I've noticed this search phrase pop up on the sitetracker a couple times today, so I think I'll be a nice guy and give my thoughts towards the subject.
In short, only if you don't have any other guns. Or your only other gun is a bolt action .22lr, and even then, you may be better off with that one.
On one hand, .22lr is cheap, and cheaper ammo makes for more range time. They are also low recoil, so gun-shy people tend to flinch less, and follow up shots can be made much faster. And the S&W has all sort of rail-estate to throw lights and lasers on, which are good in a midnight home-defense situation, and is endowed with all the ergonomic goodness of the AR platform.
On the other hand... Gun savvy people know that the .22lr is far from a fight stopper. It can work, and yes, people have been killed by the little 22, but like many other things, why settle for "maybe" when better is available? The small diameter, 40 grains at most, often just barely super-sonic bullet just doesn't deliver much energy to your target.
More importantly, .22lr is notorious for mediocre quality control. It's pretty much a given that in any given bulk pack of .22lr, you'll have a handful of rounds with poor primer distribution and fail to go bang. .22lr semi-autos also tend to be very dirty little guns, leading to more reliability issues, and rimmed cartridges are always an issue with semis. Every semi-auto 22 I've used has jammed at some point, from the venerable 10/22 to the cheapest Remchester Walmart special. It's the nature of .22lr semi-autos. The last thing you want during a home defense scenario you'd want would be any sort off failure.
All that being said, for generally less than the cost of an M&P15-22, you can pick up a decent pump shotgun of some shape or form, load it up with 00 buck, and have a much more reliable fight stopper than you'll find with any .22lr semi. Just my $.02, and YMMV. My go to home defense set-up is my Sigpro 2022 with an attached light. Gives me a hand free to grab my cell phone so they can get there faster and clean things up so I can go back to bed.
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2 comments:
Good post. I agree the .22LR isn't the best choice for home defense, but would probably suffice in a pinch.
Interesting choice of HD with your Sigpro 2022. Definitely a lot easier to wield that one handed, over a shotgun.
Yeah, should have mentioned I also have a lasting wrist injury and sometimes wear a brace when I'm sleeping. With that on it's impossible to handle a separate gun and light, let alone try to do anything with a long arm.
As for the Sig, I figure if I can't handle it with 15 rounds of 147 grain +P hollow points, they should be enough to cover my retreat to the AR.
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