BERETTA TOMCAT 3230

[eljefe]

Chicky
Since you bought the handgun primarily for self defence, choice of ammo will play an important role
In my experience with a .22lr PPKs, a HP hypervelocity round is meant for varmint control of a 1 lb or thereabouts creature. Preferably from a long barreled rifle.

At 3-7 y distances, a normal velocity jacketed (if you can get them) or a solid lead 40 gr projectile will give you a better effect

[chicky]

Thanks eljefe,

Appreciate your advice, will follow it.

Best regards

[timmy]

chicky: Using a 22 Long Rifle pistol is like using any other pistol for self defense, only more so.

The limited power available means that the first requirement, bullet placement, is even more important.

Teh second requirement, penetration, can be met using some ammunition. Consider this test that used ballistic gel:

https://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/the- ... led-carry/

When you get to the 22 LR table (be sure you didn't scroll down to the 22 Magnum table!), use the bottom half of the table for 4 inch barrels. The 2 inch barrel information is for revolvers and won't apply to you.

You see that three cartridges consistently were able to achieve 12 to 18 inches of penetration, which should be what you are looking for regarding performance. There may be other loads that will work, but the three shown, Winchester 37 grain Varmint HE, CCI 40 grain Velocitor CPHP, and Federal 40 grain Champion LRN would be ones I would look for.

The 32 grain CCI Stingers would not be what I'd want. I consider these as being for rifles, not handguns. What CCI did was to use a lighter bullet, which is shorter, to have a longer case for more powder. Remember that the bullet and the case are the same diameter in a 22 LR, because a "heeled" bullet is used. This extra powder allows for higher velocity in a long rifle barrel where the powder has a chance to burn completely, but it doesn't in a short barreled handgun and offers no advantage, which this test confirms.

Another thing to think about is bullet shape. This does matter for higher power pistols, like 9 x 19 mm, but whether it would matter with the low powered 22 LR, I can't say. The idea is that the round nose bullets can hit something hard in the target and because of the round nose, can ricochet inside the target and head who-knows-where. Self defense bullets in a revolver often have a wide meplat, or flat area on the front of the bullet. When these hit something hard, they will tend to keep going in the same direction, rather then heading off unpredictably. For a pistol, such bullets can cause feeding issues, so autoloaders use the "truncated cone," which has sloping sided bullets. This eases feeding from the magazine and up the feed ramp and into the chamber.

Whether this truncated cone design would be better for a 22 LR, I can't say, although there are some loads with these kinds of bullets.

Luckygunner, at the end of the 22 LR section, says:

So before you decide to load something up in your carry gun, test a couple of boxes of it and make sure it runs in your .22.

Given that 22 LR in autoloaders can have issues, I think that this is safe advice.

Also, I would recommend as much practice as you can and use every last bit of ammo you are allowed under your quota, so that you can have some confidence of hitting what you intend to hit.

[chicky]

Thanks for your advice, Timmy . Appreciated

[timmy]

Thanks for your advice, Timmy . Appreciated