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Old March 18, 2013, 06:21 PM   #1
Famas
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.22 short...what is it good for??

Last month at a gun show (a husband-wife activity/outing), my wife found me in an another aisle to show me her newest purchase: a tiny BUTLER derringer, single shot chambered for .22 short. In nice shape, she also got a box of 100 CCI .22short HP with it, all for $120.

There was definitely the novelty aspect which made me laugh at first sight - I had never seen such a tiny little gun. The barrel swings sideways to remove spent casing and reload. After a little research, I've learned that the barrels are made of pot steel....is it safe?

My question: What on Earth is this gun good for? I suppose under the logic that anything is better than nothing, I still must wonder, really?? What is it good for? Overly aggressive mouse? Cockroach on steroids?

Thank you!
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Old March 18, 2013, 07:13 PM   #2
Joe_Pike
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Quote:
.22 short...what is it good for??
Absolutely nothing...say it again, ya'll.

Seriously, though, I don't know about the gun itself that your wife bought, but a friend of mine bought a High Standard target gun that shoots .22 shorts and the target ammo he bought was pretty darned expensive.
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Old March 18, 2013, 07:18 PM   #3
alex0535
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More than a novelty than anything else with a tiny derringer .22 short. The little gun will have enough umph to most likely do serious injury and maybe nick an artery and produce life threatening injury if shot with it.

I can kill squirrels with .22 shorts out of my Henry.

Might make for an interesting variation on darts, a "parlor gun" of sorts. Try to be safe with it if you make the decision that shooting guns indoors is a good idea because it probably isn't.
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Old March 18, 2013, 08:34 PM   #4
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I know the Butler derringer. Bulter made some for Colt in the early 1960's and I have a few of them. Never shot one. Don't want to. I have one encased in lucite as a desk decoration.

The 22 Short has its place. Longs have pretty much dissappeared from the scene. CCI and Remington still make shorts. In fact CCI has come out with some lower powered 22 cartridges for use where primarily noise is an issue. Not everyone has a silencer for their 22.

There are still guns around that were chambered specifically in 22 short beyond the Butler/Colt derringer.

Quote:
My question: What on Earth is this gun good for? I suppose under the logic that anything is better than nothing, I still must wonder, really?? What is it good for? Overly aggressive mouse? Cockroach on steroids?
I don't think the gun has a lot of practicial use. But you don't need to insult it.
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Old March 18, 2013, 08:36 PM   #5
thallub
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My favorite squirrel gun is a Browning auto chambered for .22 short. The report is very mild. Pop a squirrel in the head and the other squirrels are silent for a minute or two. Then they go back to their normal chatter.
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Old March 18, 2013, 09:06 PM   #6
Dashunde
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NAA makes a neat little 22 short 5-shot revolver.
They also make it in 22lr.

I think of them as great back-ups to a regular ccw, or a primary for a 10 minute run to the store.
They fit perfectly in the change pocket of a pair of jeans.
Mine has been useful at extended family gatherings where everyone wants to hug.

Gramps used to use the shorts through a bolt rifle to take out squirrels that tried to eat the fruit off of his trees...in the city limits
Darn thin sounded like a good pellet gun.
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Old March 18, 2013, 09:09 PM   #7
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I feel like it would be a good final, last ditch, both my primary, and back up gun are disabled or out of reach, get off me gun.
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Old March 18, 2013, 09:24 PM   #8
Bill DeShivs
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Some Butlers had steel liners in the zinc barrels.
Some had rifled zinc barrels. The ones without a liner didn't have rifling for long.
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Old March 19, 2013, 07:35 AM   #9
Skans
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Although I wouldn't buy a gun chambered in .22 Short; My daughter and I shoot a lot of .22 short. It works just fine in her single-shot Cricket, and I prefer these low-powered, quieter rounds for plinking and teaching her how to shoot with that rifle.
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Old March 19, 2013, 07:52 AM   #10
leprechaun50
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22 shorts were used in the shooting galleries at county fairs. There used to be a bunch of Browning rifles in 22 short.
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Old March 19, 2013, 08:25 AM   #11
Rifleman1776
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In the 1970s I owned a gun shop and sold those derringers for $7.50 at retail.
The barrels were steel lined.
.22 shorts are great for training. I use them for dispatching trapped animals. Don't use many but they have their uses.
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Old March 19, 2013, 08:44 AM   #12
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.22 short...what is it good for??

I have a box of shorts still around and a box of longs. They are for a old Winchester pump 22 that shoots shorts, long & long rifle. It's a great rifle but always use the LR in it.


Sent from iPhone
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Old March 19, 2013, 08:45 AM   #13
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As a youngster we lived in town, and some of the best squirrel hunting woods were owned by an old farmer about a 20 minute bike ride from town.

That old fart loved to call the law on anyone poaching his squirrels. My neer-do-well Uncle schooled us boys in the virtues of the .22 short for those sniper missions. He just expected few to be taken to his Mom (my Grandmother) for proper frying. I will never forget the look of joy and pride on my Grandmas face the first time I brought in a half dozen bushy tails for her.

Seems no one hunts squirrels these days. No big time TV shows selling equipment on the Sportmens channel for them. No interest by the health concious to eat them floured and fried.

I own a woods similar to the old hunting grounds and it full of squirrels. I kill a few each season with .22 short. Sadly, the wife makes me fry them outside on the grill side burner so as not to "smell up" the house.
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Old March 19, 2013, 11:20 AM   #14
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I stopped squirrel and rabbit hunting because nobody wanted to eat them. Rabbits have the disease issue. So, I just pass. Squirrels in my yard are a nuisance and are rats with bushy tails. 22's shorts are the way to go if you aren't using an air rifle.
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Old March 19, 2013, 11:38 AM   #15
Glenn E. Meyer
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Since SW started with a revolver in 22S, somebody must have thought it was an effective weapon.

Of course, the nuance in those days was that any round that penetrated into you was capable of given you a life threatening infection, and thus to be avoided.
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Old March 19, 2013, 12:07 PM   #16
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I don't know that I would find a use for the derringer, but I use .22 Short for squirrels and 'quiet' plinking.

It doesn't take much power to kill a squirrel. .22 Short, .22 Long, or .22 LR... it doesn't really matter. But....

With .22 LR, I can fit 12 rounds in my Winchester 62 clone. With .22 Short, I can fit 19. One of my brothers has a Browning BL-22 that will hold something like 23 rounds of .22 Short.

Load it on Sunday, and shoot all week...
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Old March 19, 2013, 02:54 PM   #17
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Not trying to hi-jack the thread but......what is the effective range with a .22 short from a long rifle on a squirrel?
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Old March 19, 2013, 03:28 PM   #18
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I understand that some time in the distant past 22 short was much less expensive than 22 long rifle, so historically the purpose would have been to shoot a less expensive ammunition.
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Old March 19, 2013, 03:32 PM   #19
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+1 on those nasty squirrels
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Old March 19, 2013, 04:31 PM   #20
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Back when I first moved to Alaska I met a gun who made a dern good living in the Minto Flats area of the Tanana River.

Most of his take was shooting muskrats. During late spring is was daylight all night long and he would paddle around the flats and swamps shooting the 'rats.

He used nothing but 22 shorts. Less damage to the pelts.

They use to use (I think the rules changed now) 22 shorts for International Rapid fire matches. 22 LR had too much recoil.
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Old March 19, 2013, 04:52 PM   #21
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I got a winchester semi auto in 22 short, it has killed more hogs, cows etc than any other gun I have. Had 5 racoons get into the barn, the ywas up in the rafers hissing at me so I whip out the 22 and went to town on em. 5 shots 5 dead coons. All fall to my 22 aim is important, more so than a larger caliber. Thats what makes it so sweet.

See you go to a pond, throw in a bag of bobbers, the kind you fish with, use the 22 short to blast them. Gotta be right on or the bobber just jumps out of the water un hurt. To kill it has to be dead on. Do that then we can go get varmints.

Shot a feral cat in his ear he was like 150 yards out. DRT
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Old March 19, 2013, 09:58 PM   #22
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I shot a 22 short the other day thinking it would be quite. It sounded like a regular 22 to me.
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Old March 19, 2013, 10:12 PM   #23
kdemers58
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high standard makes a 22 shot only target hand gun that is olympic quality ' i have used the shots to dispatch many shunks in town not muck loader than a pellet rifle . all single shots will shoot the shorts
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Old March 19, 2013, 10:19 PM   #24
alex0535
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^Some of the .22 shorts are pretty hot little rounds for what they are, and are consequently pretty loud.

CCI subsonic shorts moving at like 710fps, they are quiet enough to be able to get a few shots off on some squirrels if they don't see you shooting at them. Sound is about like an air rifle.

Frankenmauser mentioned the extra capacity. When I load my Henry with shorts, I can put 21 rounds in it. I like .22 shorts for the reason I can put a whole lot of them in my rifle.
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Old March 19, 2013, 10:27 PM   #25
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I have 2 of the old Beretta Minxes (Model 950) chambered in .22 short. I don't carry them, but they are fun to plink with. The first was inherited after my dad passed away- he kept it as a carry pistol in a leather bank bag while at craft shows. The second was a 4" model I found after some scouring, and decided to add it to the collection.

Again, to answer the OP, I would personally not use them for personal defense unless nothing else was available. I have been getting .22 short Remington High Velocity rounds for fairly cheap, so they end up being fun plinkers.
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