Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Trapping Subsonic hollowpoints - dispatch .

22 short HP in the lungs here. Works really good for me.

Coons are really hard to kill, when I was coon hunting I saw lots of coons absorb a lot of 22 ammo then make a 50 ft fall from a cotton wood tree then still fight the dogs..only shot to put them out immediately is one between the eyes..

Yep little grizzly .

When I was a kid, I was hunting with some buddy's and we ran across a big boar coon way up high in a hardwood.

One of my friends had his dad's 32 pistol with which I proceeded to perforate that coon full of holes. He just took numerous hits in stride and held on that tree as though nothing had happened. I thought I was missing because he shows no signs of being hit, plus I figured nothing could take that many rounds and survive. I finally knocked him off with a well placed round to the head with my .22LR rifle.

When he hit the ground we inspected him and found that he had indeed taken multiple hits from the .32. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it possible.

Funny - not so funny story about a coon .
My best Bud and hunting partner in high school - Dan - he married fresh out of high school , he took his young brother in law [16] coon hunting . Dan had 2-3 coon dogs since he was a kid .
Dogs treed a coon - the coon had hid so Dan climbed the tree to make it move so BIL anthony could shoot it , coon moves - dan says there it is - anthony is shining his light around all wacky - dan somewhat scolded him to stop looking everywhere and shine the light where I'm pointing my finger . Anthony starts shining the light on dans boot - dan scolds him to shine the light on his hand -- no - no up here on my hand and asks do you see where I'm pointing - yes anthony said . Do you see the coon right there - yes anthony said - took the 22lr and shot dan in the foot .

Dan said he called him every name there was and pondered shooting him in the head . Dan had a temper to .
Hobbled off to the hospital to have the bullet removed - bled real bad but healed up fine .

Dans wifes family was in the coal strp-mining business in KY. - anthony was messing with a guys wife down there - guy walked in where anthony was in a poker game and shot him in the neck w/a 44mag. that was 30 years ago .

Trapped a lotta stuff. Tried a bunch of different dispatch methods. Best I found for instant shutdown was CCI shorts in one ear on line to come out the other ear. Coon...…………...possum...………...fox...……….. Instant. RWS .177 springer just almost as effective with the same shot.

HOWEVER...……………...skunks get a single .22 LR behind the shoulder. They nearly ever spray that way.

I tried the subs years ago with the same result. My preference has always been CB long or CCI shorts. Both work well and will take out the occaisional small game for lunch when the opportunity arises. I always choot em in the punkin and set them aside as soon as possible. I try to keep blood out of my trap circles, but I cant swear its a deal breaker.

Not surprised. Sub-sonic HPs are the bee's knees for gray sq. They hit them hard, harder than HVHPs even though you see more damage with high-velocity stuff sometimes. Those soft HPs open fast, seeming to use up all the energy on expansion.

Step up to anything bigger, like a fox sq. and you want more pop to get the same effect. A coon knocked out with sub-sonic will come down fighting. You can make a guess on how a coon hunter views fighting based in part on what he chooses to use to dispatch the coon.

That's just my experience having used 22lr for years over tree dogs.

I've never even heard of HP shorts.......I've always used the plain ol RN lead.

I've heard that as well as a hundred other magical no spray methods......never once has one of them worked for me.

I'm of the opinion that a 30-06 or larger might...I repeat "might".... be the only answer.

I have used CCI's subsonic segmented 22 long rifle shell for years in a 2" Ruger Mark II suppressed. Go thru a broadside coyote very well and kill very well. Its been a great dispatch bullet for me over the years.

https://palmettostatearmory.com/cci-22lr-subsonic-segmented-40gr-hollow-point-50rds-0074.html

I carry a suppressed Ruger .22 pistol in my pack when deer hunting. Saturday, I was in a stand, a big ole coon was walking toward me in the food plot along the edge of the woods. I got the pistol out, got ready. At around 35 yds, looked like he was going in the woods, so I shot him. He jumped, arched his back, turned broadside and I put another in his gut. He let out a noise, ambled into the woods. With the suppressor, I could hear the bullets hit. I'm shooting Rem Subsonic HP's. Gun has a red dot sight.

I'm sure he died pretty quick, but they are tough, can soak up a lot of lead.

This rig is really handy for squirrels and coons while deer hunting. It makes some noise, but not enough to scare a deer unless really close. BTW, I did a trigger job on this one with Clark and Volquartsen parts. It has a trigger stop and is about as good a trigger as I've ever seen on a Ruger. That does help shooting a coon at 35 yds. I did have a good rest in the box blind.

DF

My experience exactly. I've taken their heads off with a 12 gauge and also shot them in the gut with a 22 short--- they still spray enough to make a big mess.

I remember as a teen, shooting one thru the chest with a K-38 and he didn't spray.

That's a series of one; I'd not trust that to work every time...

DF

For coyotes CB Longs in the head or lungs if I shoot.

Most times I stun them with my trowel, roll them on their back and strike the throat side of their neck with my trowel.
K9s have a set of nerves that run down their neck either side of the wind pipe that if struck simultaneously disrupts the signal from the brain to the heart and kills them like flipping a switch.

Only time I’ve seen 22’s fail is if they glance off skulls when it’s a bad angle

Haven't trapped for about 10 years. But I heard about the ONE .22 LR behind the front shoulder method back then.

Came up to a dirthole with a stinker in it the very next morning. Took out one of the usual .22 short HP's from the cylinder and slid in a .22LR. Popped the thing right behind the front shoulder...………….NO SPRAY !! Thennnnnnn…………...he kinda hung on and lingered and me hating to see things shot not die quickly AND needing to remake the set and get to the next one...…………. I put another .22 LR behind his front shoulder about a minute later. POOF !!!!!!!! Green cloud !!!!


I know for a fact, had I just left it be, he'd have eventually expired, spray free. Now to the point of the brutal, basic truth of the matter...……...skunks freakin' stink even if they haven't sprayed for a week or a month. So it's really quite rather inconsequential. Only a matter of the degree of the stink.

I use sub-sonics...with a flat point like a Keith Bullet....will penetrate straight and hits hard....

Take a #1 drill several holes in a block of hard wood, make block .84" thick....run a mill basterd file across a couple times....

CCI Small Game Bullet. Smacks hard due to flat point. Leaves tiny holes going in or coming out.