Originally Posted by Logansdad

Many people have the mistaken belief that a 2 1/2-inch handgun chambered to fire the .22 Long Rifle cartridge is superior to a 2 1/2-inch handgun chambered to fire the .25 ACP cartridge. These tests show that when you fire .22 LR from a .25 ACP sized handgun, you should expect nothing better than .25 ACP-like performance. When fired from small handguns, .22 LR is virtually identical in performance to .25 ACP.

We like to think of small automatics chambered in .22 LR, .25 ACP and .32 ACP as "shoot and scoot" guns. They're best used as a means to escape deadly danger. They're not gunfight guns.

Finally, the Beretta M21A, chambered to fire .22 LR, is not a good choice as a personal defense handgun. The reason is because the Beretta does not have an extractor. When a cartridge misfires, the firing pin swages the rim of the cartridge to the breech, and the faulty cartridge must be either pried from the chamber with the blade of a knife or removed by inserting a cleaning rod down the bore. If you're considering the Beretta M21A pistol as a personal defense weapon, we feel you'd be better served by choosing one that's chambered to fire .25 ACP.

If you're contemplating .22 LR as a personal defense cartridge, we advise you to consider a revolver instead of an automatic pistol. Rimfire ammunition has a higher incidence of misfire failures than centerfire ammunition. With a revolver, when a misfire is encountered, the problem is solved immediately by pressing the trigger again.