Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Your experience - RN vs HP 22 LR on game

i'm in the subsonic crowd and my absolute fav being the winchester subsonic hp 40grain truncated cone. i believe its been dc'd in favor of the 42 grain max winchester subsonic. cci and rws makes good looking BIG hp cavities also. any good,winchester,eley,cci,rws or sk jagd, subsonic hp will do the trick.
Big Ed

I agree with those lads shooting Western Ground squirrels who are not very large. It seems like all ammo works on them if hit in the body but HP's are more sudden and acrobatic.
I like shooting them with the ammo that works best in that rifle.

However when shooting jackrabbits, who are big and can be tough, it's HP's all the way and lately it's been a .17HMR. Ground squirrels are usually taken at closer range for me like the 25-60 yard range while the jackrabbits, if stationery, are from 50-100+ yards. Hitting a jackrabbit with a .22lr at 125 yards is usually a test but with the .17 HMR,.....it's cake.

This matches my experience on rabbits, hares, feral cats and foxes. Winchester Power Point (the Australian-made, 40 gn version) is a particular favourite of mine. The bullets hit with a noticeable "thwop" and kill very well, even on body shots. I have also used Winchester Subsonic, which uses the same bullet, and they are nearly as good. Both have also proved very accurate in my rifles.

Solids work fine if you brain them, but otherwise haven't been much good for anything but plinking, practice or, with the good stuff, target competition. The bulk-pack Federal, and other ones like them with small hollow points, have been no better than solids in my experience. I have tried a fair few HV and SV solids, and a fair few other HV and SV HPs of similar form to the Federal bulk pack over the last few decades, and none has been anywhere near as effective as the Winchester Power Point or the very similar Remington Yellow Jacket..

For early season squirrels I prefer sub sonic hollow points. Soft points sometimes leave the squirrel clinging to a limb after a good shot. Hollow points do a better job of knocking them out of the tree. For late season squirrels and rabbits I prefer CCI mini mag hollow points for the extra range.

Remington SS HP’s and head shots

Hollow point or round nose? Neither. Because individual 22 LR rifles are so ammunition dependent regarding accuracy, I shoot whatever is most accurate in my rifle. I then use a die that precisely files the bullet tip into a flat nose. I like the CCI Small Game factory rounds but some of my rifles do not like them for accuracy.

For decades I've used Eley Tenex or similar premo match ammo for squirrels. I strive for head shots but shot a fair percentage through the chest too, and have never lost one, and don't recall many if any second shots to finish them off. Putting a solid 40 grain bullet through a squirrel's chest at 1000fps is like putting a 50mm shell at 1000fps through you or me. Death is the result and expansion isn't necessary IMO.

Hollowpoints to me are secondary to pure accuracy. If I find an accurate HP load, great. If not a HP, great too.

I did latch onto a brick of Federal Hunter Match HP's for curiosity sakes this year, and shot a couple 50 yard backyard groundhogs with them. Through the neck and dead right there. Pretty slim statistical proof but there you have it. I was/am impressed by the paper accuracy of those rounds too. In reality, previous garden marauder groundhogs succumbed to Eley Tenex in the head/neck too, as did a couple with .22 shorts.

That was going to be my question... I have two of the Paco Kelly tools and the original Hannad small game bullet die and no matter what I do I just have not been able to get the consistent accuracy needed for small game shots inside 50 yards...

Bob

65BR: I no longer allow "round nose" ammunition to be used in my presence on Ground Squirrel safaris!
I do from 80 to 100 Ground Squirrel Hunts every year.
I haven't used it (round nose 22 L.R. ammo) myself in about 4 decades and no longer tolerate my Varminting friends and companions using round nose ammo either.
I just became tired and then sick of seeing the worthy little Varmints dragging themselves off into their holes after being struck with round nose ammo - not every time but WAY to often for me to enjoy a Ground Squirrel outing!
Way less "wounding" with quality hollow-point ammunition.
Case closed.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I got to thinking and remembered what an old man told me when I was just a youngster. He hunted squirrels with a .22 and only used shorts with the round nose. He said the faster bullets 'just whizzed thru', thus the shorts killed better. I never hunted squirrels with .22 shorts, but might give it a try someday.

Good stuff guys, yes, re: the shorts that old timer said....I've often 'sensed' in experience that faster solids seem to wound more than slower ones...if using solids. Not that HV will give any hydrostatic shock like a centerfire. Even with Mini-Mags, here in the thick south, had rabbits soak up a body hit and go off in the brush to be lost, granted those were longer shots, perhaps expansion iffy. The WW Power-Points ANCHORED them IME.

I've mostly run HP's of various sorts on tree rats....some from handguns. Read many glowing reports of the match brand SS HPs like RWS and ELEY, but also the CCI seem to do well, perhaps not always as consistently accurate, testing would confirm.

On the guy above using a magnum, are you using a semi-auto? You mentioned manually loading being a distraction.

Last year my limited experience at the end of season using CCI SS HPs, the pop did not bother other squirrels as much as the crack of a HV, but I have a small amount of experience to draw any conclusion. They did hit with a solid thump/whack, and they folded up, one a body shot.

Years ago late one evening, I was shooting grey squirrels with a then Marlin 75 HB Carbine, had a short mag under stock, fed with Rem SS HPs, and a 2.5x Leupold, reticle almost covering the little squirrels but it was very effective. Not sure if the Rems are as accurate across the board as CCIs in SS HP.

Not sure I have any left, but long ago had a few bricks of WW Silhouette, have to see if they were 40 or 42s, and if HP...I recall buying them with the intent of hunting, but no doubt a Power Point is a sure killer, and my old stash shoots 5 or even 10 in a dime in a 77/22 - CNC reworked a 10/22 Butler Creek HB, cut to 17" - feels like a truck axle so I seldom take it these days. Always wanted a Clark Custom 10/22 with fluted heavy SS 16" - called the Squirrel Special. Perhaps with their trigger job it's nice, but not sure if that trigger can match a good bolt trigger.

Appreciate everyone participating. I have not lost many squirrels over the years that I have hit, but a few, even with shotguns, but I really get irritated with anything other than a DRT, and hate losing any. Thanks folks.

Subsonic hollow points are all I use for squirrels. My farm truck 10/22 stays loaded with bulk box high velocity hollow points for coons, beaver, stray cats, and any other vermin.

I used to squirrel hunt several times a year. Tried to put a bunch the freezer. Always used HPs usually CCI Mini Mags. I have tried solids and they don't kill as quickly. They just don't. Head shots only they work fine.

My game shooting of late has been offing every red squirrel that I see at our place up north. The Winchester 36 grain hollow points make such a mess out of them that I can't imagine using that bullet for something that I'd want to eat later. Without being too graphic, I'd just call that hp bullet a REALLY humane way to go if you were a red squirrel.

I love to hunt gray squirrels and a good .22LR bolt action rifle is my favorite. My squirrel rifle is a Kimber Hunter and I use Wolf Match Target LRN ammo. I do want head shots, and am willing to pass on shots where I can't reasonably make the shot. This combination works well for me.

I had a problem last year with putting skunks down permanently with RN ammo. Switched to HV HP ammo and problem solved. Present ammo in use is Remington Golden HP , which shoots very well in my Tikka. The CCI Velocitor shoots equally well, but is more expensive. I have several RN ammo types that shoot as well or better, but they just aren’t as effective on skunks, coons, and armadillos.

http://www.portercalls.com/neal_waltz_die.htm

Info on Waltz Die hollow pointer die .

A solid, standard HV, to turn a large tomato eating groundhog into a large pot of Appalachian stew.

I like the CCI SS HP for tree squirrels. The Eley SS HP is a little more accurate but it's right much more expensive and not readily available.

Good stuff gang, appreciate all the info and links.