Why do they even make .22 ammunition?

[SandyCat]

I'm not a gun nerd so I don't know much about guns, I just have some old .22 rifle my dad got me many years ago to shoot at cans but I always wondered why they made such tiny bullets. What's their intended use case if they have virtually no stopping power?

Bonus meme: do they make ammo even smaller than a .22? Are there comically tiny bullets out there in the world?

 

[Historical Strelkov]

.22 is a varmint round.

 

[Otis Mallebrok]

They can ve used for lots of things. Shooting at cans, targetshooting, hunting small animals like rabbits and such. Guns in .22 are small, have very little recoil, and makes very little noise. Biathletes use them.

 

[RacistComputer79]

hunting small game, like squirrels. You don't want a squirrel pulverized by a .223 rifle round.
(edit: depending on your load, i suppose an underloaded .223 with less power can still be used)

bonus meme: the kolibri pistol has 2mm ammo. it is basically useless.

 

[SandyCat]

2mm

 

[Justice Tony]

It's the only caliber small enough for women to be able to handle.

 

[Meat Target]

It's a cheap, fun little practice caliber. But don't underestimate it. A plurality of murders are committed with it.

 

[ForgedBlades]

So I can shoot groundhogs and racoons out of my kitchen window.

 

[Skitarii]

Indians and pakis need a calibre that won't rip their arms off

 

[Nicholas Gur]

9mm is overkill for most children's skulls.

 

[dick brain]

I can't quote my previous post about it because Josh is a retard who can't code but tl;dr 22lr is a longstanding go-to for assassinations because

1. it has enough power to enter the skull but not exit, causing it to ricochet around the inside of the skull and turn the brain into swiss cheese, which obviously increases the likelihood of lethality and also deforms the bullet making ballistic evidence extremely unreliable
2. the lack of an exit wound means its a very clean kill and unlikely to leave physical evidence like arterial spray on the shooter
3. 22lr is often subsonic which means it's quiet even without a suppressor; when suppressed it's easily mistakable for run of the mill city noise
4. 22 handguns are dirt cheap, widely available and easily concealable

The mob and glowniggers have been doing it for ages at a scale that would make your head spin if you cared to know the extent but suffice to say it has a purpose.