What is smaller than a mouse gun?
One of America's greatest philosophers, USMC Col. Jeff Cooper, was famous for observing that you should not shoot someone with a .25 ACP pistol because "if he finds out about it, he might get mad." The near non-existent stopping power of the .25 ACP long ago earned the pistols chambered for it the nickname mouse guns. About the only thing as feeble as the .25 ACP is the .22 Short ... until now, that is.
A Minneapolis gun dealer has announced he is producing an electrically ignited, double barrel, muzzle loading shotgun of .177 caliber. It is designed to be loaded with seven standard BBs in each barrel. Dimensionally, the gun is the size of a credit card and about .5" thick.
This is about the dumbest thing I have heard of in a long, long time. As a personal self-defense weapon, it might be serviceable for use against mosquitoes.
USATODAY.com - Minn. store debuts credit-card-sized gun
posted by J. Keen Holland @ 4:33 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
A .22 caliber bullet to the head is always fatal. I have seen a .38 go through and through and the person survived. The problem with smaller caliber bullets is that they have enough force to go into the brain, but then lose enough force to exit. Instead, they tend to bounce around in the skull, effectively turning the brain into a grey puree.
In 10 years as a Trauma Technician in a major trauma center, I have never seen survivor of a .22 caliber head shot. Do some research on Mafia hits and their gun of choice, it will surprise you.
And a .22 was enough to take the life of Del Shannon.
Thanks for visiting and commenting. As I said in my first post here, you need to read carefully. I referred specifically to the .22 Short. There are four basic configurations of .22 caliber rimfire cartridges: .22 Short, .22, .22 Long Rifle (LR), and .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (WMR). Any of these may be encountered as rifle or handgun ammo. As the names suggest, the diameters are the same, but the cases are progressively longer which allows both longer (therefore, heavier) bullets and heavier powder charges driving those bullets at greater velocities. There are also several centerfire rifle cartridges with approximately .22 diameter bullets which are of much greater lethality.
Your comments about lethality of head wounds from .22 rimfire ammo would apply to LR and WMR but certainly not to .22 short. Of all the .22 rimfires, the LR is the most common in both handguns and rifles. The .22 LR is popular with certain criminals for close range killing because it has enough punch to penetrate reliably, doesn't make a lot of noise, and can be fired from relatively inexpensive guns which are used for one job and thrown away.
When encountered, the .22 short is most often found in revolvers because it allows a very short cylinder which aids concealability. It is also sometimes used by farmers in rifles or handguns for short range work on small varmints (rats, pigeons, etc.) since its low power minimizes danger from ricochets or through and through shots.
I recall a domestic incident in Charlottesville, VA about 1970 in which the wife emptied a revolver loaded with .22 shorts into the head and neck of her husband and his most serious injury was the loss of a few teeth, since she managed to miss any major blood vessels, eyes or other particularly vulnerable spots.
All firearms must be treated with care and respect. But there are some loadings which are of virtually no use for defensive purposes (that is quickly stopping the fight) even though they may be capable of killing.
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