The nature of rimfire cartridges having the primer in the rim of the case makes consistent ignition harder than a centerfire cartridge, like .380. Further, and more importantly, the expansion and penetration capable from a relatively larger (but still small) cartridge like .380 is substantial for killing people or animals.
Bigger boolit, more energy, (theoretically) better terminal ballistics than .380, though this is all napkin math on my part, I wouldn't say I'm an expert on the matter.
1. Larger Diameter bullet (9mm vs 6.35mm), both cartridges struggle with expanding, however even well expanding .22 ammo still won't expand as wide as a non-expanding .380 (that Lucky Gunner test I posted earlier showed cci minimags only expanding to .32 inches, .380 is .35 inches in diameter).
I'll also chime in and say that if you're new to guns, it's pretty counterintuitive but a bigger handgun is going to be much easier to handle and keep on target than a smaller gun because of Newton's third law. (To a point, anyway. Don't get a Desert Eagle on the other end of the spectrum.)
We aren't complete retards here, give us some credit at least.
This is the big one - rimfire cartridges have spotty reliability at times which is something you do not want to have in a defensive handgun. However, if you do use premium ammo that concern disappears greatly but still something not worth risking. Also utilizing a revolver solves any ammo reliability problems but rimfire revolvers have shitty triggers (they need to be heavier compared to centerfire ones) and generally speaking you can get the same revolver in a better cartridge anyway (such as 38 special and God's chosen calibre - .327 Federal).
I've used both Ruger's LCP II and SR22. I feel like nowadays its really hard to mess up a .22 pistol so they're both perfectly fine for what they are.
I'm only glad I bought a Jennings J-22 as my first gun because I somehow managed to trade up to an actual handgun, it still had value in the age before the subcompact 9x19 boom.
rimfire lacks an entire manufacturing step and qc check which is why its cheap but its why people dont trust their life on it. its not unsound reasoning. I think 22 has a reputation for being unreliable because the most popular brands are some of the crappiest ammo on the market, and the loose pack bulk ammo is even more unreliable. every time i would buy a 500 jar of magtech ammo there would probably be 4-5 duds and i think i've probably shot at least 1500 rounds of CCI AR Tactical without a single primer failure.
Only micro compact I'd suggest for a new shooter is the P365 in 380 because it feels like shooting a 22, can be converted to 9mm with a slide and barrel swap, and is genuinely a lot of fun.
Way back in the70s-80s a guy was working on a pistol called the Piranha with that same basic form factor. They only made about 20 prototypes, most in common handgun rounds, but a couple were chambered in 9mm and .45 Winchester magnum rounds originally developed for the Wildey pistols. He never could get any investors and the whole thing just never got off the ground.
See, I appreciate the input but I'm gonna soft disagree wit you here.
For $100 less, you can get a mark 3/4; which has the same carry capacity in a more stylish and accurate luger design.
Plus that old lady at the liquor store still got scared enough to give up all the cash in the register?
