I was wondering how many of you use centerfire rifles to hunt small game.
Since I bought a .22 Hornet some years ago I rarely go rabbiting with a .22 LR any more. Mine's a Brno ZKW 465, and it is light and very accurate. I don't download it, and usually use 40 gn bullets at about 3000 fps, but I also make headshots, so damage to anything edible is zero. I also have dropped a fair number of hares, feral cats, foxes and the odd few feral pigs with it, though it is less than ideal on the pigs - you really have to pick your shots.
I also use bigger calibres. One in particular being the 7x57R, currently in the form of the third barrel on a Krieghoff drilling. I don't use any special small-game loads here either - usually a 150 gn softpoint, such as Winchester's Power Point. Again, with headshots, the damage to the edible part of a rabbit is pretty much zero - they are more or less neatly decapitated - and yet I can double up on any deer or pig or goat that might happen along.
