[Safestuffer]

Any gun is better than none, I suppose, but I have serious doubts about using a 30 grain bullet at 750 fps for defense.

A .38 spcl 158gr. Round nose at 750 fps will bounce off of a human skull more often than not unless at an ideal angle, ask Jim Cirillo.

I doubt that .22 short will make it through the kind of muscles you might find in a gym....and into vitals. Muscle is dense

At the risk of sounding cliche'd,

Yea...a 30 grain bullet at 750 fps is more likely to further tick off some roid raging muscle head than stop them. I predict a complete lack of penetration and mild, shallow, non life threatening, non incapacitating wounds. Those are .22 caliber pellet gun ballistics.

Yes, it's lethal under perfect circumstances...but those are hard to come by in a SD shooting. If a body shot won't incapacitate, and the round doesn't have the penetration to get to the CNS, the gun is pretty much for show.

I feel the phrase "shot placement" is problematic to apply here. A revolver the size of your thumb ain't exactly precise.

If you do happen to end up shooting someone in the base of the skull with a contact shot to get the job done,
It might be tough explaining that one off as SD.

Take a piece of wet leather and drape it over a raw pot roast, shoot it, and compare the penetration to some of the pecs you see at the gym! Or shoot at a 1/4" thick plastic cutting board as a surrogate skull to see if it has the penetration to make a stopping CNS hit.