Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game what range do you sight-in your .22lr?

Hello,

Was wondering what range you sight in your .22lr rifle?

I sight-in mine at 50yards but after reading an article by Ron Spomer in American Hunter regarding hunting small game---rabbits and squirrels, I'm thinking about re-sighting at 25yards.

I sight in 22lr at 25 yards, 17HMR at 50. Get the ammo that your rifle likes and then play with it on sighting targets. Just move the target or yourself to MEASURED distances using the SAME aiming point to see where the round lands. Then you'll know your hold over for those long shots.

I sight in scoped .22 LR rifle's for 50 yards and iron sights at 25 yards.

Question for you guys who hunt squirrels with rimfire rifles. At what yardage do you usually shoot your squirrels?


Leo

Question for you guys who hunt squirrels with rimfire rifles. At what yardage do you usually shoot your squirrels?


Leo

Probably average about 40 yards in the big hardwood timber of the Ozarks.

i zero all of my .22 rimfires at 40 yds... 25 yds would work as well, but it's 40 from the table on the porch to the dirtpile.....

22LR - 15 and 75 yards. That puts it about 1 inch high at 50 and 3.5 inches low at 100. But I have my 22 short sighted for dead on at 50.

Between from 15 yards to longest shot around 80 yards. the vast majority are around 30-40 yards out.

I zero at 50 yards and have a drop chart for ranges out to 100 for hold over on my mildot reticle.

Around 25 yards usually. Most shots taken less than 50yards with many around 15-30 yards.

CK

Sight them in for 35 yds. Most shots are between 15-40 ish yds.

Wow! Thanks everyone for their replies! Nice to all these response regarding rimfire for smallgame such as squirrel etc.

Leo

Leomort, I sight all of my 22s dead on at 50yd. I do that for several reasons that I think are good ones. We do a lot of informal target shooting out here and we have found that very small targets like shot shell cases can be consistently hit at 50 plus yards. We estimate our hold over or under sort of instinctively. After you get the hang of it, it is a very deadly way to hunt from zero to even 100 in some cases, although I have to admit to using the thick part of the plex on the cross hairs for the long one. On a Leupold RF scope the tip of the thick part of the plex can be very helpful. We hunt both squirrels and rabbits with our 22s. Shots at squirrels are from ten to thirty or forty yards with most shots inside thirty. Rabbits are a different story. We hunt south facing cliffs and mesas usually from a perch in the rocks. Shots can be up to a hundred but are usually 50 to 75 according to where you are hunting. I used to use a 22 hornet for the rabbit hunting taking head shots and rib cage shots but found out that a 22 rimfire is just fine. We use Win power points and CCI SGBs mostly for hunting.

danl,

I've got Leupie 3-9x33mmEFR scope my .22lr CZ 452. Currently got a McMillan stock on order for it. I replace the original stock with a Richard's laminate stock. Gorgeous looking stock, but the it make the rig heavier than I want. So got the McMillan edge stock on order. So far I've sunk alot of $$$ into this little rifle. I justify it, by shooting it the most. Plus the .22lr rifle can be the one most hunted with. At least around. Small game runs from mid-Oct to mid Feb. While our rifle season for deer is two weeks and I usually get to hunt what? Opening day, maybe an additional day or two, then the two following Saturday.....if I didn't get a deer by that point.


Leo

Leo, I enjoyed your response. It sounds like you have a real fondness for that CZ. You know, I think it's real nice when you hit on something that you enjoy enough to want to make just right even when it takes some extra cash. Most hunters put their money in big game rifles. I'm with you on doing it to a 22. My big game hunting anymore is with bow and it is only a three week season in New Mexico. Even drawing a rifle deer or elk tag out here is a real challenge these days. The seasons are excruciatingly short. Small game seasons, on the other hand, are more reasonable. Rabbits are not considered game animals so they are legal to hunt all year with no limit. Squirrels are huntable from September 1 - November 30. There is no bittor cold weather during those time periods below 7000 ft., which is much appreciated by folks pushing 60 harder than they want. So, we have very similar situations with available hunting time. I love to hunt small game. My go to 22 right now is a Remington 504 with a Leupold 3-9 EFR. What a coincidence. I've always used 4X and 2-7 rimfire scopes with the occasional big game scope thrown in. I put a Burris 4-12 AG/RF on one of my Kimbers last Christmas and have compared the quality of both. The Leupold is my choice. It also beats a Sightron SII RF 3-9 I bought this past summer. The Remington rifle has really come around. It is shooting everything I put in it. 1/2 inch groups are common. Let me know how things shape up with the CZ. The 22 shoots I've had with friends and family have since childhood been an end in themselves. I've never lost any enthusiam for just a good ole Saturday 22 shoot. Great memories spanning a life time!

danl,

Thank you for your kind words. While many here have several dozen firearms, I only have a handful but I tend to play & tweak them (interput as sinking $$$ in them) until just right.

The philosophy, I'm coming around to is the realization of what I have the most opportunity & acess to hunt. I suspect that would be small game season in most places. Seems like most states have a generous and long small game season. Also looking at varmit hunting or should should say varmit shooting as they're not really "hunted" in typical big-game fashion. Farmers are usually eager to have you shoot or say I've been told although I haven't done groundhoug hunting.

Given these situations, I have more opportunity and access to hunt the bunnies and squirrels which usually doesn't involve long road trips/travel time so I can stay local. I don't have alot of free time so local hunts are important to me. With small game hunting it gives me more time in the woods to enjoy the outdoors. Which is also why I also like fishing so much.

Now for me, if I was going to spend my money on hunting and travel it would be for upland bird hunting. Wouldn't mind eventually get a nice Browning Citori O/U for this since I also have access to skeet shooting.


Leo

Mostly 40-50 yards or somewhat less, rarely more. So I sight my Ruger 10/22 in to be dead "on" at 50 yards using high-velocity hollow points with the 3-9x by 40mm scope set on 9x, then hold very slightly UNDER the point-of-aim at shorter ranges.

This 50 yard zero also puts the bullet about 4 inches low at 100 yards.


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

Dead on at 25 yards, check to verify at 75 (normally dead on again, at least with anything other and CB Shorts). Range check at 50 and at 100.

With CB Shorts, dead on at 50 yards, and verify at 25.

Leo, mine's zeroed at 50. With std velocity hp's I can crank it up to 10X put the top of the bottom duplex (wide duplex) on the target and it's zeroed at 100 yards. Some experimentation with various power settings on a variable power scope using the duplex can prove interesting. JB

I usually zero at 50 yards with standard velocity ammo, 65 to 75 yards if I'm shooting hypers. Velocitors zeroed at 75 yards land right at 3/4" high at 50 yards and 3" at 100 yards. Works for me.