No need to guess, there are .22 rounds that are amazingly lethal. In fact I have read one study that was made of shooting records and the conclusion reached was that your chance of dying from a .22LR round was about the same as the chance of dying from a .44magnum round if you fail to receive immediate medical help. The .22 was rated deadlier than a .38 special which used to be the standard law enforcement pistol round. Of course you generally die more quickly if shot with a .44magnum but that just means your suffering ends a little sooner. The real difference is STOPPING power which is much higher with the .44mag. Some people don’t understand the penetration of a .22LR, it can go very deep.
My general approach to buying a gun is to spend as much on ammo as spent on the gun. Just to check things out after a short breakin.
22LR seems to have quite a choice of rounds, not unlike 12 ga.