Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .22 Hi-power

I still hunt with mine once and a while and my .303 Savage. I shot a deer last year (about 135lbs.)with my Hi-Power. All this nonsense about how tough deer are now days. No wonder kids all want to use tree stands, they are afraid of the deer. I only ever lost one deer with a rifle, and that was a 30-40 Krag. I am sure everyone can come up with stories, real or rumor, about lost deer. I have been hunting public land for a long time and the most deer hit and lost award would have to go to the 30-30. There is just no argument. A bad hit is a bad hit no matter what you use. By the way, I put a .228 1:10 liner in mine and it shoots S&B ammo great.

Where did you find a .228 liner?

gnoahhh--

A liner maker on the west coast.

Beinke&Beinke
24550 Sprauge River Road
Sprauge River, OR.97639
541-533-0906

I haven't talked to him in a few years, I guess he is still in business. He used to do installations too.

The question of whether .22 centerfires are adequate for deer comes up frequently on the Campfire, though it usually involves the .223 and/or .22-250.

The anti argument is almost always made by hunters who have never used .22 centerfires on deer, and never will, because they "know" they're too small.

The pro argument is almost always made by hunters who have used .22 centerfires on deer, and know they work.

John,

Your whole post can be used in countless other age old arguments also. Can I have permission to use this post in another one of these arguments on a different forum? Which revolves around using a .270 win for elk hunting for which I fall into the latter camp. It works just fine!

Go right ahead!

I have seen a number of elk die quickly by .270 injection--and have only one failure, due to a bad bullet.

I was once a disbeliever when I was younger for just that reason. I swallowed all that heavy bullet crap from older guys that would never use a .243 for deer. Well put Mule deer.

Thank you much kind sir. I'll be sure and credit you as the source. I'm just tired of the same argument day in and day out.

BTW John,

I've never seen a failure in the .270 either using NP's, but I've spoken to many that had "failures" out of dead elk. I don't get it.

The 22-HP is not just for tigers you know. Shot this bad boy in the dark holding the HP in one hand and a flashlight in the other.



BP...

kelk,

These days a lot of people judge whether a bullet failed or not by what the mushroom looks like, or whether or not the bullet exited. This is because there are almost as many bullet experts as bullets.

Bumping a really old thread, but Norm Nelson's notes (Author of many articles for Field and Stream, Outlife life, etc) said that he intentionally had a 22 Hi Power rebored to .250 to overcome the inaccuracy of the 22 HP. He was using store bought ammo for his 1913 rifle which I now possess. I have both the 1913 rifles, one in 22HP and the re-bored .250-3000. (Which I have test shot with no target and works great)

After reading this thread, in regards to the 22 HP, I'm leaning on a .224 62 gr bullet front of some Win 760 (Once I get my dies) What say you Savage brain trust?

I simply use a file type die, drop a Hornady 70 grain .227" in and file the tip off. No more keyholing.

Some folks say the .224's shoot well in their .22 HP's, but I've never tried them.

I'm a fan of this old cartridge, it is one of my go to coyote rigs, 12ga/22 HP in a BRNO Combo gun with a Nikkon 1.5-4.5x20mm scope. Buffalo Arms has a whole line of .228 bullets from 45-70gr. The 55gr shoots well in my rifle.

If you read the first couple of pages of this thread you should know the answer to your question.

If I were just starting out with a .22HP I would simply buy a bag of .25-35 brass, some Buffalo Arms bullets (or scrounge around the internet for some old Speer 70 gr. or Sisk 50-70 gr. bullets), a can of either H-4895 or IMR-3031- and go forth and shoot stuff with it. I never tried 760 powder in either of the four .22HP tubes I feed. One thing is sure- I doubt you'll get too much of that slower powder in a HP case to cause trouble, but act prudently nonetheless. I always, always, found best accuracy with 23 gr. 3031 or 24 gr. H-4895/70 gr. bullet. The resulting lower pressure = better case life as well. Step them up a skinch for hunting loads if you feel it necessary.

You'll have to change out the expander button in your die if you insist on using .224 bullets, or perhaps just not use an expander button at all. Otherwise a .224 bullet will slide right on through the neck. (At least that's the case with my Redding dies.) Others disagree, but I'm in the camp of believing that .228 bullets should be used- if you're like me and will put a bazillion shots through those 100+ year old barrels. I could be all wet, but I figure every little bit of prevention of gas cutting helps with barrels that aren't made anymore. I'm 64 and probably have enough .228 jacketed bullets now to last me the rest of my life- and no, none are for sale!

The very best bang for the buck is to cast your own- cheap as all hell and won't wear the bore, and A-ok for plinking/targets/small animals. There was a guy on Gunbroker who was regularly selling .228 cast bullets cheaply. I saw his offerings recently but don't know if he is currently there. I don't care- I have a couple molds and a ton of lead.

I would love to create or buy a fast twist .22HP single shot, but other guns and projects keep getting in my way. I'm still kicking myself for procrastinating over a BRNO single shot that got away from me on Gunbroker a short while back.

Wow, this is an old thread.


Without trying to be a trogdolyte (which I am), I cant but help thinking a round/flat nose custom bullet mould sized to fit the throat and blunt for the twist of said rifle using heat treated metal and a .22 gas check couldnt tackle anything 22 cf could be pointed at. Softnosing a few for posterity (or for BarnesTSX results) is easily an option at its velocity levels. Yes, make the check shank for HORNADY gas checks....
Ditch the bore riders, make that 70grs. short, fat and blunt, or with less BC than original jacketed ammo at its inception. Size nose first.

Jacketed bullets and the typical Hornady "re-designs", junk die/brass dimensions plague this cartridge. Either it needs barrel changing to work with consistent bullets or you need to make the bullets work for the gun.

Its not hard to make a turd out of any cartridge. This one isnt the only one.... aftermarket often is not on par with OE, especially when OE has been discontinued.

Was happy to find that I could get factory-new .22 Hi Power ammo with a soft-point 70 gr bullet.

Accuracy from my 1913 TD model has been adequate, with the flip-up rear tang sight.

Planning to carry it a fair bit this winter after the big-game seasons are over, for coyotes, and will hope for a mountain lion.

Guy

I had some Norma and S&B factory loads. My TD would shoot one of them ok they pother keyholed like crazy! Tried handloading the Hornady, mega-keyhole. Had to go to the file die to shorten the Hornaday's. I wish my 99 had a faster twist. I thought about rebarreling, but then realized trimming the bullets is a whole lot less expensive.

I know I'm way late to this thread, but don't let the twist rate in the older ones get to you.

I picked up a 1935 99 and in my loading experiments, discovered that the 1:14 stabilizes up to 100gr bullets just fine.

I hunted with 87gr last season moving at an average of 3045 FPS.

Took 2 deer before 7:15am opening morning, both with perfectly placed heart-lung shots.

One walked slowly less than 10 yards abs dropped, the 2nd DRT.

What I found when I gutted them was impressive.

The vitals were nearly liquified and they hemorrhaged internally. Very little blood around the exit. Zero blood trail from the one that walked.

The hydrostatic shock actuality bruised the rear of the front shoulders, about 4" from the entry and exit, and left about a 4" bruise on the ribs around the exit.

That quarter bore kills way better than it should or sometimes gets credit for.

But I digress.

I recently picked up a 1913 99 takedown in 22HP.

I bought it as a restoration project.

The lock up is perfect and while externally it looked rode hard and put away wet as they say, the bones are fantastic.

The bore is shiny with well defined lands and grooves, no frost, pitting, or rust.

It's in pieces right now with the wood getting done first, metal next.

I found brass and .228 60gr custom spitzers and can't wait to take the 110 year old lady to the range age then the woods.

I've read up more than most sane people would on the "imp", as i tend to do on every cartridge that I take a shining to, and based on what I've read, I am confident that she'll do fine with deer so long as I do my part.

Cheers !