It was 42 years ago when I got my first 22 magnum, a Savage 34M. I paid for it with money earned from trapping. Back then the only ammo available, at least locally was Winchester 40 HP and 40 grain FMJ. I used both based on whatever was available at the time. It wasn't too long before CCI 22 magnum ammo was available, in a 40 grain hollow point.
I carried that rifle almost daily back then. It was rare for me to leave the house without it. We lived on a dairy farm so I always had a place to shoot and targets were plentiful. I shot truck loads of woodchucks out of our fields and the fields of the neighbors. Back then a kid with a rifle had the run of every farm in the area.
I shot raccoons, fox and coyotes as well with that little rifle. I pressed my luck on numerous occasions, taking 150 yard shots on coyotes. I never lost one but had a few long tracking jobs to recover them. It didn't take long to figure out that 100 yards was about as far as I ought to attempt a shot on a coyote, or a fox for that matter. The hollow points seemed to anchor the big dogs a little better than the FMJ's but they both worked.
I still have that little rifle. It still shoots tight groups at 100 yards and while I have flirted with the lighter bullets, none have ever shot better than the old Winchester 40 grain bullets. To this day that's all I use in it.
Mart
