22 Magnum handgun loads, and considered the same defense loads as Shooting Illustrated. Lucky Gunner used a snubnose revolver to test.

Speer Gold Dot penetrated to about 11.7 inches and likewise didn't expand. Hornady Critical Defense 45-grain FTX penetrated to a depth of 12 inches, but didn't expand. Shooting into ballistics gel through five layers of denim cloth, CCI MaxiMag 30 grain penetrated to a depth of 9.5 inches and expanded about 45 percent. Shooting Illustrated tested a few loads using a NAA Pug in. Therefore, the FBI standard of 12 to 18 inches of penetration means the bullet will, in all likelihood, be effective on a human target if accurately placed.

Per a conversation I had with Chris Laack, head of handgun ammunition development for Federal (they do a lot of tests and get a lot of feedback from federal and local law enforcement agencies) it's about a 3:2 ratio a bullet that penetrates 12 inches in gel will penetrate about 8 inches in flesh. However, since people started doing gel tests, what's emerged is something of a correlation between performance in gel and performance on the street. 22 Magnum handgun efficacy.Д«ear in mind that gel tests aren't perfect, since gelatin is not a perfect simulant of human tissue. However, there is some testing information out there, which can give you an idea of the potential of. 22 Magnum pistols in the real world?ДЄny results from self-defense shootings, at least any that are meaningful (a few successful or unsuccessful instances aren't really meaningful) aren't known to us. In other words, it has about half the power of the most popular caliber for self-defense.Д«ut how much does this matter in the real world? 22 Magnum has less than half the energy of 9mm from a concealed carry pistol, as garden-variety 115-gr 9mm ammunition yields around 1150 to 1200 fps of velocity and about 350 to 390 ft-lbs of energy from the muzzle. 22 Magnum, with an advertised velocity of 1,050 fps and 98 ft-lbs of energy from the muzzle. Speer makes a Gold Dot Short Barrel load in. CCI purports the same load achieves 1,600 fps from a 6-inch revolver barrel, which would mean - per our back-of-the-envelope calculations - about 170 ft-lbs of energy.ДЄ 6-inch revolver basically means a S&W Model 648, which - it's a 6-inch K-frame - is not a concealed carry revolver. 22 WMR to 2,200 fps and 322 ft-lbs of energy from a rifle.

Energy ft-lbs remains around the same.ДЇor example, CCI's MaxiMag HP high-velocity load pushes a 30-grain. 40-grain projectiles will lose anywhere from 100 to 250 fps of velocity relative to 30-grain projectiles, and 50-grain projectiles will lose a further 100 to 250 fps of velocity on top of that. 22 WMR tend to produce muzzle velocities of between 2,000 to 2,300 feet per second with 30-grain projectiles, and somewhere between 300 to 330 foot-lbs of muzzle energy. Typical projectiles are 30-, 40-, and 50-grain bullets. Velocity and energy varies greatly by manufacturer and load, so take these as ballpark rather than gospel. 22 Magnum ballistics don't look impressive.but they aren't everything.

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