# .22 ammo?



## Huntinbull (Apr 10, 2004)

Anyone else use standard velocity ammo or "target" ammo for small game? (I use CCI standard velocity 40 gr lead round nose ammo for both squirrel and my rabbit sniping.) I love the accuracy, and knowing the ballistics from hours of target shooting, it allows me to be a better shot. My confidence is the deciding factor, i believe. 

What ammo do you guys use for target and also for hunting aspects. 

I used to use hollow points for hunting. The accuracy wasn't as good, but i thought the trade was worth it for the terminal performance. With the better accuracy, head shots (which are as "terminal" as it gets) are feasible. Even the occasional boiler-room shot has enough ooomph to get the job done. 

Well, lets hear it. 

Huntinbull


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

For simply plinking in the back yard with the boys I buy the large boxes of Federals but they don't pack near the punch that the CCI Stingers do. I hunt the Stingers exclusively and have used them to take quite a few groundhogs as well. As you know groundhogs can be tough to drop on the spot with a 22 at times but I have planted quite a few of them out to beyond 100 yards. You can just listen to the report from Federals vs. Stingers and clearly tell that the Stingers have more punch.


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## dakotaman (Oct 19, 2005)

I am right there with BKR....I am a huge believer in CCI Stingers. I also for plinking usually use federal. Better reliability and also seems cleaner burning than remingtons.


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## Huntinbull (Apr 10, 2004)

I used to use stingers also, but never got the accuracy i wanted from them. They hit hard and the light hollow point really did a good job...when it hit what I was aiming at. Flyers were a big problem with Stingers, at least in all my rifles. Some shot them better than others but none shot them tight. Just my experience though. 

When it comes to G-hogs at 100 yds, I get out the 22 mag or bigger. Haven't tried my 17HMR at those ranges on hogs but i bet it would work fine. I am a big proponent of "Use enough gun!" Never lost an animal to slight overkill, but have spent toooo much time tracking slight underkilled game. Even a groundhog deserves a quick clean death. Would you rather get shot, drag your wounded body any distance and then lie and bleed to death or be munching on a nice burger off the grill and enjoying the sunshine and then, BAM, St Peter is saying "Howdy, come on in!" ? 

Not trying to flame this. Sorry, if what i typed seems harsh, but only meant as my viewpoint, not a political stance or rant. 

Huntinbull


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

Yeah, I have been wanting to get a bigger rifle for groundhogs but I have not been able to convince myself to drop the cash yet for it. Someday I will do so but for now the Stingers work pretty well for me. I rarely lose them wounded even with that setup. I know that getting another gun would allow me to take longer shots. With my current setups I limit my shots to just a bit over 100 yards perhaps 120 max.


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

Oh and I have not noticed the inconsistencies that you mentioned in the Stingers but I will keep that in mind as I continue using them.


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## Smallmouth Crazy (Apr 4, 2006)

Im starting to get into rimfire again after being caught up in centerfires for so long, dont get me wrong I still love my centerfires, alot goes into centerfires when you not only talk about buying your rifle/scope combo but reloading components as well and then hrs spent at the reloading bench finding that 1 load that your rifle really likes, it was really nice to go out buy your rifle/scope setup, walk over and pick out 3 or 4 kinds of ammo fairly inexpensively and blam your shooting, back in the day I pretty much just used the Win SuperX stuff, it was used solely for plinking and not alot of effort was put into grouping or performance on game as I didnt hunt with rimfires, today my CZ 17HMR likes the Hornady V-Max, and my CZ 22LR like Augilia, I havent had a chance to work with my 22WMR yet, in the future I would like to hunt more groundhogs and squirrels with rimfires(I need to practice though ) there is a TON of info on everything rimfire at www.rimfirecentral.com


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## littleking (Jun 25, 2005)

standard velocity shoots 10x better out of everything i have compared to high velocity


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## Huntinbull (Apr 10, 2004)

Smallmouth Crazy,
You said 
I havent had a chance to work with my 22WMR yet, in the future I would like to hunt more groundhogs and squirrels with rimfires(I need to practice though )

I have found the best terminal performance and accuracy from Winchester supreme 40 gr JHP ammo in all my 22 mags. Great round. I get .75 inch or better groups at 100 yards 100% of the time from every rifle I have shot these from. I have tested them in my marlin 25m bolt gun, my NEF single shot, a Marlin 922 auto, a Ruger 96m lever action and each has given me the same performance. Devastating on G-hogs and coyote out to 125 or so (clinically proven so to speak). I used to use Remington 33 gr vmax but after several non penetrating shots (basically surface wounds with no wound channel past 1") I gave up on them. Yeah they drop less over 100 yards, but if it won't kill when it gets there I don't care how fast it shoots. 

Some guys use the 17hmr for groundhogs and coyote. I draw the line at G-hogs. Coyote are TOUGH animals and sometimes even the 22 mag isn't enough, so the 17 to 20 grain 17 cal is too light for my taste. I am by no means an authority, just a guy who shoots alot. Nobody has paid me to write a ballistics article yet, so keep your grains of salt handy!

Huntinbull


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## littleking (Jun 25, 2005)

i agree with bull, i dont think a hmr would do a great job on coyotes...


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