Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Let's talk 22 short in rifles for hunting

Wondering what you guys experience has been, in accuracy and killing power.

I recall my brother using CCI Shorts in his BL22 for routinely collecting his limit of tree squirrels.

Also, any 'issues' i.e. the 38 special in a 357 mag effect, that is eroding the chamber in a L.R. chamber?

Thanks for any input on ammo preferences.

Clean the chamber out after use, and you're fine.

CCI .22 CB Shorts remain one of my all-time favorites for squirrels.

65BR I have heard rumors that if you shoot shorts in a match chamber the shorts will cause a "ring" to form in the chamber. This is supposed to really hurt accuracy with 22LR ammo.

My dad has a 22 with a match chamber that he shoots alot of CB's in. He shoots them around his house all the time. So far we have not noticed any difference in accuracy with regular 22 LR's.

I have no idea if the "ring" theory is true so take it for what its worth.

Dink

VA, is that a solid or HP? Thanks.

My gosh, I must have shot a million 22shorts through my old western field 22 rifle as a kid. I dont remember any ill effects from it at all.

Killed a lot of tree squirrels with them when I couldn't afford Long Rifles. Most of the shots I'd get where I used to hunt in Virginia weren't usually more than about 35 yards away or closer. Tried for head shots. Shorts worked good for those distances.

Dang tree rats' have been eating the new apples in my front yard tree and moving to other things in the garden. Over the last 3 - 4 months, I've taken 13 from the front door. Not a neighbor or passer by has heard the shots. I love the CCI CB caps for squirrel. Umm almost forgot. Marlin 39A Golden Mountie, feeds and shoots fine.

Been using the super colibri here.... shorter shots, about the power of a mid range pellet gun.. but I have close range shots... just killed a cottonmouth with one last week one night, about 10 feet or so...

20 something grain bullet pushed by the primer only....

Before that I shot a lot of CCI CB caps....

65BR;

Solids.

Winchester (IIRC, may have been Remington) USED to have a CB Short HP that was just a flat killer all out proportion to size/power, but those are LONG gone. CCI solids are perfect for head shots on squirrels, rabbits, and they've been known to sluice larger prey, too.... on occasion.

CCI .22 CB Shorts

I also am amazed by the killing power of these little slugs.

The neat thing about them is you can watch the bullet fly towards toward the unsuspecting target....

I shot quite a few cottontail wabbits in my youth with .22 Short Hollow Points out of both a rifle and a revolver. They worked really well, and I preferred them to Long Rifles. I think CCI still makes Short HP's.

CCI short hollow points for me in a couple of autoloaders....very effective.

i keep a marlin bolt gun sighted for CB's.

the short HP's are pretty effective out to 50yards...i have tried the short solids but they didnt kill as well.... if i dont have a headshot on a squirrel i plug'em anyway, and on body shots the solids didnt always drop them immediately.

Been killing woodchucks in the back yard with CCI CB shorts for years. Fired from inside the house out an open window, hardly any sound outside at all.

So quiet, the neighbor girl once thought I was killing them with an air rifle and wanted "one like I had". ;O)

Great feedback guys thanks, I think the slower speed perhaps transmits the energy better than say a faster LR solid that zips thru. My brother felt the quieter report helped his bag size on squirrels, perhaps the louder LRs made other hide.

My main rifle has been a 77/22 w/chopped 17" reworked Butler Creek 10/22 bull bbl that shoots little groups, but I run LRs only. I have plans to get a BL22 in the near future, using my brothers, it is just a fun gun to shoot and I may just take it hunting to increase the challenge, using irons.

Thanks again.

The softer report is very nice. I've had shots miss the target with the CBs, and the bushytail not move at all, giving MORE than ample opportunity to correct the situation on the second round.

Try to find a used single-shot bolt action .22LR orphaned in a pawn shop or similar. Clean it up (likely the first time in it's life), and see if it won't perform well. The older ones (Winchesters, Remingtons, Springfields, etc.) with a bit longer barrels give great sight radii, and often prove very quiet when using CBs.

I don't have a whole lot of experience with .22 shorts. About the time I started shooting i the late 1970s, .22 Shorts were already pretty much the same price as 22 LRs, so I never really shot them much.

I have had several old timers in MO and Arkansas tell me the best killing squirrel loads inside 50 yards are .22 Short Hollow points in a rifle designed to fire shorts only(due to the twist rate in the barrel).

The longer "dwell time" of the slug in the animal at the lower sppeds as well as the lower section density seems to allow them to transmit more of there energy into the animal rahter than just Zipping through.

I saw this 25 years ago when I was trying out some RWS Subsonic Hollow point 22 LRs load on Praire Dogs. I was impressed at how well they killed them compared to CCI Mini mag Hps etc. They hit with a solid "Whump" and litterally shoved the 'dogs off the mound whereas the .22 HP HV loads would zip through, many times with minimal expansion.

Another example of this has been recently with high powered Pre charged Pneumatic Airguns. the 14 to 18g .22 cal pellets driven at 800 FPS or better REALLY thump tree Squirrels even with body hits. Those ballistics are close to a .22 short.

CB caps work well within 25 yards. I have killed everything from squirrels to big tom cats with mine. Now my arthritis is so bad I can't feel them to load single shot any more.

Randy

Shorts can be all over for velocity. In general there is a high speed at 900-1100 and a Target version at 6-800fps. I have a High Standard and a Star setup for the lower velocity, they do not like the higher velocity stuff!

Great info guys. VA, I forgot about my Grandfather's Remington Model 33 I have......would be real quiet w/that longish bbl.

Jim, 'dwell time'...that's what I meant to say

Nice triggers on old classics also! Someday I should have a Win 72A come my way, and it will be a dandy also.

Thanks again.

CB Shorts are killers but placement is key. Some guns with LR chambers will shoot shorts OK to Wow, but mostly not. My suggestion, since there are now available CB Longs and CB LR ammo, if you have a LR chamber use that stuff...if your rifle doesn't do well with shorts.

Carbon ring theory...yes, maybe. Clean the chamber after shorts and move on. Many years ago I had a LR chamber that suffered some chamber pitting due to short ammo and my ignorance. YMMV

Shorts in a "short chamber" shoot as well as most anything else fired in the appropriate chamber:

CCI CB shorts, 50 yards, bag rest w/Weaver 4X RF scope. Groups a few thou over .5". The gun will do the same with CCI short HVHP ammo.



The rifle, 20" barrel, 1:16 twist, short match chamber from Fox Ridge:




Zeroed for hogs at 10 yards, fired in numerical sequence, clean barrel, offhand leaning on post.




Hogs. If you cannot be patient and precise, wear good track shoes. If you intend to shoot a sow with the kids in tow, shoot her first. Know where you're heading in case things don't go as planned...every time you do this.







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