Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Most impressive thing you've done with a rimfire?

Any long range shots on varmints or deer kills? Maybe even a story or two of where you bailed yourself out of a tight spot with a rimfire?

Impressive- A flock of cow birds rose as I neared them, I shouldered my .22 and when the flock reached eye level I fired. Eight birds dropped to the single shot. I'm easy to impress I guess.

Tight spot- Driving down a gravel country road I felt the need to relive myself, so pulled over. As I was about to urinate, a large man with a large knife came out of the woods shouting and waving the knife. Thinking he might not be alone, I took a half step back and half turned to check behind me. When I turned, he saw my holstered revolver. At that point his eyes got very large and he said excuse me sir and went back into the woods. Even a large framed .22 can get results.

Long range?- Was carrying my grandad's Iver Johnson sealed eight revolver loaded with Shorts. Saw a bird in a dead tree over a 100 yards away. Aimed way high and slightly left and fired. He fell dead. Don't know if it was me or the bird that was more surprised.
Forgot to mention that this was while sitting in the back seat of a friends car as we drove slowly along the levy.

These are probably not the stories you had in mind, but they're all I got.

most impressive thing i've done with a rimfire was to teach some couch potato scout the fun of shooting at summer camp and watched this non athletic kid become the best shooter of the whole camp by weeks end. kid was walking on clouds at the end.

Peter Hathaway Capstick tells a story of taking an elephant with a .22.

My dad had a 9 shot .22lr pistol, I could collect Apples with it by shooting the stems. Most accurate pistol I have ever handled.

Won a national benchrest championship in the unlimited class (50 yds and 50 meters).

Had a national benchrest sporter class championship win in a 20+ mph wind (50 meters).

Shot a ladybug crawling across my benchrest target at 50 yards where I had to lead it a bit.

Those are exactly the kind of stories I had in mind.

As a young 14 year old knucklehead I killed a six point buck with my Marlin M39A. I was squirrel hunting and the little buck fed on acorns at about forty yards. Iron sights, one CCI Mini Mag hollow point to the noggin and it was done. Damn was my dad pissed! A couple years ago while squirrel hunting with an aperture sighted M39A I saw a coyote cruising along about 85 yards down the creek bottom from me. I started lip squeaking and the coyote trotted to about 65 yards and pulled up broadside. I smacked him with an Eley hollow point and he hit the deck ki-ying sharply. At the ki-yi's another coyote swung into view and I lip squeaked that one to face me head on at 70 yards. One shot under the chin piled him up. A double on coyotes at about 70 yards through a thick timbered creek bottom one shot each with a peep sighted lever .22 LR ain't too shabby.

I shot a crow out of the air once with a scoped .22, but it was a lucky shot.

Shot a rabbit in the eye at 80 yards that was raiding the garden.

I have a steel target at 165 yards that I shoot with my CZ 452. a 7" square, or 6" circle (depending on the day) mounted in from of an 18" saw blade.

I saw my granddad shoot clays from a hand thrower with a marlin m39 and factory irons. Near, far, running or not he could hit about anything with that rifle. He dropped a doberman at 120 yards with it after the neighbors wouldn't restrain it from chasing his horses. He killed a couple of deer with it also, snapping turtle heads, snakes etc. That marlin went with him just about everywhere.

I didn't do it but I witnessed it.................1969...A bunch of 18-19 yr. old kids plinking with shotguns and 22's in a local dump. Upon leaving one of my buddies spots a pheasant about 50 yds. away and we all stopped, at which time it flushed and went airborne heading straight away from us. One of my buddies swings up a 22 that he had borrowed for the day and in fine wingshooter style drops the fleeing pheasant at what had to be at least 75 yds with one round with a 22 he didn't even own and had never shot before that day. That round caught that bird perfectly centered in the back of the head. Talk about luck. But it sure looked like a professional trick shot.

That's on-point work. I've missed a couple yotes squirrel hunting...

My best feats w. a .22 have involved seeing a squirrel waaaay out there waaaay up a tree, holding a little high, and watching it tumble. I confess to having puffed out my chest a time or two. Squirrel falling out of a tall tree never fails to thrill.

Great stories guys!

this is what the fire is all about

I shot a crow off a fence post from 220 paces with a Ruger mark 1 ,22 auto pistol. One shot. Iron sights. dead crow. Killed many cottontails on the run from in front of my beagles with various .22 rifles over the years. A good high school buddy and I were sitting on the bank of a local farm pond fishing for bullheads one afternoon. Naturally we had our .22 rifles along. Lots of birds flying over head all afternoon and the fishing was a bit slow. Finally I said "betcha I can whack one of those birds out of the air with my .22". Pulled up bam, poof, feathers floating on the breeze, dead bird plops in the pond.

When I was 21 I killed a flying crow with one shot from a .22 Ruger Super Single Six. The bird came out over me as I stood at the edge of a tall woodlot. He had to be at least 200 feet up in the air, there was a puff of feathers and he spiraled down into the river next to me and floated away.

A year later I shot a crow out of the top of a tree with one shot from my Ruger Bearcat at about 100 yards.

Before laser rangefinders were readily available I was on a prairie dog hunt in Wyoming and took a crack at a PD with my Ruger 77/22 Magnum. It was a long way off and I held way high and into the wind. There was a noticeable delay before the PD toppled over dead. We paced it off and as I recall, the distance was 440 long steps. The PD was hit through the head.

I have shot probably a dozen deer with various .22 LR rifles and handguns. All had been injured by cars, fences or dogs, and some were still mobile. It worked just fine, even on a couple that were 50 yards or so away and running on 3 legs.

I dropped a squirrel one time, shot from the hip, while the squirrel was jumping out of a tree. I hit him on the way to the ground. I could shoot that old Marlin 60, I could shoot rabbits on the run with it, I even nailed one after my cousin had missed it twice with a 20 gauge SxS skeet and skeet.


I've still got that old Marlin, and it still shoots like it means it.

At 16 I killed a jackrabbit at ~150 yards with an Ithaca 22 lever action, open sights. It was below me, held on top of the ears, no wind as I recall. Good eyes then.

Wasn't the least bit impressive, if you knew the secret. The guy with me didn't know the secret so he was very impressed.

We were cleaning up some rubbish and brush at the farm when I was about sixteen. I was carrying (best as I remember) a H&R 922 for snakes. Driving back up the road toward the house a large snake came off the bank. I slammed on the brakes and we both jump out of the truck to see what kind it was. Normally I'd leave a black snake alone in this situation but... It was slithering along through the weeds when my buddy spotted it again. As quick as I could I drew and fired from the hip. The snake coiled obviously hit. I put another couple rounds on it, all from the hip. My buddy thought I was the greatest shot since Wyatt Earp or Wild Bill. What he didn't know was that the pistol was loaded with snake shot. I never did tell him any different.

impressed me at the time.....