When I lived in Kansas, I knew a 90 something grandma that could shoot your eye out with her .22LR pistol. Dang scary accurate.
We put up a poster of a bad guy, you know one of those full length bad guy with gun type posters. Ran it out of 10 yards, and made a joke about what she could or could not hit.
So she says “Pick the shot”. My buddy laughs and says “Ok shoot him in the eye”. Grandma turned to me and said “Which one?”
Woman was DANG SCARY ACCURATE.
“Yes, and a semi 22 has little recoil and will stay on the target for another shot a lot better than the 44 magnum.”
I don’t agree with that at all. In the first place, who says a 44 magnum will miss on the first shot and it’s a fight stopper if you don’t miss? Second, have you ever shot a Smith & Wesson 329 44 Magnum? It’s my bear gun, and I’ve shown that all 6 rounds can be placed on target in 3.5 seconds at 25 yards. That’s hardly an incapability to “stay on target”.
Also, what if you do hit the target with a 22 magnum? Will that actually stop the fight? Probably not. You’re going to need multiple shots unless you can somehow sneak up on the bad guy and hit him in the head. In that case, just pistol whip him and don’t waste the bullet.