by Spider » Sat Aug 25, 2012 11:27 pm
At 30 yards very nearly anything out of any rifle is deadly. Hell, plenty of air rifles are fully lethal at that short a range if the hit is good.
When people talk about being "pissed" when shot with a .22, they are being facetious. Is the cartridge useful for killing anything larger than small game? Nope. Is it useful as a defensive weapon? Yes, if you are a good shot and don't have a need to make absolutely certain the other guy goes down immediately by blowing him the hell away with a .45 or better. (Otherwise known as stopping power) Having put thousands of rounds through my .22 pistol, I feel extremely confident I could do some serious damage with it if its all I had. Would drop it like a rotten apple in favor of the .45, bear in mind.
Makes a great target cartridge though. Cheap and fun to shoot.