.22 Centerfires on Medium to Large game

[Victor3Ranger1]

Trying to determine what percentage of opinions on .22 centerfires on medium and large game are based on actual experience doing so vs conjecture or intuition.

Definitions:

Good shot placement: putting a bullet through heart and/or both lungs.

Good bullet: said bullet will penetrate to reach heart and/or lungs with adequate expansion to disrupt function of said organs.

I am not sure I want to answer that question lol .
A 22 is a very deadly round and can kill lots of large things. It’s all about bullet placement meaning head shots only.
Oops I miss read, I didn’t see the centerfire part, my comment is for rim fire

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

..back in the day my .22/250 loaded with the original 50 grain X-bullet would completely destroy the chest cavity of an eastern whitetail at 3700fps...never lost a single deer I hit with it....my grandchildren are using a .223 loaded with 55 grain v-maxes, deadly on side lungs shots but not nearly as much as the original x-bullets..

 

[Victor3Ranger1]

..back in the day my .22/250 loaded with the original 50 grain X-bullet would completely destroy the chest cavity of an eastern whitetail at 3700fps...never lost a single deer I hit with it....my grandchildren are using a .223 loaded with 55 grain v-maxes, deadly on side lungs shots but not nearly as much as the original x-bullets..

My grandkids all started with 223, one with 55g Nosler hunting BT’s and another load with 62g Barnes TTSX. Haven’t lost one yet but I also don’t let them shoot past 250yds.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

We gave up on 22s in BR mostly because they are more finicky and the wind beats them up. Keep in mind, we just need to poke a hole in paper. And you still wont see them on the 600 or 1k line. This small caliber stuff is fine for some things but not all. Deer to midrange is one thing. Elk at long range or even close range is another. Yes, you all can site examples of times it works. But no one talks about the times it didnt. Shooting a 30 cal is not that tough. If you cant shoot a medium sized magnum well its due to lack of practice. To read the wind takes far more practice than that. So you down size the round to make it easier to shoot but increase the hard part which is reading wind. If you cant shoot enough to handle the magnum, you definitely are not shooting enough to learn the wind.

 

[Varmiter71]

In P. O. Ackley book, he talks about shooting donkeys with the 220 swift.
Personally I have shot a dozen deer with a 223 rem between 200 and 400 yards, 4 with the 22 creedmoor between 300 and 400 yards and have never lost one.
In contrast I shot the same number with my 300 Dakota and lost 3 ( most of the time we were following a trail of bone and blood until they both ran out

 

[69precision]

I think it's time you Nancy Boys quit shooting your wife and kids rifles and grow a pair and start shooting a real big game caliber

All you guys using magnums on whitetail deer when a 223 will kill them easily should ask yourself what you are compensating for

 

[Nimrodmar10]

All you guys using magnums on whitetail deer when a 223 will kill them easily should ask yourself what you are compensating for

Old age and poor eyesight ;-)

Luckily, here in Tennessee, we've got so many deer, you can almost just point your rifle into the woods and hit one. Last time I looked, we can shoot 3 does per day for the four months of the deer seasons.

 

[cajun]

We gave up on 22s in BR mostly because they are more finicky and the wind beats them up. Keep in mind, we just need to poke a hole in paper. And you still wont see them on the 600 or 1k line. This small caliber stuff is fine for some things but not all. Deer to midrange is one thing. Elk at long range or even close range is another. Yes, you all can site examples of times it works. But no one talks about the times it didnt. Shooting a 30 cal is not that tough. If you cant shoot a medium sized magnum well its due to lack of practice. To read the wind takes far more practice than that. So you down size the round to make it easier to shoot but increase the hard part which is reading wind. If you cant shoot enough to handle the magnum, you definitely are not shooting enough to learn the wind.

This^^^^^

 

[Varmiter71]

I new a guy that shot 1k matches with a 22-6mm rem

 

[FireFlyFishing]

Another small bore big game thread…

 

[Keystone7mm]

I have only taken 7 deer in 22 caliber with my 220 swift shooting 52 grain Nosler CC's. None of them made it further than 50 yards. All shots were under 300 yards.

I've shot deer with my swift, 243, 25-06, a buddy's 270, my 30-06, and 7 Rem Mag. All killed well. I have no problem with people shooting deer with a 22 cal. Having said that, I carry my 7mm now, just because it is my favorite rifle and I'm most comfortable with it at short, mid, and long range. You never know what kind of opportunity will present itself.

 

[WildBillG]

Let me start by saung I agrre with Alex Wheeler. now I will ask you guys to go to the Berger web site and find me a 22cal bullet in the hunting bullets secrion. You won't. Is that maybe because Berger does not want a false advertisung lawsuit on their hands. Time to think.

 

[waspocrew]

Let me start by saung I agrre with Alex Wheeler. now I will ask you guys to go to the Berger web site and find me a 22cal bullet in the hunting bullets secrion. You won't. Is that maybe because Berger does not want a false advertisung lawsuit on their hands. Time to think.

False advertising lawsuit?

Berger also doesn’t list the 215 hybrid as a hunting bullet although truckloads of game have been taken with that projectile.

Nosler seems to think a 223 and 70 gr Accubond is adequate for “deer size game”.

 

[Gpkhill2]

Not my first choice but they will work. My nephew killed his first whitetail at about 175 yards with a 222 and 55 grain BT. It ran about 50 yards and piled up. I know a guy well that’s killed a truck load of deer with a 204 Ruger and factory Hornady ammo.