Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Most effective 22LR for deer

You could stab one to death, too. That is even lower velocity.

The principles of the killing mechanism of arrows and bullets are different. Velocity between the two methods is an apples to oranges comparison.

One cuts and slices, one uses brute force and crushing.

A person could use too small of a bow, too. Just like too small of a bullet.....

Not the comparison I was making.
To point a deer can move prior to the trigger break on a 22 .YES.
A deer can move after the release of an arrow and no body condems the Archer for irresponsible behavior.
What's more likely a deer wounded and never recovered by an arrow 3x slower than the sound of it's release. Allowing it to jump and be porrly hit or the supersonic solid smashing a deer in the CNS?

Just some random thoughts and observations. May be worth exactly what you paid for them, but>>>>

22 LRs are used an many a homicide. Looking at autopsy reports has been relieving. The wounded ones too, but the kills were what I looked at most times.
Their are really only 2 factors that come into play in most cases. Both of which relate to the bullet hole through the body
#1 is where it hits, and the angle it hits at.
#2 is a bullet that penetrates well. No 22 LR is super dependable for linear penetration and often veer off course, so the 1st factor is the most important.
Hits to the brain the spine and neck are instant in putting them on the ground. The closer the vertebra is the the surface the better the odds of hitting them.

Heart shots are usually fatal, but sometime they work instantly, and some times they kill over a period of a few minutes. Sometimes quite a few! If the ventricle supping the aorta is hit the man or animal usually drops instantly, or very soon after the hit.

The idea that a 22 LR is "totally ineffective" is untrue. Many many poachers use them and kill far too many animals with them but if a poacher makes a kill and the animal runs that poacher will usually let it go rather then risk exposing himself to being caught. I would never use a 22 LR for any reason other than a desperate one, but there is simply no reason for me. I have more powerful rifles and handguns and so I would use one of them. But I have seen the wounds made by 22s and I can say that they damage is similar to that done by some broad heads shot from bows. If the angle is right and the hit is well placed a 22 will kill most animals. Even the elephant has been killed with 22 LR now and then by men in the past, but to my mind that fact never made my CZ 22 an elephant rifle.

Accuracy becomes more and more important the farther down the power scale you go. I dare say you can't get very much below a 22 rim rifle, ------------ with any firearm.

Many areas of the US and definitely in Mexico had the deer population essentially wiped out with 22 RFs. I watched a Rancher make several hits on a mid sized buck with a 22 WMR with hollow points. Found the deer the next day about a mile from where it was shot.

On the other hand at least for some missions the highly trained Israeli snipers use 22RF for specialized situations. They are expert at taking out the target even in crowd situations with few or no secondary casualties.

Some friends use a 218 Bee or Hornet as their primary deer rifle which are a step above a rim fire but not all that much. The friend who uses the Bee has had around forty consecutive one shot kills and no loses. This is strictly harvesting does as herd reduction and for meat over a feeder so not challenging shots. The noise level is low enough the deer will usually return and multiples are possible.

WM Bell or was it Pondoro Taylor (?) wrote that he could walk from Cape town to Cairo armed only with a 22 RF and never go hungry. No doubt either of them could.

Where did those ranchers bullets land ? The reason I ask is because I've killed a half dozen deer with lung shots from a .22 mag. and two more with a 5mm Remington rimfire mag.. None went so far as 100 yards before they went down and most were down and dead inside 60 yards.

I plead the fifth....

.[/quote] Where did those ranchers bullets land ? [/quote]

They were around the edges of the lungs maybe one in the liver. No center of mass or behind the shoulder aorta area hits. No doubt one well placed shot would have put the buck down. I think it was trotting initially then running and all off hand shots.

Where did those ranchers bullets land ? [/quote]

They were around the edges of the lungs maybe one in the liver. No center of mass or behind the shoulder aorta area hits. No doubt one well placed shot would have put the buck down. I think it was trotting initially then running and all off hand shots.
[/quote]


Oh well, that's exactly what I'm talking about....

Back in my early days I worked in a packing house where we killed about 1,000 head of cattle a day. For the most part they were all killed by cutting the major arteries in the neck with a knife after they were stunned with a pneumatic knocker and hanging upside down from a rail. The really tough ones that came back alive from being knocked had to be killed before they could hurt someone and they did that with a .22 pistol shot to the head. Granted that was point blank range, but those were 900 pound adrenaline filled cows or bulls with lots thicker bone structure than any deer. I'm not sure what bullet they used and that was 40 years ago. Bullets are way better today than they were back in the '70's. That said, I killed a car hit deer that had a broken back to end it's suffering using a .22 pistol and it was less than decisive.

I have never killed a deer with a rimfire but I have killed hogs in traps with them. For this kind of I prefer a 22 magnum with hollow points. It is a more decisive killer with a greater margin of error,

They make air rifles that are fully capable of killing deer............

The most shocking thing about this post is the OP's Ruger will put 5 mini mags under a dime at 50 yds. I've never seen a ruger do that .

Any .22 lr firearm's capable of taking deer quite reliably if it hits them with sufficient velocity. If you have access to,say, a tethered hot air balloon, a pawn shop bolt gun dropped on a whitetails skull from a few thousand feet up should do nicely.

You've shot one?
I've got a Savage HBAR that'll do the same. You shocked disposition may say more about you than me.

A guy uses an Evanix .22 PCP in Hawaii for hogs all the time but I digress. I used to do urban herd reductions with a 22 mag. A solid with the fastest most accurate round is the best. Fast frangible bullets might break up a bit. I passed 10-1 what I shot. Between the eye and the ear is safe bet. Pay close attention to head position. I.e., if the deer is looking up it's not between the eyes but just below, etc. It's not as easy as it sounds. Never lost one but was extremely patient.

My old Marlin 25 will come pretty close to that accuracy with Mini Mags. And it is almost a piece of junk. Except for the fact that Santa gave it to me as a 10 year old. and it kills way too effectively, I might not have kept it myself for 36 years......