I’m afraid I have to throw in with the anti-.22 mag crowd. I love my Ruger SR22 for target practice, and have even carried it concealed a time or two—mostly when I felt my .45 would be too bulky. But I realize it doesn’t have a lot of stopping power. .22 mag is just too odd a round to be practical.
If I either had it to do over, or had another $600 to burn, I would go with the Kahr Arms PM9. I got a chance to try one at my local range and was astonished at how accurate the little thing was. Very concealable, and the 9MM round has adequate stopping power. I didn’t think I would shoot another handgun that had the accuracy of my 1911, but the Kahr convinced me.
As for rifles, again I like the .22 for inexpensive target practice. For home defense I prefer shotguns, and love practice on clay pigeons.
The only reason I would say no to the .22 is not because of stopping power. I have never met a person yet who would volunteer to stand in front of me shooting a .22. A .22, well placed, will kill most men. Make no mistake about that.
However, because it is a rimfire caliber, they are notoriously unreliable. My carry guns will all be centerire guns, whether it is my Kimber Ultra 45 ACP, my Sig P238 in .380, or my FiveseveN in 5.7 x 28 (essentially a variant of the .22 going at rifle speeds).