Recoil Reduction: Cartridges, .22 LR

Recoil Reduction for the Sensitive

There has been much blogged, podcasted, journaled, and generally published about the necessity to accommodate recoil sensitivity and how to do it.

Well, I have a dog in the fight. My wife is recoil sensitive. We've gone around a few circles looking at defensive handguns for her. And people generally shoot better with less recoil.

So, where to begin?

Cartridge

From the halls of infinite wisdom, for self defense, one must carry a service cartridge such as 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, .38 Special - and now, recently admitted into the pool of acceptable, we have TADA: .380 ACP.

But also from the halls of infinite wisdom we find: "The number one way to win a gunfight is to ... have a gun!" Well for the recoil sensitive, having, practicing, and using falls under the same stricture.

So, what cartridges are available for the recoil sensitive in a defense handgun? How how do the measure up, when minimizing recoil and distributing enough energy to stop an attack?

.22 LR (.22 Long Rifle)
.22 Long Rifle is everyone's favorite entry-level cartridge for new shooters. It's great for kids, it helps adults master the fundamentals without having to deal with significant recoil in a handgun, and it is traditionally cheap and available.

Pluses:
Low recoil.
Lightweight.
Cheap (though in the recent ammo shortage, it did reach 9mm price levels).
Available in a wide-range of handguns, including pocket pistols, revolvers, full-size pistols, rifles, and replicas of centerfire handguns.

Minuses:
Low delivered energy.
Less-reliable rimfire ignition system.
Dirty powder.

The .22 LR works best in double-action revolvers for defense, because a faulty round ("experts" say about 1 in 100 for quality ammo) can be skipped if it doesn't ignite. In a semiauto, you would have to try to strike the primer or clear the faulty round. But double-action revolvers are usually about as expensive as their centerfire cousins.

Stats (sample averages, source Ballistics By The Inch):

Credit: SportsmanGuide.com

Muzzle Velocity:
2.5" barrel, 851 fps.
5" barrel, 1052 fps.
Muzzle Energy:
2.5" barrel, approx 65 ft-lbs.
5" barrel, approx 95 ft-lbs. 
Available New-Production Handguns: Vast array of revolvers, pistols, pocket pistols, and derringers.

NEXT:  Recoil Reduction: Interlude At The Range

Service Lives

I saw on some show about cowboy guns that a drover might carry his guns for 20 years and never go through a box of 50 cartridges of .44-40 for a lever rifle and a Peacemaker. Well, that explains - in a round about way - why period-accurate pump shotguns have to be rebuilt by cowboy-action shooters.

I wonder what are the service lives of other arms. And what about parts' lives?

Cheap Gats: Evaluation, Taurus 22PLY

The Taurus PT-22 Poly (22PLY)  is a small, lightweight .22 LR pistol. It holds 8+1 rounds, has a hand-filling grip for its size, and is relatively cheap.

1. Low Price? I surveyed 5 gun stores, distributors, and metasites online for the price of this weapon online on December 14th of this year. They were Buds Gunshop, Impact Guns, Gallery of Guns, Hyatt Guns, and Grab A Gun. Because Galley of Guns (Davidson's website) features prices from gun stores all over the country, I selected the lowest price in my area. The average was $226. That is 13% above the maximum allowable price - for this exercise.

2. New Production? This gun is currently being produced in the United States.

read the rest @ Cheap Gats

Government A "Tragic Irony"

I wish it was simply amateur hour at the Administration, but the utopian vision in the White House is so deluded that they can't recognize that civilians will choose to protect themselves, when the state fails and avoids to protect the people, while simultaneously violating the people's right to do the same.

Progressive statism is a bankrupt ideology - always was. Glad to see the masses recognize it as such.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/10/wh-no-idea-why-americans-buying-so-many-guns/

Centralism Is Sexy, BUT ...

Centralism is sexy. It explains how people the world over could be drawn in by the damaged goods called Hitler. He was even popular in the USA for a while.

Rabid individualism can be sexy too. The mountain man. The ronin. The Marlboro man. The Equalizer.

Both sides are unrealistic and destructive, especially when they discount the contributions of the opposite extreme.

Where does that leave us?

No man is an island. But that doesn't mean the state is the arbiter of the vast gray area between collective and individual existence. The state is - unnatural.

New "Cheap Gats" Blog

In a completely arbitrary and unfocused way, I've created a new blog about cheap guns:

CheapGats.Blogspot.com first post.

Liberal Media Is Super PAC

“I know the Democrats have the ultimate Super PAC, it’s called the mainstream media,” Rubio said. “Last week, Hillary Clinton admitted she sent emails to her family saying ‘Hey, this attack in Benghazi was caused by Al qaeda-like elements.’ She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet, the mainstream media is saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton’s campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. […] But she has her super PAC helping her out: the American mainstream media.”

- Marco Rubio, CNBC GOP Debate, as quoted by TheFederalist.com

If so, then it is time for them to come under the scrutiny of campaign finance regulation, OR all such regulation should be eliminated.

It is funny to think that a major corporation would be required to register their advertising dollars as Democrat campaign contributions.

Oh, The Humanity!

Remember this! Politicians are only human, and the majority are just awful at being human.

Rand To Be "First Libertarian President?"

Way back when (1998), Toni Morrison labeled Slick Willy "... our first black President. Blacker than any actual black person ..." Well, shucks. I didn't know how spiritually "black" Clinton was, nor did I cringe as much way back then, when I first heard "first black president," because I hadn't paid attention to nor was aware of Morrison's full logical argument for such a label. Her argument was an equal-opportunity reflex cringe inducer and offender.

CONTINUE READING

Government Is "Illegal"

"The authority claimed by governments is unique because it is considered license to use force or coercion against peaceful people. There is simply no way around it: government is control by force." - from Freedom! (free ebook) by Adam Kokesh