Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game Ok What to replace 22 lr

Ok so let’s just say can’t find 22 lr ammo in future .
What would you choose that is reloadable to use in its place for small game?
Bored on Christmas plus have some sock money looking for a gun

Easy answer is 22 Hornet..

Undoubtedly. When .22wmr got unobtanium a few years back, I bought a 77/22 hornet and had it sent Randy at CPC. Punched out to K-Hornet, accurizing work, Dayton traister trigger. Accurate and very efficient use of powder.

I have 25,000ish .22lr’s though so not real worried at this point.

Have a 22 Hornet, and am thinking lately of a high quality air rifle. Enough power for squirrels and such. No powder, no primers, just inexpensive pellets. Might work just fine.

22 hornet gives a guy lots of options for bullets and a pound of powder goes a long ways. If you have primers your all set. Plenty of 22 Lr showing up in my part of Montana. Not seeing much for primers on the shelves.

Some .22 lr around here but nothing I like. Reloading any of the smaller .22 centerfires could substitute for rimfires. .17 Hornet would be a good sub for the rimfire .17's. Small caliber, good velocities, nice flat trajectory. The drawback would be having to keep all the cases instead of letting them fly. With the greater precision possible from handloading versus the high speed rough handled and high variability rimfire factory loading, accuracy could be much better than the factory rimfire stuff.

.223 reduced loads and/or .20 air gun.

I have a .22 caliber PCP air rifle that has accuracy enough to work on squirrels up to around 45 yards, and more than adequate power for well beyond that distance if you hit. 42 ft. lbs. muzzle energy with the 28 1/2 grain Korean pellets. I need to buy a pump for it, my scuba tanks are out of usable pressure and right now too costly for me to get hydro tested, inspected and refilled. Works great with an adequate supply of air.

Always wanted to try a muzzleloader squirrel rifle, but I don't think that my eyes would work with iron sights these days. Had a black powder shotgun many years ago but traded it away. Should have kept it.

Maybe a Henry 327 or Marlin lever 32 H&R. Could use 32 S&W long or short or just load down the H&R or 327. 32 or 36 caliber muzzleloader. A 25-20 or 32-20. Savage made their bolt 23 in both.

Snares and Traps for squirrels and rabbits. No need to waste bullets. Very good slingshot. And as said a good high speed pellet rifle.

20 gauge...

Shotgun without a doubt.

If you don't allow the PCP airgun to get too low on pressure you can hand pump it quite handily. But I wouldn't want more than a top off. But buy the best hand pump with moisture control not a cheapo. Look into the .25 as it gives more wallop. For reloading the 22 Hornet is the cat's meow. Look around at all ideas, but the PCP doesn't require any primers. YMMV. Be Well, RZ.

If 22LR ammo is out, what makes you all think primers will be available?

Yup, although any small capacity CF like the .221, 222, or .223 Rem can easily be loaded down as well.

All of the above plus the .410. Working on a ML pistol alternative as well.

A quality air rifle works well.

I would probably go the airgun route to replace the .22. I understand that some of the new air guns are pretty potent. There isnt much similar to the little .22 lr

Pcp airgun

For something like squirrels in trees, a shotgun seems to make sense - perhaps a little safer for when those pellets that miss come down. For anything on the ground, shoot whatever you want. I've been carrying my .357 Mag revolver with my hand-rolled cowboy loads. It's cheap to shoot, and the one rabbit I took with that combo this winter showed less meat damage than what I've seen with some .22lr HPs. I purposely took a shoulder shot just to see what kind of damage it would do. Moving forward, I'll probably opt for head shots.

Just popped a squirrel yesterday with my Contender Carbine with a 22" MGM barrel in 38 Special.

I also have a 22 Hornet barrel that works great with reduced loads using Speer 46 grain flat points and unique powder.

223

use 7 to 8gr of unique and any bullet from 40gr to 60gr.

I've had lots of fun with these.

if not 22 cal,

got to go with 38 spcl

RWS Diana model 48 177 or 22
Weihrauch barrel cocker like HW85 or 95 ( fyi Beeman's are made by Weihrauch)

.32 , .36, .40, .45 cal flint lock. Buy 3f black powder and flinter. Make sure the frizzen/ fence has high carbon steel that creates white hot branched sparks ( not cooler, yellow, straight sparks).

Spider XL (64" length) takedown recurve bow (from southwestarchery.com. ~$150), 35-40# draw weight.

Cast bullet reduced loads from one of your centerfires, but younneed need primers and powder.

Patience. We'll get 22 rimfire ammo again. Just remember who the gougers are.

Friend of mine when I lived in Montana had a couple Hornet's. All we shot out of them were cast bullet's. I wouldn't mind having one now but I'd have it opened to a K-Hornet. Then move the headspace to the shoulder! With my friend;s we managed to split a lot of necks!

Here in Alabama law forbids using centerfire rifles on small game. If hunting on your own property no one would know, but on public land there's always the possibility of coming across a game warden. Unless the law has changed, centerfire handguns are okay, so one of those .45-70 pistolas are legal, but not a handloaded rimfire equivalent centerfire such as a Hornet. Stupid law if you ask me.

To conserve .22 long rifle I'll be using my PCP air rifle some and need to get the Beeman R1 springer going again. And there's always the shotguns.

either a 22 cal springer pellet rifle or 17hmr or if'n ya like scatterguns the 20ga with 6 shot and full choke.
Big Ed

Got enough 22lr to last me becuase i dont need to blow thru it. If i wanted an alternative i would get a mould for the Ruger 308 scout rifle and fling cast at the critters.

I feel sorry for the young folks who didnt prepare for whatever reason.

I agree that if .22 goes out, so will primers.

My backup is airguns. Been hunting with springers for a long time, and now looking forward to getting my first PCP in a few weeks.

Kentucky has similar restrictions. From last season's rules:

24SMALL GAME HUNTING and TRAPPING
LEGAL SMALL GAME HUNTING EQUIPMENT and METHODS
Hunters may only use the follow-ing to take small game during the fall and winter seasons:
• A rimfire gun or rimfire handgun
• .410 gauge handgun
• Muzzle-loading or breech-loading shotguns no larger than 10-gauge. Breech-loading shot-guns must be plugged to hold a maximum of three shells (two in magazine and one in chamber)
• Lead or non-toxic shot no larger than No. 2
• Muzzle-loading rifles
• Archery or crossbow equipment
• Pellets fired from .177, .20, .22 or .25 caliber air guns
• Falconry
• Slingshots with manufactured hunting ammunition
• Dogs may be used to aid in the hunt

It's killed a bunch of projects I'd had in mind. I would love to use a downloaded 223 rifle on squirrel, or use my 1894 loaded with 38 SPC to take. . . well, whatever.

I’d go back to my Sheridan .20 - probably took more small game before I was 10 years old than I have in the last 40. So many rabbits - my mom used to get upset at all the ziplock bags jamming up her garage freezer. Lol. She got good at steaming them, pulling the meat & making tacos.

I would stick to air rifles, The variety of quality game killing air rifles is amazing and not just for small game.

I can load my 204 ruger down to 22 mag velocity’s .

Impossibru. You can get 22 even now. If 22 is scarce then so are primers.

I like my 17 Hornet

How about this? .36 RB over 15-30gr FFF.

now that is a cool old gun Pappy

Brand spankin’ new. Just off the boat from Italy.

Exact replica of a Cook underhammer; legal in international competition, which it will never see in my hands! Maybe squirrels, and definitely rabbits, if I can ever find one.

Sling shot and a rock. If you can't find 22lr in the future, you aren't going to be able to find anything else either...

What would I do, what would i do, let me think................

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/12061610/29

Check out some of the “catapult” guys on the FIELDSPORTS CHANNEL. Those guys are killer-dillers. Some of their slingshots look like they stole them from the Bat Cave, and cost like it.

Yep, rocks are cheap and easy to find too... If we are going to imagine 22lr are no longer to be found, we need to be thinking outside of the box. Go old school, if need be.. I've been shooting the chidt out of 22lr lately. Trying to break in a barrel on a new 10-22. 510 rounds in one day, but to not be able to find 22lr, damn that will be the day.. I'm also going to be shooting my clubs rimfire match this weekend, so we will be burning up a few thousand rounds of 22lr that day. Just sayin...


Hell, maybe I'll just shoot my 17HMR's, that way I won't have to worry about it...

I’ve managed to cobble together a fair amount of SK RM & FN, some Eley Club, and a brick’s worth of Velocitors. Haven't over-paid either.

If you hand load, 22 hornet. You can even cast bullets. 17 hmr seems to be plentiful when .22 is unavailable.