Just recently I did a video on the possibility or viability of the 22 Long Rifle as a concealed carry and self-defense gun. It is the most comprehensive review out there in my opinion on the subject as far as actual real-life tests using the 22 Long Rifle, and everything from the ballistic gel, water, melons, hams, chickens, even a bobcat, and even a cow.
I think I prove with right ammo the 22 can be an effective and more of an option than most of you would think. It is not to suggest in any way shape or form, in this universe or any other universe that it is the best option, but more of an option than most of you might think. With that said, what is then the best gun for concealed carry and self-defense in a 22? Aside from the issue of lack of energy or stopping power the biggest concern and maybe even more is the reliability concern of Rimfire ammo, we will put that to the test too.
I have done many reviews on the 22 Long Rifle as a potential option for self-defense and concealed carry using North American Arms mini-revolvers, a couple of those Kel-Tec’s P17 here just recently, and Ruger LCP2 22. M Carbo is a company that offers after-the-market components to increase the quality and reliability of guns just like the LCP2 and other 22 pistols, and I have actually done and used a lot of their components in previous reviews.
They installed all the components that they have for the Ruger LCP2 because we wanted to see just how reliable can we possibly make the LCP2 for the purposes of concealed carry and self-defense. Let’s put it to the test, let’s put 2,000 plus rounds through this in a torture test and find out what kind of reliability we can get. Check this out!
I’m Drew Case, welcome to Beyond Seclusion where I only give you my honest opinion, and it is what it is. From all the small pocket 22s that I have personally shot, Ruger LCP2 is the smallest, lightest, and most reliable in a semi-auto platform. It definitely fits in your pocket or purse without even being noticeable that it’s there, little printing, this hands down is my personal favorite for carrying, if I’m going to carry a 22.
Let’s start with the Ruger LCP2 Torture Test!
I already did a review on this, check that out for the breakdown and all the specific details of the Ruger LCP2. This review is strictly to just put 2,000 plus rounds through it and see how it does with some of the components from M Carbo in it. I also have a Viridian that they donated, the E-series green laser, as this would be in my opinion absolutely ideal, critical for something like this for self-defense and concealed carry. If you’re a really good shooter and you practice a lot these simple iron sights will work, green laser makes it kind of a no-brainer.
We’ll be using CCI 22 LR Ammo
Anyway, ammo is going to be critical in self-defense and needs to be not only effective but reliable. CCI is well known for their reliable and quality 22 ammo, and a special thanks to them for donating the ammo for this, it is quality ammo, in my previous review with the P17 I only had one, yes, one light primer strike out of two thousand 300 plus rounds, that is phenomenal, guys. If you’ve shot 22 Long Rifle, yeah, one light primer strike out of 2300 plus rounds, that’s impressive. In my opinion, it doesn’t get better than CCI for 22 Long Rifle ammo. Real quick, here’s what all M Carbo put into this and it didn’t break the bank!
Ruger LCP2 at the range
If you have not checked out the review that I did on the 22 CCI ammo for self-defense you are going to want to see that, you don’t want to miss it, guys, it’s long but I shot a lot of stuff, and you’re going to want to see for yourself if you have any consideration for the 22 as a backup or for self-defense. Guys, we’re going to do a time-lapse from here, there’s 500, 1000, and 1500, and I’ve already started on that, that will be 2,000 rounds. I already used about a hundred and some, getting the laser and just kind of having some fun.
What I’m going to do here is I will just pull these out, I’ll dump them, and I’m going to be firing away, I’ve got my other camera up there, we’ll show some regular time shooting, and then I’m just going to start stacking them as they go up here. And what I will do, I will put that one right here, any jams, any hiccups, anything, I’ll just start putting in here so you can kind of keep a running tally with me. Let’s go to time elapse on this one.
I really wish Didi was here for this review, but don’t worry darling, I saved some ammo so we will come back on our own and we will have some fun with this. I’m just going to test it out and make sure that it is good to go for you, I’m going to just hold these, I’m gonna do it one-handed, let’s get some ammo dumps going here.
I’ll try a little transition!
Before I forget, the UpLula, man I could not do this torture test without this little device, and if you do not have UpLula you need to get you some.
I want to use just the iron sights, green laser’s off, and we’ll just do iron sights.
This just iron sights, no lasers. I will show you though that I have sight paint on here, that’s on my Amazon page, highly recommend that.
Let’s go 25 yards!
Going up to 50 Yards
Let’s go to 50 down there! There was our first light primer strike, better put that in the box! Because I’m sitting here and I’m feeling lazy loading these, I thought, hey, what if I just lean over like this! I have to get up, I can just sit here and shoot all day!
Something I want to try is aiming with both eyes open, basically not aiming, but it’s really helpful with having the paint on here, but anyway, you hold up and you just sort of line up both eyes open. Let’s see what we can do with that, I’ve got another thousand rounds to practice, so I might as well be doing something useful here, let’s see what I can do both eyes open.
It’s definitely easier! If you’ve never tried this you should, it’s interesting!
Guys, I’m just short of a thousand rounds, I’ve got uh about maybe 70 left, but I’m actually kind of running out of time it’s a trapshooting day for my son so we actually got to drive back to town for the second round of trap. So far this is what I’ve had for light primer strikes, every single one of those when I put it back in and cycled it back through fired because I don’t want this to go on CCI, those were light primer strikes related to the gun.
I did only have one again light primer strike that did not fire off out of, I’m gonna call it a thousand, but we’ll have to round up on the next one, anyway, I gotta head out, we will catch up and finish this in just, well, hopefully a couple of days here.
Back for the final 1000 Rounds
We’re back for the final thousand rounds and plus, about 70. I’ve got a lot of ammo to get through, let’s get going, I’m gonna do the time-lapse. I’m gonna keep track here just like we did before and let’s get through and see how it does. I just want to do both eyes open again.
I just gotta say I absolutely love this little pistol! With the Viridian green laser on here, and just the size, the concealability, and so far the reliability, I mean I have had maybe about 15 light primer strikes, all of which end up going off later, but they’re not jams.
I mean it’s a quick, easy clear, but anyway this thing is just fun, and how fast we can transition is just crazy stupid fun, and I’m not even aiming, I’m just you just the green laser, easy.
Actually we’re over 2 000 because I had about a hundred to get the laser zeroed before I even started on the 2000, but we’re over 2 000 rounds and this is what we’re still able to do at 25 yards.
I would say that it held zero really well, I mean enough that we’re not having any issues at all!
Guys, this is the last of the 2 000 rounds, actually it was a little bit more, but as far as what we got here this is the last of the 2 000 rounds. There you go, 2 000 rounds!
We just fired over 2000 rounds with the Ruger LCP2
Out of the 17 light primer strikes we had a total of six that wouldn’t go, that’s really not too bad, that’s actually a few more than I had with the P17. I’m not sure if the firing pin on this maybe just doesn’t quite hit as hard as the P17, but we also didn’t have any jams with this, all we had was 17 light primer strikes that basically all we had to do was clear and it was done.
Wrapping it up
To wrap it all up, we got through 2,000, I actually had another box or two, I can’t remember before I started this 2,000, so technically it’s like 2,200, but here is 2,000 that we brought back here, and this is all we had for issues, there was six there that just did not fire, hit them a couple of times and then these were the other light primer strikes, and they all went when I put them back in.
Did not have a single jam, did not have anything as far as a light primer strike in which all I did was rack the slide and it was ejected, did not have any failure to eject other than the light primer strike, and didn’t have any of the other kind of where the shell casing stopped it, where I had to really stop shooting other than just simply pull the slide back in business. The Viridian held true all the way through, it’s spot on. Guys, this is an absolute pleasure to shoot, I love it.
For some this may be unacceptable, for me that is more than acceptable, especially considering it’s a 22 and we didn’t have jams, but anyway, that’s for you to decide, here’s the data, here’s the facts, you saw it, you decide what you think, it is what it is.
The best way to compare this was to do 2 000 rounds with the Ruger LCP2 from the factory, and then another 2 000 rounds after sending that to M Carbo, but that’s not how I did it. I do think that the modifications helped, you definitely can’t go wrong with the stainless steel spring, guide rod. The trigger I do enjoy, I like having the flat trigger, it feels good. Anyway, it is what it is.
There you have it, it is what it is, you decide what you think. I hope you enjoyed the review, found it helpful. If so, help support the channel, be sure and hit that subscribe button, guys, it really does help the most, be sure to like and comment.
Until next time, happy shooting, remember educate our young people to shooting and gun safety, for that matter educate everybody to gun safety, and also every time that we’re out, we’re shooting, everybody’s watching us, all eyes are always on us. That makes you and me ambassadors for the Second Amendment, so please, be a good ambassador for the Second Amendment, be a safe and responsible gun owner.
