My inventory goes from .22 LR --> 9 mm --> 10 mm -->223W... Grendel
Lately I was considering a 22 WMR because an ornament is in that chambering, but the math doesn't make sense.
Do you have a compelling reason why I would proliferate my cartridges... what does the 22WMR offer that makes it worth the proliferation?

I don't see it but am willing to listen to arguments beyond 'bcause.

They will penetrate a bullet proof vest, when most other rounds won't.

I carried one for years in my 4 Runner on cross country trips... I've put down just short of 20 deer over the years, that had been hit by a car or truck.... from fairly close to out to 100 to 125 yards.. shot between the eyes or thru the ear, with a 40 grain SP or FMJ.

Before Biden got into office, they were also pretty economical to shoot..

if you handload, a 223 can be loaded down to 22 Win mag specs.

Just get one and find out for yourself.....

Yep.. the old 22 mag was a constant companion growing up.

Well..I just bought one.

Reason: I wanted it.

I MUCH prefer the 22LR,if only due to long range superiority,due the absence of a Transonic Slip. Accuracy/Precision of the 22LR is vastly superior,as is ES/SD and exceptional fodder abounds. Hint.

A Hummer will shoot circles around a WMR to boot. Hint.

Pass the Vudoo 22LR and hold The Fluff. Hint.

The punctuation is plum flattering ladies. Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!....................

What are you going to do with it?

IMO, the 22 MAG is a niche cartridge with a pretty limited niche. That doesn't keep it from being a useful cartridge within the scope of its niche, but only you can decide it you're going to operate within its useful range.

Also, as with any rimfire, accuracy often depends on finding ammo that makes the best groups in your rifle. With a 22 LR you can buy match grade ammo from a variety of sources, but there is no source for match grade ammo for the 22 MAG that I'm aware of, so it is more of a crap shoot.

If you want to scratch an itch and have the resources to do so, what's keeping you from buying a 22 MAG? If you buy it and decide that you don't like it, you can sell it and recoup at least a portion of your investment. You will have gained some experience and experience is seldom free.

Everyone should have at least one 22mag. Great round. Fun to shoot…….

I sat here for a couple minutes and couldn't think of a good reason. GD

30 round capacity in that new S&W pistol seems like a good reason.

Owning a .22 mag will relegate any .22lr you have to tin can plinking duty.

It's superior at killing things in every way.

Buy one, you will like it fun to shoot. Look at the
CZ 512.

If you need a reason you probably don't need the gun! If I was a small game hunter still, my 22 mag would be my most used gun.

Raccoons,thousands of them. All the reason anyone might need.

“I want one!” is good enough. 😁

Exactly, have a Marlin stainless bolt, very accurate

Nice marlin 925. 22mag listed in the classified. Great gun

I bought them because it was the ultimate Jack Rabbit killer (had a H&K and still have a 10/22m and a Henry lever). Even though I no longer live in the west, the 10/22m is one of the last guns I would ever part with. It has underrated killing power and doesn’t require hearing protection. Although not match accurate, I’ve killed many a prairie dog and ground squirrel at 200+yards. It also holds sentimental value in our family as my boys killed their first hogs with them. The only downside is ammo cost/availability. If you’re diligent in looking for ammo, you can keep it fed. Cost is not cheap….but nothing is anymore.

I have had a .22 WMR for well over half a century. I've killed a lot of stuff (including deer) with one. Here is my take:

If you want a precision rimfire, .22 WMR is probably not the place to be looking for one. That's not to say that some of them don't shoot very well with some ammo. They tend to be ammo sensitive though, at least as much as rifles chambered for .22 LR, but without the incredible number of ammo options we have from which to find one that our particular rifle "likes." Also, they are too expensive do do much plinking with (at least for me.)

On the other side of the equation, they are much better at killing stuff up to the size of foxes, beaver, porcupines, coons etc than any .22 LR ever could imagine. I know, shot placement trumps all, the .22 LR is more accurate for said shot placement, etc etc, but under actual hunting conditions, for those kinds of critters, you don't always have the luxury of taking the time to set up a shooting bench, lay the gun across the bags, dope the wind.... The .22 WMR, IME, is one of those cartridges that just seems to kill all out of proportion to its size. I think that sometimes a cartridge design just seems to hit a sweet spot in that regard, and .22 WMR is such a cartridge. I've anchored woodchuck DRT at 150 yards with body hits. That would not happen with a .22 LR of any description at any distance. When I was young and we had many, many woodchucks, I learned very quickly that if you wanted to see them dead outside the hole, with a .22LR, it was head shots or nothing.

One place I don't much care for the .22WMR is in a handgun. It makes too much noise and you lose a whole lot of speed. I recently gave my youngest grandson a Colt New Frontier convertible I'd had around gathering dust for too long. I told him, the best place for that .22WMR cylinder is on a shelf in your bedroom. When I talked to my son the other day he confirmed that that's exactly were it is.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Yep, to all of that.

I love the cartridge. But I can't think of a good reason why you need one

CR 1948 hit it square on the head.

.......because you can't get 5mm Remington magnum shells anymore.

Google it.

Gentlemen, thanks for all of your valuable input. The ornament in question is the Ruger American Talo "American Heartland"... for some reason I like the idea of it. Ran across a used one in .22LR but I tend to like new so I searched, only to find 22 WMRs at the usual places. Unfortunately, this morning had a big ol' pile of FML waiting for me so this will need to be put on hold for a while I focus on sorting things out, keeping first things first... who knows how long that will take.

WMR remains very popular among no-internet forum types, especially those who work hard, actually kill stuff around the farm, and don't have time/interest/money to reload a Hornet or punch paper three days each week.

WMR is much more sudden and effective than LR, and you can point blank to just over 100 yds on middlin' sized critters like raccoons, woodchucks, fox, skunks, porkies, and (yes) coyotes. Interestingly, legal for deer in ME. Believe it or not, excess noise is a thing around farm animals. We go inside barns and shoot CCI Quiets all night. A WMR outside the barns is alot more animal friendly than the lowly .223.

Agree WMR is just a flash/noise-maker in pistol length barrels. Poor-man's 5.7, suppose.

I have a ugly cerakoted American in WMR, and like it lots.

'Course, it has a 6MQ on it......... 40 gr Win HP clocks 1800 fps from 18" barrel. It's a shooter, too, as MD has noted.

I ordered one just like ingwe’s. Gonna understudy for the nearly identical 5.7, which is pretty spendy to shoot factory in and tedious to reload. .22 mag ammo is about the same price as 9mm if you look around a bit, and in a handgun duplicates .22LR rifle ballistics. I’m hoping it is more accurate than the 5.7, which is pretty much service grade thus far, both factory and handloads. Tests I’ve seen show the 5.7 usually gets through 3A soft armor, even with VMaxes, but I don’t recall seeing the mag do so. Still, the power increase over LR is considerable, and most LR pistols hold 10, not 30.

Haven’t given much serious thought to a .22 mag rifle lately as I have a Hornet that doesn’t get out enough as it is, but sometimes rifles just happen…

Before Biden, try pre-Obama. Since Obama and COVID, crap has been expensive. I quit shooting my .22 WMR during that time frame at prairie dogs. I've replenished my stockpiles somewhat when Reeds was selling Speer TNT 30 grain ammunition for $100 a brick.

I like to shoot called 'cats in tight cover with a Remington 597 in 22 MAG. These shots are typically close, more coming under 50 yards than over, so being able to double or triple tap a 'cat at those short ranges without damaging the pelt too much is a nice to have option. A lot of people don't like the Remington 597, but the 2 597s in 22 MAG have been as reliable as the Ruger 10/22M that I used to own.

I also carry a 22 MAG revolver fairly regularly, either a Rossi 515 or a S&W 48, as the CCI snake shot loads are a lot more effective at killing snakes than any 22 LR snake shot that I've tried.

Someone mentioned the 5mm RM earlier in this thread. I have found that the original, long discontinued, Remington/Peters 38 grain HPPL load to be significantly more accurate than the 30 grain Centurion load in my Remington 592 and rebarreled 580. It would be nice if the new Remington ammunition company would bring the original 5mm RM load back as a regular, or at least seasonal, cataloged production item. Anyone who has shot 'chucks with both the 17 HMR and 5mm RM would likely tell you that the 5mm RM produced bigger wounds with the 38 grain HPPL load than any of the 17 and 20 grain 17 HMR loads.

I keep a shotgun and a 22 magnum at the back door. The 22 magnum is for pest control without the obnoxious noise. I keep it loaded with Winchester 40gr JHP. It's the smallest I still consider more than adequate for coyotes. It works great on beavers too.

I guess every rifleman should own a .22WMR at least once in his life, just to get it out of his system if for no other reason. If I didn't have .22 Hornets in my life that I've routinely loaded down with 45-50gr. cast bullets to .22WMR levels I would probably have one myself.

If I didn't have a life and had nothing but time to handload, I might go
the 22 Hornet route.

Need has nothing to do with it, you want one,,, buy one

For plinking a 22lr is a much more economical choice. But I like a 22WRM. It has a surprising amount of power. I'd get one if you want one.

Ah, but grasshopper when you're retired like I am and have worked all your life to be able to forego the rat race and devote yourself full time to your hobbies......

I’m loading $.10 and $.11 Speer bullets in mine, as well as in the 5.7x28. Plus, any component that’s been in hand for over ummm, three years is considered “free”.

Reasons? You do not have one!


That is the reason I employed, and this is coming from someone who has rifles up the ying yang....but no 22 mag. Now I have one.

A .22 mag lever gun makes a great everyday truck gun. Not much you can’t do with it, and much quieter than a centerfire.

We just don't have that much big stuff or far away stuff to shoot at here in Wisconsin, so the .22 WMR has been the perfect just rambling around rifle round for me in a peep sighted Savage 24H over a 3" 20 gauge. Not too expensive to shoot a few times and small enough for a crow, red squirrel or porcupine. For a close in calling rifle for a fox or coyote it works too. Being a rimfire, it is legal here all year long. WI. did have a rule about no centerfire rifles during certain months. It might not still be the case since we went state wide for rifles in deer season. Lots of dairy farms here and while shooting a .223 or something large might be safe enough, a farmer believes what he hears and a big boomer isn't welcome in the rural part of where I live.

A 22 mag is the deal. M77/22. Will put 3 in a dime at 50. Killed several coyotes with a 40 grain winchester hp. Love calling with one for more of a challenge. Some drop stone dead, some run. Killed one at 225 one day. Absolute must have for a varmint buster. If I'm reloading for a fireball or a Hornet, I'd rather just buy a 223 rem with factory shells. Each to their own, but a 22 wmr is a must have leaned up next to the back door or wedged in a truck seat.

My wife told me I needed one.

Reason? Because everyone needs a fourth one.

My “fear” is that with all the ammo I’m gathering for the pistol, I’ll get a hankering for another .22 mag rifle. At least I can scratch that itch with a barrel for the CZ instead of having to sneak in another entire rifle.

I like the .22 Mag out of rifles, have no use for one in a pistol...although I do really like a .22 Hornet from a 14" Contender barrel (just picked up some 45 gr flat points to load, should be a nasty coyote load). That being said, I do have a few Single Six/Super Single Six revolvers that I shoot .22 Mag out of occasionally.

I picked up a bunch of .22 Mag back when it was $8-10/box, but have seen it fairly frequently (lately) in the $15 range. At one point, people were paying $25/box...it was actually cheaper to shoot .223.

For a time, only rimfire rifles and shotguns with #2 or smaller shot were legal here for night predator hunting. Now .22 CFs are legal too. IIRC, there are still some Eastern states with similar restrictions, and the .22 mag should be the top choice for those places.

Wow , she’s a keeper!! I love my 9422 mag I have hornets 222’s and 223’s but they aren’t light and handy like the 9422. Need has nothing to do with anything. The 22 lr is still a fantastic cartridge. Buying 22 lr match ammo is almost expensive as 22 mag

Instead I would consider the .17HMR. For hunting varmints there is nothing better. I ranges out to 175 yards, the WMR is definitely inside 125 yards. It is also a much more inherently accurate cartridge.

You don’t have one should be reason enough 🙂

These are 2 great reasons to own one. That's the reason I used when I bought my LH T-Bolt.

Growing up in PENN I knew a few fox hunters that used 222 and 22 Hornet for night calling, but most of them used 22 magnum rifles

Fifty one years ago, flush with money from the recent sale of muskrat and raccoon furs, Dad took me to a gun shop to buy a 22 Magnum. He wasn’t keen on the idea of reloading, especially a 13 year old, so had ruled out a Hornet and 222. I knew factory ammo for either would exhaust my meager resources so I compromised on the 22 WRM.

I still have that rifle today. A Savage 34M. Magazine fed. I did recrown the barrel some years back. Decades of hard trap line use had dinged it up a bit and accuracy was not what it had been. The recrown did the trick.

I shot hundreds of woodchucks with it, first with open sights and then with a Weaver D4. A truckload or two of foxes, coyotes and raccoons. A few nuisance control beaver and muskrats and even a few head shot gray squirrels. And several beef and pigs on butchering day.

For the guy not wanting to take the time to reload or is not so inclined, the 22 WRM is the ticket. Even though I reload for a few dozen chamberings, the 22 Mag still has a place in my lineup.

Here some places allow rimfire only if it isn't gun deer season. They kill stuff like armadillos and coons with authority. I have one and carry it for a truck gun to shoot things like dillos and such. It will kill pretty much anything you want dead. Mine is a cheap savage and it shoots ammo it likes well.

I hadnt had one for a long time, now I have 6 for some ungodly reason. A Rem 597 that used to be a 17HMR, a Marlin Levermatic, a Taurus pump and a Magnum Research MR17/22 which is sweet! Then I have the Keltec PMR30 and a Ruger revolver.... I sure dont need all of those...

Never gad a use for one as 22lr handles anything small and 224 centrefires handle anything a tad larger, currently my tad larger rifle is a ZKW465 22 Hornet.

Get a contender or encore with a 18-20’inch barrel and the velocity numbers will impress you. Especially the 2200 fps ammo!

If you hunt raccoons or other small game with a 22, the mag is about 5x the killing power. If your just plinking it’s a lot more for ammo but better. Just depends on your uses. The 22 mag is just a great gun to leave in the hunting truck. JMO

For varmint rifles............22 mag for close, .243 for far.

In handgun, my Smith 648 6" was a dandy shooter. But proly like using a .22 lr rifle on critters.
IHMSA Field Pistol is where I liked it best.

Did pop a few chucks with it. Worked fine.
Pops loved his 8 3/8" M48.................laser beamed the chucks w it.

Used dads old .22-250 this yr on a small bean field. Rocket launcher.
Got a new CZ457 and popped one there. Much more polite.
The 24" bbl is kinda long for a .22 mag but was nice at report.

Am happy w the rifle.
Old WW 40gr JHP stuff put the last 4 during zero session, in the red dot of the Shoot N C target at 50 yards.
So dime sized.

Good enough. Have 2 bricks of the stuff from way back.

Tickled.


Still have a 14" bbl for my Contender. Wore an old Burris 3-12X.
That thing was a chunk last coyote hunt. Kind of annoying.

The .22WMR is fantastic for small/medium game hunting. As to handguns, consider its energy is equal to that of the .22LR out of a RIFLE! Thats reason enough to use a WMR out of a handgun, imo. Nothing like having that capability compactly in a holster on the belt, rather than carrying a longarm.

So said, I was at the range today and shot both my maggies, a Marlin XT-22M and a Ruger stainless Single Six extensively.

Good luck!