Ambush and defense are different applications.speedsix wrote:...I've seen over two dozen grown men lay down and die from the .22 short right there on the street...I'm a believer that it's lethal...when I was making a whole $500 per month, I carried a High Standard snub with .22 LRHP in it as my backup for about a year...till I could afford something better...with proper bullet placement, it's adequate...I wouldn't advocate anyone choosing a .22 rimfire as their primary...but I wouldn't do anything to make someone with a .22 rimfire to shoot me, either...never saw it "explode" anyone...but I've often seen it reduce blood pressure to a big fat 0...
...an unnumbered, unnamed group of family businessmen have used the .22 round for decades with great success, as have employees of a rather large Company...just sayin'...
An expertly placed head shot from a suppressed weapon (as the family and company organizations you cited often used) into an unsuspecting target or the less well known shot through a body orifice are well proven to be pretty much instantly lethal, and the .22 has been a favorite for that due to the low noise signature and small or no visible wound.
However, even though putting several small caliber rounds into a determined shooting or charging adversary will eventually ruin his day, there's a very high probability that won't happen before he finishes ruining yours. It could happen with perfect shot placement and a lot of luck, but then again it very well might not.
If that's all you've got at the time, that's what you have to go with, but deliberately choosing to rely on a tiny low power round for defense when better options are available has few advantages I can think of and enough drawbacks to make me happy to take the role of observer to see how that strategy works out for others rather than having those experiences myself.