For more "seasoned shooters", do you still shoot .22 or .380 handguns?

[Teachu2]

I had a PPK/S in my younger days, and bought one for my father. Both were lost in burglaries, neither of us replaced them with same. My wife bought a LCP because it's so small, and hates shooting it for the same reason.
We love the .22s a lot more since we moved to where we can shoot them safely in our back yard. We also can shoot 9x19 and .45acp there without issue. With four grandkids, we've expanded our .22lr collection to eleven rifles, five handguns, and three conversion kits. About 25k rounds on hand, mostly MiniMags.

[stormvet]

I shot a ton of 22lr, handgun and rifle. Why not fun and cheap, a lot of times on handgun trianing days I’ll end it with target shooting with a 22. I have five different 22 handguns, three semi-auto and two revolvers.

As far as 380 goes, not a lot. I have one 380 it’s a LCP II for deep cover and as a BUG. I’ll shot it at least once a month, but only 30-40 rounds to stay proficient with it. It’s not fun to shoot by any means, but it’s great for it’s indended assignment.

I went and checked out my shooting log for this year, so far 2,840 22lr rounds fired and only 290 .380.

[xxINKxx]

Yep. Integral suppressed ruger mk2 22lr.

When the round hits the metal target, its louder then the actual gun. It literally makes the hollywood "click" sound

[Tere_Hanges]

Nope, never owned a .22lr. 9mm is equivalent to .22lr for me. Everytime I even remotely thought about buying a .22lr I quickly decided to buy something else in 9mm or .45 or just buy more 9mm and .45 ammo. Maybe eventually I'll get a .22 pistol or longun but I have limited time as well so I'd rather practice to get better shooting 9mm, .40, and .45. I dont have time to practice shooting .22. You can practice shooting .22 all you want its still never going to make up for not practicing with 9mm, .40, and .45. The only difference is after shooting .22, you have less money and time to shoot other calibers. My primary purpose for practicing is so that I am competent to defend myself with a handgun. I will NEVER use a .22 to defend myself. I would use a .40 or .45 so those are the rounds I practice with. I'm not going to spend limited time and money practicing with a round I will never use to defend myself.

[Erion929]

No. If I am going to expend time and money shooting I shoot my match guns. If I want cheap practice I dry fire my match guns

Nope, never owned a .22lr. 9mm is equivalent to .22lr for me. Everytime I even remotely thought about buying a .22lr I quickly decided to buy something else in 9mm or .45 or just buy more 9mm and .45 ammo. Maybe eventually I'll get a .22 pistol or longun but I have limited time as well so I'd rather practice to get better shooting 9mm, .40, and .45. I dont have time to practice shooting .22. You can practice shooting .22 all you want its still never going to make up for not practicing with 9mm, .40, and .45. The only difference is after shooting .22, you have less money and time to shoot other calibers. My primary purpose for practicing is so that I am competent to defend myself with a handgun. I will NEVER use a .22 to defend myself. I would use a .40 or .45 so those are the rounds I practice with. I'm not going to spend limited time and money practicing with a round I will never use to defend myself.

[Tere_Hanges]

I’m in this camp, too, though I’m relatively late to the shooting game....so I never grew up shooting .22.

Never understood the allure of shooting 22LR to practice....maybe for plinking fun on a ranch or sumpin’....when it takes up time that I need to practice recoil and sight picture control with 9 and 45. I actually get bored with .22 after 2-3 mags, FOR ME, it’s almost akin to hitting golf balls on the range with nothing at stake.

Guess I just don’t want to dedicate money, time, and ammo to something that has no long term “value”....as lightcav said. Maybe if I lived in a rural spot where I could plink away aimlessly for fun......

.

Yup. I shot a .22 at my friend's ranch a few months before I bought my first gun. It was really fun but the whole time I remember thinking, I wish this thing was an M1 carbine or M1 rifle. Well now I just shoot M1s for fun. But if I did have my own property I could shoot on then yeah I'd have steel targets set up to shoot .22s whenever I could.

[Spyder]

Kinda silly to say there is no value in using a 22lr to improve training and subsequently, improve skill.

But, to each their own. Shoot, enjoy it, be safe. Whatever each person needs to fulfill those is all good in my book.

[DanGunner]

.22 (8 of them), .32 acp, .32 S&W long, .380 (3), .38 special (3), 9mm (2), .44 special
They are all fun to shoot

[45TacShooter]

.22 Yes! Fun to shoot, and inexpensive... win/win

[690 Enduro R]

I take my buck mark every time I go to the range. Very accurate and so much fun to shoot.

[colossians323]

love .22, got rid of my 380's. .22 is a great round to start people off with

[SonofWWIIDI]

.22 yes.

.380 only if it belongs to someone else. I don't own one and have no plans to buy one.




ETA: bacon, the answer is always bacon.

[Mayor McRifle]

Kinda silly to say there is no value in using a 22lr to improve training and subsequently, improve skill.

[rodralig]

I still have my 1911 GSG in .22LR. I take it out time to time to introduce newbies to shooting. (no .380 for me / just a personal preference)

With the small cartridge - accuracy drills become a challenge. Try key-holing at 7-yards with a .22LR. .... And that is the beauty of it!


_

[200Apples]

smak28

Hmm...I should take my .22lr handguns out next time and see if I enjoy them or not. Still have plenty of .22lr ammo in my ammo stash too.

Here is how it has played out for me...

It is almost ten years into my experience as a shooter of .44/.45 handguns and .30 cal rifles... and I am JUST BEGINNING to truly appreciate .22LR and it's increasingly-rare variations of .22 Long and Short. I was always a slow learner...

.22 LR is, simply, not only a delight to shoot but apparently a longstanding training tool as well as a very historically-significant cartridge. Who knew?! I now own three handguns and three rifles chambered .22 plus another lever action carbine in .22 Magnum.

I always bring along one or two of my .22s when I go shootin with my bigger bore firearms.