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 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 P17, here just recently, and Ruger’s LCPII 22.M Carbo is a company that offers after the market components to increase the quality and reliability of guns, just like the LCP II 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 LCP II because we wanted to see just how reliable can we possibly make the LCP II 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’s LCP II 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. My wife has shot this a lot and she likes it, we were back here doing some work with the P17 and she was talking about jogging, biking, hiking, and this would be her number one choice as long as it’s reliable and as far as the ammo, in the review that I did, it’s definitely viable. What I want to do now is I want to torture tests and see how many rounds we can get through it, what kind of reliability can we actually expect with quality ammo.
I already did a review on this, check that out for the breakdown and all the specific details of the LCP II, 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 really good shot and you practice a lot these simple iron sights will work, green laser makes it kind of a no-brainer. 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 2300 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 Cargo put into this, and it didn’t break the bank.
Ruger LCP II Extra Power Recoil Spring – 22LR Only
Ruger LCP/LCP II Extra Power Mag Release Spring
Ruger LCP II & LCP MAX Short Stroke Flat Trigger
Ruger LCP/LCP II Stainless Guide Rod
Ruger LCP II Trigger Spring Kit
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 time lapse from here, so you can see there’s 500, 1000, 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, you can see there. 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 lapse 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.
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 lasers 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.
Let’s go 25 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, you know, hey, what if I just lean over like this. I don’t 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, as you can see on the time lapse, I’m just short of a thousand rounds, I’ve got about maybe 70 left, but I’m actually kind of running out of time, it’s a trap shooting 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, we’ll catch up and finish this in just, well, hopefully a couple of days here.
So, 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 clean, but anyway, this thing is, it’s just fun and how fast we can transition is just crazy stupid.
It’s just fun, and I’m not even aiming, I’m just using the green laser!
That’s awesome!
We’re coming down to the very, 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.
Okay, guys this is the last of the 2000 rounds, actually it was a little bit more, but as far as what we got here this is the last of the 2000 rounds.
There you go, 2 000 rounds!
Out of the 17 light primer strikes we had a total of six that wouldn’t go, that’s really not too bad, it’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.
To wrap it all up, we got through 2000, I actually had another box or two, I can’t remember, before I started this 2000, so technically it’s like 2 200, but um here is was 2 000 that we brought back here, and this is all we had for issues, these, 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 in back in business. The Viridian held true, all the way through as you saw, it’s spot on. Guys, this is an absolute pleasure to shoot, I love it.
For some this is 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 2000 rounds with the LCP II from the factory, and then another 2 000 rounds after sending that to M Cargo, but that’s not how I did, 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 okay 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.
