Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 22 WMR on game -

What's you folks experience - pros/cons - no doubt excessive on edible game outside of head shots, but the trajectory is a good bit better than a LR.

Anyone use/using on Coyotes? Larger game?

Never owned one. So never hunted with one.

Because, I've shot them.
They are really noisy. Surprisingly so.

I've used mine on everything from squirrels to deer. Got my first one in the '70's and haven't been without one or more since. Much more effective on stuff like woodchucks, coons, fox, coyote and deer than .22LR.. Not excessive at all on rabbits/squirrels with FMJ's. Ain't even too bad with the 40 gr. HP's unless you plan to eat squirrel heads and ribs. Noise level from a rifle between .22LR and .22 hornet as you'd expect.

Good point - I cut the front shoulders out of squirrels, and save the hind quarters and rear portion of the back. My limited experience has been mostly JHP b/c that's what I had, and mostly all headshots, no doubt the damage is much greater than the LR, and that is not a bad thing for killing power on larger animals.

Curious on deer, what bullets HP in lungs or FMJ for head shots? Have a few hogs around my area, and it might be a good idea when squirrel hunting with a WMR to use FMJ, that way I can drill a Hog Skull. The HP might not be as reliable depending on angle of placement, etc.
I'd not hesitate taking a hog if I know I can place my shot where it needs to go. Thanks.

I've killed deer with head shots and broadside lung shots. All with 40 grain Winchester JHP's. Head shot deer all went in a heap. Lung shots ran a ways as you'd expect but surprisingly none went very far. All were down and dead between 40 and 100 yards. Bullets were perfect mushrooms recovered from off side ribs.

Good info to know! A wrecked lung is just that, regardless of what made it. Thanks.

Shot a pile of turkeys with a Browning A-Bolt .22wmr. Squirrels, Fox, raccoons out of trees. Have had a few. Anschutz 54 sporter, Cooper 57M, Ruger 77/22 and target and the A-Bolt I still have. The Anschutz and Cooper were both stupid accurate.

I've shot a few coyotes, over a dozen 'cats, coons, opossums, rabbits, and a couple of foxes.

Ruger sold quite a few 10/22 Magnums to state fish and game departments for deer damage control.

My primary 'cat calling rifle is a Remington 597, having an immediate 2nd, 3rd, and 4th shot when you're within spittin' distance of a 'cat in tight cover gives a person peace of mind.

My favorite woods loafing rifle is an old Savage 24 in 22M over 410, shot a lot of black walnuts with it.

I carry a Rossi 515 quite often when I got afield.

The 22 magnum will never compete with the 22 LR in the accuracy department, but you gain a good bit more energy. Some swear by the magnum for coyotee, but just as many or more will say it's too small. I like it for coyotee and smaller sized game. I've also seen a number of deer and even bear killed with the magnum, but it's not my first pick for hunting them.

Maybe...

Winchester HP will get into a pigs skull.

My time over in Coos Bay/ Coos County Oregon, you sure hear a lot of locals say the Elk Poaching Crowd gun of choice was the 22 Win Mag...

Guess for decades there has been a lot of that going on over that way....

seen Elk around this area, that has been wounded by what looks like a 22 LR, people trying to shoot them either in an eye or an ear. face wounds in the jaw, or muzzle between the eyes and nose...meth head jerks I'd bet.

Absolutely hate a poacher.

Shot a truckload of woodchucks with a Savage 34M. A couple dozen coyotes and as many fox. Lost track of how many coon I shot with it. Never shot a deer or a bobcat with mine. Several butcher hogs and steers. I shot pretty much everything with the Winchester and CCI 40 grain HP. The hogs and steers got the FMJ. I don’t doubt the HPs would have done the job fine.

While I never had any coyotes get away, I was never entirely confident in the magnum on them. I suppose that trepidation caused me to be very selective on my shots.

Great feedback folks, appreciate everyone's contribution. Good info to know on the WW JHP on head shots on hogs......

I have no intention of hunting big game with a WMR mind you, but it's nice to know what can be done if needed. Seafire, sucks to hear folks using rimfires on Elk.......poachers tend to lack much in ethics.

No doubt on average you see better groups with 22 LR than WMR within its commonly used range, but I must say the trajectory advantage to me gives the WMR an advantage in the field when you get to distances say 70-100+ yards.........to put shots on game and in vitals.

I won't argue the report is greater obviously with a WMR.....yet I always use a wad of tissue in my ears. So no issues even when using 22 LR handguns with shorter barrels. Yes, when hunting, had enough damage in my youth.......

One thing to add from my limited experience, on tree squirrels, I have had a very high hit ratio with WMRs. A few shots further out that might have been missed due to mis-judged drop with a LR. Anything I have ever hit was instantly dispatched. An accurate LR is great on paper and game, but I do feel if one has accurate WMR in addition, it's a very useful round for field use. It would be very nice if the factory ammo was more consistent no doubt, I have seen extensive tests showing big swings in ES......which seems to show up much more in shots over 100 yds and greater. The 17 HMR might do much better in that dept. but the wind drift I understand is greater, so I feel the 22 is better for me.

Thanks everyone......and any others who want to chime in.

I have shot probably 1500 prairie dogs with my Ruger 77/22M boatpaddle .22 WRM, all using the W-W 40 grain JHP load. Most of them were taken at 50 to 125 yards, with a few taken much farther than that. I have also shot about 500 PD's with a .17 HRM with the Hornady 17 grain V-Max, and, of course, lots of PD's with various centerfires.

The .22 WRM is a very effective killer on PD's, and will fairly frequently do a "mini-blowup" on them. It won't launch them 8 feet in the air and explode them like a hot .22 centerfire will, but it will knock chunks out of them and throw them 2 or 3 feet often enough to notice. In my experience, it hits noticeably harder than the .17 HRM, although the .17 is certainly easier to hit with past 100 yards.

I spent 25 years as a wildlife enforcement officer, and saw lots of deer killed with .22 rimfire rifles, and they were all dead.

My boy killed his first deer with a 22 magnum. That doe didn’t run ten feet.

best poacher cartridge ever made the old timers tell me ,cheap to shoot, not too noisy , killed deer fast too. i will say for killin critters its deadly.

More good stuff - thanks folks.

That's decent 22 WMR accuracy at 50 yards, but I wouldn't consider it good for a 22LR. That one top right is good, but all the rest are about what I normally expect from a 22 WMR.