Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires I Have A 22 Magnum Confession To Make!

I have a confession to make and I might as well do it publicly.
Back in early 2,003 (hard to believe its been 14 years!) I bought my first firearm in caliber 17 HMR.
It was a shiney finished stainless heavy barrel Ruger 77/17 V/T.
They were brand new then and I was a little trepidacious about this new cartridge.
It did not take me a month using the Rifle and cartridge at the range and afield to pronounce it an amazing, accurate, efficient and wonderfully lethal set-up.
I kept extending the range of that cartridge on small game and Varmints FAR beyond anything I had ever achieved with any of the rimfire cartridges I had used in the prior half century of use.
Including the 22 Magnum (and various prior similar cartridges).
Since converting then to the 17 HMR for my longer range rimfire uses I have completely foresaken the 22 Magnum - not bought one, not traded for one nor bought ammunition for the several 22 Magnum Rifles and pistols I already owned.
Its been all 17 HMR's all the time since 2,003!
In the past 14 years I have come across 22 Magnum Rifles often at bargain prices and I just snubbed my nose at them knowing how superior the 17 HMR Rifles and pistols I own in that caliber performed - and that performance is/was far superior to the 22 Magnums.
That policy held in force until a couple of days ago.
I came across a mint LNIB Browning T-Bolt Varmint model in 22 Magnum with a VERY nice wood stock and an excellent trigger at a bargain price.
I mulled over buying the mint condition Rifle for some time but finally succumbed to the wood, the trigger and the heavy barrel along with the desire to give the "new generation" of bullet designs that have come about in my opinion to try and compete with the 17 HMR (and now the 17 WSM).
I bought the nifty 22 Magnum - something I thought I would NEVER again do again in my lifetime.
Once to home I mounted a fine old Leupold 8 power adjustable objective scope on it and yesterdays short excursion to my "wind proof" range showed much promise accuracy wise as I did initial sight in and function tests.
Here in the next few weeks I will put the "new" ammunition I have purchased to test at longer ranges on Varmints to see if that performance has improved much over the last decade and a half - since I quit using my 22 Magnums.
I also want to try the new 22 Magnum ammunition on Coyotes to see if the lethality on them has improved over my previous experiences with it.
To date I have killed 3 Coyotes with the 17 HMR and all have been one shot kills - something I don't recall ever doing with any of my 22 Magnums in the past.
Previously it took two or three hits with the 22 Magnum to still a Coyote with much flopping and circling/spinning ensuing after the initial hits.
In the past, on this forum and several others, I have advised against choosing the 22 Magnum over the 17 HMR so I feel I should expose myself in a bit of hypocrisy publicly.
I am just a gun nut at heart I guess, and the the great wood, heavy barrel and great trigger on this Browning T-Bolt Varmint gun was just to much for me to resist.
Once I do 100 yard group testing on a calm day I will report back on the accuracy with the three types of ammunition I have on hand for it.
Wish me luck.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Sounds like a beautiful Browning. If you care to, please share a photo!

FWIW, the new generation of .22 WMR ammo seems to incorporate bullets designed like you would find in .223 cartridge- that is, non-heeled. Mule Deer wrote about this recently, touching on the theory that the heeled bullets may shoot better due to the heeled skirt on the bullet providing better engagement of the rifling.

Being a cast bullet shooter, that theory holds plenty of merit, and I am looking forward to investigating if this is the cause of poor accuracy with my Ruger 77/22 WMR chambered varmint rifle.

The plastic T bolts are pretty cool, too. Extra mag in the butt stock. I traded for this .22 WMR at Cabelas. It had the VX-3 2.5-8x36 with Alumina caps mounted as shown. I worked on the trigger and it's pretty good.

With FMJ ammo, it's a hog killer. Well, with FMJ's, the .17 HMR is a hog killer, too.

DF

I like the T-bolt for everything except the noise it makes when you open the bolt. Just a hair to loud for some hunting circumstances. Very minor problem.

Just don't miss...

Point well taken on noise.

DF

What is this "miss" you talking about?

I'll look it up in the dictionary to get the pronunciation.

OP did mention "confession"...

We'll see who mans up to confessing a "miss".

DF

I am also another "Why" on the 22 Mag Many many "Beers" ago I shot a BUNCH of 22 Mags and was never impressed with any of them either in the Groups they shot or their lack of stopping game. This was the Heyday of the 5MM which as head and shoulders above the mag.
While working at a Jobber we sold The H&R line and was always fascinated with the Model 700 Delux fast forward 35 years and I found one that will shoot most everything 1/2" at 50yds and CCI right at 1" at 100.
Going to try it on Spring Turkeys this season

Jim

owned a model 700 22 mag for many years. it was a tack driver w/a 3-9 tasco. stolen 28 oct 1998, not a clue where it went along w/several other guns. i kilt a ton of squirrels with it. it did have a creepy trigger.

I like my .22 mags.. Just picked up a 17 in a CZ late last summer.. Will do some shooting with both this summer. The bit I shot both last summer, the .22 seemed to thump P. dogs a bit better than my .17.. We will have to see how this turn out this summer.. Interested in what you find VG..

Think you'll find the new loads a lot better than the old on coyotes. Congrats on the T-Bolt, always thought they were cool.

Orion03: Thanks for the input - which 22 Magnum ammo do you suggest?
I have some Remington Premier Accu-Tips (I think thats what they are called - Accu-Tips) they are down stairs and I am tired.
Then I have some Winchester hollow-points and some Winchester FMJ's.
22 Magnum ammo is kind of hard to be picky about around here of recent.
Decades ago I remember shooting a big Badger at least 5 or 6 times with my grandpas Winchester pump (Model 61) 22 Magnum and that Badger still got to his hole!
Then about 15 years ago my youngest son shot and killed a big boar Badger with one shot to the throat with his Marlin Model 883 in 22 Magnum.
I have owned a few Belgium made T-Bolts in 22 L.R. and wish I had kept them!
Maybe the wind will die down tomorrow - its blowing like 40 M.P.H. right now.
One of my friends owns a T-Bolt Varmint in 17 HMR and it shoots extremely well.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

i've shot a few dozen coyotes & about a dozen hogs with the .22mag, and but only 5 i can recall with the HMR....maybe just random coincidence, but i had faster kills with the 22mag.

in .22mag i started using the Hornady critical defense, the speer gold dot, and various 40/45/50 gr loads...they seemed to kill large stuff faster when taking body shots than did the 30gr lightweight tipped bullet loads. I had better accuracy with the various jacketed bullet .22mags such as the W-W 40gr HP, the Rem 40PSP, Speer Gold Dot HP's, etc than i did with the plated bullet loads (CCI, etc), so most of them were shot with those loads.

killed this dog a few weeks ago with a .22mag, with the Rem 40gr PSP load...those will usually shoot through both shoulders.



Back about 4 years ago, i found a .22mag T-Bolt with good wood & had to have it....i take it squirrel hunting quite a bit when we squirrel hunt in areas where pigs are common. its the sporter, not the heavy barrel. It shoots great, but i have to kind of work at it to hold steady on targets, gun is only a touch over 5#, and the trigger pull is more than that....saw someone is now offering aftermarket triggers for these, that will be my next upgrade..

This is the one if you want a 22 magnum. It's a real game changer, at least for me it was. Weighs about 4 lbs with a carbon fiber wrapped barrel and literally STACKS bullets. Mine has a Bushnell crossbow scope on it, believe it or not. So far no issues with feed/fire and what a toy to carry, like nothing.

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/625124942

I went the other way 17 hmr sets in the safe and I use my 22 mags. more

I've gotten the best accuracy with the Remington Accu-Tips out of my A-Bolt and 10/22 Mag both. Don't know why as the bullets are probably the same as in a Hornady. Have had great terminal performance on yotes with these.

Orion03: The wind FINALLY subsided enough for me to get to the range today!
I tested two munitions at 50 yards after initial sight-in.
First up was the Winchester Super-X 40 grain jacketed hollow points.
They shot VERY well there at 50 yards with the only 5 shot group I shot today (in fear of wind starting up again!) with this measuring an impressive .44"!
Trigger was nice and crisp but a tad heavy IMO there over the benchrest set-up.
Then I barked a few rounds off of rocks and clay pigeon bits trying to season the barrel with the next ammo to be tested and that was the Remington Premier 33 grain V-Max ammo.
I can't remember where I got this partial box of ammo (40 rounds - maybe left-over from a guests Hunt?) anyway it shot VERY well also giving one group (5 shots at 50 yards) measuring just at .40"!
I did not want to shoot all of this ammo up as I did so very much want to try this "ballistic tip" type ammo on live Varmints.
In fact I headed out to my insurance agents remote "gentlemans" ranch to harvest some of his Ground Squirrels as I left the range!
I had thirty rounds of the Remington left and it was first up as I pulled through my agents corrals and parked the VarmintMobile adjacent to the fence dividing the corrals from his pasture - which indeed were infested with naive Ground Squirrels - I could hardly wait to load the elliptical magazine with the Remingtons (flimsy magazine as it appears to be!) as I was topping it off what should land on a fence post just 90 yards distant but a "flying nest robbing Varmint"!
Window down, window bag in place, T-bolt aligned, safety off, bam - splat - poof - feathers galore!
Dead nest robber.
Great start.
Now for a Ground Squirrel and the first shot was right at 60 yards standing Varmint - again bang, plop, DRT!
I took my Bausch & Lomb Zephyrs out to examine the carnage and it was impressive I don't remember missing a Gopher with the rest of that magazine full!
I shot up the rest of that box and started on the leftovers in the Winchester Super-X ammo box.
By the way there at 50 yards the difference in P.O.I. was less than 1/2" - all I had to do was add 6 clicks "up" on the newly replaced scope (the Browning T-bolt now has a brand new Weaver V-16 - 4 to 16 power variable with ultra-fine cross hair and 1/8 inch dot) and I was dead on again at 75 yards.
I finished up this box of ammo and am up in the air as to which ammo to go with during this early season.
The Remington ammo is SO expensive that right now I think I will forsake it for the Winchester hollow-points.
I wanted to try some 100 yard groups today but the range was very busy today due to the wind subsiding for the first time in weeks it seems.
No function problems at all with either ammunition, no failures to extract, eject of ignite at all - all day.
I did try a few 100 yard plus shots with both munitions and was running about 50/50 with both.
Once out of ammo for the 22 Magnum I quickly brought out the veteran Ruger 77/17 V/T in 17 HMR!
I have the exact same scope on my Ruger 77/17 V/T as I have on the Browning T-bolt!
And as I expected the flatter trajectory of the 17 HMR was quite apparent under actual Hunting/field conditions where virtually every shot is at an unknown or estimated distance.
I fired 100 rounds through this 17 HMR Rifle and found the "lethality" to be comparable (as reliable!) when solid hits were made but those solid hits were a tad easier to make with the flatter shooting 17 HMR.
I love the new Browning T-bolt Varmint in 22 Magnum - with the only possible exception being the flimsy plastic elliptical magazine - it worked well just felt very flimsy when loading and I am wondering how well it will hold up after being dropped and sat on a few times?
Hope to get some 100 yard testing done ASAP and will report back on that!
Over-all - great job Browning!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Fireball2: That is indeed a cool looking Rifle!
I have not yet owned a Magnum Research Rifle but have shot several of them, owned by friends, afield.
They have indeed been accurate and fun - the rapidity of second shots on distant Varmints and small game is a BIG selling point IMO.
Don't you find yourself though, wishing for more mass (weight!) when shooting at game from improvised field positions?
I know I do.
I have several "bucks up" friends who I have Varmint and small game Hunted with for decades now they have all bought, used and then sold Volquartsen carbon fiber Rifles in 17 HMR - ALL of them have sold those guns and turned right around and purchased the full stainless heavy barrel (heavier by a bunch) Volquartsens!
I agree the Rifles like you own/showed are a breeze to carry but the mass of the heavier Varmint styles are useful/helpful in the field.
Enjoy your Magnum Research beauty!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

FyrepowrX: That is a beautiful and beautifully furred Coyote!
Good for you.
I will look up that Remington 40 grain PSP load.
Thanks for the input and the great photo of that great trophy!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Just not enough time with it to know for sure. My thinking with the Magnum Research runs along the lines of a walkabout rifle for jackrabbits. I could see wanting a heavier barrel. But for now, this is it.