Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Shot placement with .22 mag?

My son got permission for a patch of woods on the NC/SC border. It's right next to a horse pasture and the only stipulation is he doesn't use a loud rifle. We have a .22 WMR and that is legal in NC. I told him to just use that and aim for high neck shots. Is that ok or is the 22 mag head shots only for deer?

Headshots will be iffy if not placed just right IMO. I wouldn't hit any bone.

A 50 gr. will work on a double lung shot. But the deer will run a ways, of course.

I won't say you can't kill deer with a 22mag, but I sure would rather have something with a bit more energy behind it.

A CF with a suppressor is what I would do....

or a crossbow.

Yessir....

I knew a guy for a while that hunted a private ranch for our Blacktails. He and his buddy used a .22 Rimfire Magnum with standard 40 gr. HP's.
They shot nothing over 125 yds. out and nothing less than 3 pointer's which usually are 4 yr. old bucks.
All of them were killed with neck shots. All went right down, etc.
Be careful doing this. If the bullet hits high, the buck will go right doiwn. Then he will recover and run off. They seldom bleed much even from much more powerful rounds. E

It will work , ive shot deer on damage permits with the same stipulations. 22 wmr or .17 works at close range, I usually went with head shots but if you break the neck same results. Just seemed to me the head shot was a bit better target . like others said if you miss the neck bone you likely won't find the deer. like most small caliber guns blood trail will be pretty much non existent. Wait for a good close shot and he'll do fine.

To me a 22 mag has a very loud high pitched report, that carries a long way. I think I would prefer some larger slower bullet. I've handloaded some 7.62 x 39s for kids that seem to be very quiet at 2150 fps especially if you are surronded by trees. They were also effective on a deer at 75 yds from a blind. The guys in the blind several hundred yards behind us didn't hear us shooting.
Good luck on your hunt.

I've killed about a dozen with the .22 mag.. Always used the Winchester 40 gr. HP and kept the range under 75 yards. Most were under 50. Head shots always dropped instantly and most of the bullets went completely through the head. Lung shot 3 of them and of course they all ran but not as far as I thought they might. One only went 40 yards before it fell, one about 60 and one 75. In each case there was a nickel sized hole through both lungs. Found two of the bullets just under the hide on the offside ribcage and they were picture perfect mushrooms.

Load a 223, 243, or 308 with Trail Boss......

Here we go.....

https://www.loaddata.com/articles/PDF/LD-36%20Haviland%20LR.pdf

I'm itching to see what a .22 mag can do . My late uncle used to say he dropped deer as quickly with his .22 mag as with his deer rifle. I never asked him about his shot placement but I know he didn't take head shots.

A 22 mag will penetrate much better than I used to think so. I did some pretty extensive penetration tests back about 13-14 years ago.

I like the Federal 50 gr. JHPs for anything coyote sized or larger......

Shotgun slugs?

Butt of ear works splendid with a 22wmr.

I was thinking pretty much anything with trail boss would be perfect. I would use my 243 with a hollow point of some sort

Hogs are typically tougher to bring down than deer and we've shot many with the 22WMR. We usually use CCI 40g HPs, but the Federal 50g HPs are good as well. With neck or base of ear shots they are DRT. Rib/lungs penetrates enough to kill them as well, but they can run quite far and blood is usually nill.

I'm in agreement with others about loading down a larger cartridge, just be sure to use a projectile that's suited for lower Vs(Varmint bullets typically behave well).

Another option is a light loaded MLer. I once had a CVA that shot poorly with most pills, but shot surprisingly well with a cast 240g pill in a Hdy sabot over only 50g of 2F Pyrodex. It had very little recoil, a low report, and penetrated ridiculously well.

All our centerfires are carbines and loud as hell.

How old and how experienced is your son? Mine is 20 and 6'3" but I wouldn't have him shoot a 22 WMR for deer. He would hit the target and everything would be fine but I wouldn't put that pressure on him. I'd give him a .270 with the reduced recoil load.

He's 19 and he's a killer. When he shoots he puts the bullet right where he intends to. He's light years ahead of me at that age.

It can be done, but .223 easily grants so many more options.