If it was me, I would say neither. Unfortunately, you really don't have a choice.
1. Centerfire rounds are always more reliable than rimfire cartridges. The percentage of duds in rimfire calibers are significantly higher than in a centerfire cartridge.
2. There is no denying that you can stop an assailant with a .22 LR round but can it be done in time to prevent the assailant from doing damage to you or your loved ones?


Google: "".22lr as a defense round". You will hear all kinds of opinions.
The general consensus will be don't use .22 LR when you have other options but a .22 LR is better than nothing.

A .22 lr or a .32 acp are the only realistic choices if you are not loaded to start with here.

What about the Tokarev?

some earlier posts on 22' and 32's.http://www.indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1673
http://www.indiansforguns.com/viewtopic ... 14&t=16797
regards
dr.jk

Thanks DR.Was there such a discussion one the Tok as well? Seems to me though the muzzle flash is a bit much, it has more power than these two.

Centerfire rounds are always more reliable than rimfire cartridges. The percentage of duds in rimfire calibers are significantly higher than in a centerfire cartridge.

This is somewhat true but modern production methods and intelligent ways of storing has done a lot to reduce this gap. And I mean reduce it enough to make the .22 lr trump the centre-fire round in terms of cost Vs benefit.

There is no denying that you can stop an assailant with a
.22 LR round but can it be done in time to prevent the assailant from doing damage to you or your loved ones?

Lets do some ballistics shall we?

Federal makes two loads for .32 Smith&Wesson Long. Both are 98 grains and factory loads generate 780fps and 132ft-lbs of energy at muzzle. (let us also include the other .32)

There is only one load for .32 ACP - 71 Grains/900fps @ muzzle/128ft-lbs @ muzzle.

For comparison purposes with .22 LR let us pick out CCI stingers and Aguila SuperMaximum CC.

1) CCI Stingers – 32 Grains/1640fps @ muzzle/191ft-lbs @ muzzle
2) Aguila SuperMaximum CC – 30 Grains/1700fps @ muzzle/192ft-lbs @ muzzle

Now it is possible that the ballistics for .32s are from a handgun length barrel and the ones for .22 LRs are rifle sizes. Now between a 18” barrel and a 4” barrel there is a loss of velocity of about 20% velocity. Factoring this into the equation;

1) CCI Stingers – 32 Grains/1312fps @ muzzle/122.28ft-lbs @ muzzle
2) Aguila SuperMaximum CC – 30 Grains/1360fps @ muzzle/123ft-lbs @ muzzle

Is that really so poor compared to 132 and 128 ft-lbs the .32 cartridges generate?

Now we need to compound this with the price and availability. Lets also not forget that one can never expect to have a quota of more than 50 cartridges for the .32 but a .22 weapon registered under sports category can get you a much more relaxed quota limits. Plus .22 is easily available at most clubs for practice. SD situations are all about practice, practice and more practice to the point where one does not need to think and motor memory takes over the most critical tasks. How good can one get with just 50 practice shots in a year?

To me I’m much happier with a .22 any day because I know ammo is cheap and I can practice till the point I am sure I can put the bullet where I want to. Now that is a feeling which is much more reassuring that having the biggest magnums in my pocket with which I have almost no practice.

Considering that we can only buy 50 cartridges a year, I don't even think the price is relevant in our context. I mean if you can afford a gun in India, you can afford the bullets. Even at 100 bucks a pop for the 32, it is only only going to run you 5 K a year. I mean, price of bullets should not be a great concern when looking to buy a Gun. Availability of rare cartridges, I can understand.

And as far as stopping power goes, I am not even sure how much better a .32 will be over a .22, but hundreds of victims have lost their lives on both the 22 and the 32.
So it all comes down to practice (Sports category of 22). If you can put a bullet though the eye, I think any calibre is good enough.

Skyman wrote:As a daily carry, is a .22 LR or a .32 Acp more preferable? At ranges of say 15-20 yards, a pistol in which cal would be cheaper to own and practice with?

skyman, for a self defence purpose bigger the cal better it will be..32cal will have more stopping power than .22 cal but i dont believe a .22 cal is inferior in the hands of a good marksman.When we are talking about .22 vs .32, pistol vs revolver opinion varies from person to person.... more than this finally the person behind the gun is important.Without proper training its not possible to shoot down an enemy during a SD situation when your adrenaline is very high.So my opinion is to enter into shooting with .22 cal and as you know its cheaper comparatively, you can shoot hundreds of rounds without burning a hole in your pocket (comparing with .32).If you are a member of rifle club you will get imported .22 cartridges around 15-20rs.

Regards
Renjith

BowMan wrote: Lets also not forget that one can never expect to have a quota of more than 50 cartridges for the .32 but a .22 weapon registered under sports category can get you a much more relaxed quota limits. Plus .22 is easily available at most clubs for practice. SD situations are all about practice, practice and more practice to the point where one does not need to think and motor memory takes over the most critical tasks. How good can one get with just 50 practice shots in a year?

Hi bowman i read your above post and understood all the matters other than this.Is there any restrictions in your state to take a .32 pistol for sports???.Its a center fire event in which .32, .38, .357 cal can be used in competition in India. Normally .32 wadcutters are used. Since its a competition cal you can increase your ammo quota from 50 to your requirement. Please correct me if i am wrong.

Regards
renjith

.357 mag is used in shooting sports? I want very much to know this.If so, can we increase the quota for .357 mag for sports purposes?

4. Center Fire
Competitors use 'centre fire' pistols (.32, .38, .357 calibre) to shoot precision and rapid-fire competition from a distance of 25 meters. The precision target has a 5 cm 10-ring, while the rapid-fire target has a 10cm centre

ref: http://www.indianshooting.com/index.php ... Itemid=413

Regards
renjith

Bowman, your energy calculations might be close but I disagree with your statement:

This is somewhat true but modern production methods and intelligent ways of storing has done a lot to reduce this gap. And I mean reduce it enough to make the .22 lr trump the centre-fire round in terms of cost Vs benefit.

What you have said is true to some extent but one still has failures with .22 LR. I've probably only ever seen two centerfire primers fail and that was 20 years ago from the same batch of handloads. I've lost count of the number of times that I have had .22 LR fail to ignite. Just by the way they are made, there is always a chance of uneven primer distribution in the rim.
Remember Murphy's law:"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong"

Xl what about the 7.62x25 Tok? Is it a viable alternative?

Skyman wrote:Xl what about the 7.62x25 Tok? Is it a viable alternative?

The Tokarev fires a round that has significantly better performance than either .22 LR or your .32. Definitely viable.
I have no experience with this pistol or caliber. I believe overpenetration with this caliber is an issue.
I believe Tim has a CZ 52 in that caliber, so he would be able to answer that question better than me.