Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 22LR and the whitetail skull

I've killed a few feral hogs with a .22LR loaded with CCI 40gr. SGB

.22WMR is better.
Winchester 40gr. JHP has been quite effective on feral hogs and exotics (axis and fallow doe).

Yeah, the 40 gr. Win JHP is a fantastic little bullet. The one I used on every lung shot deer I killed with the .22 WMR cartridge. I have a couple perfectly mushroomed specimens recovered from under the hide on the offiside of lung shot deer. They are picture perfect mushrooms suitable for a big game bullet advertisement.

Not questioning what you have experienced, but I've seen several shot between the eyes with the .22 mag and the bullet skipped off the front of the skull just under the skin without penetrating the skull. Never had a problem when they turned to the side though.

I've shot deperadation tags on the farm here in SC with a .22 mag for years, so I've got a pretty fair idea of how well they work. We use it to keep the noise down, and no recoil. I've always kept the shots under 50 yrds with the rimfire. Shooting farm tags evening after evening, after evening is a chore. Make no mistake about it.

My experience came the same way. Agricultural damage control near a housing development. Rimfires used to keep noise down.

If I was to use a .22 LR for deer I would use a Mini Mag solid or preferably a SGB load. For body/neck shots I would use Velocitors.

I have had too many Round nose 22 LR loads bounce off the skull to really trust them. It doesn't take much of an angle. It is especially true out of a revolver like a K-22 where a lot of velocity is lost. Actually the SGB bullet desrves some penetration testing....

If at all possible, I would use a .22 WMR rather than a 22LR. The 40 grain Magnum solid loads penetrate all out of proportion to the size/velocity. The HP's will take a rib and be laying under the hide on the far side.

Fosteology,

The 50grn Federal HP is a humb dinger on swine as well. We've used the 40g CCIs mostly, but those Federal 50s work like a champ. They chrono about 300-350fps slower than the 40s.

I have heard guys say the exact same thing on behind the shoulder shots. I have also been told that sometimes after being shot behind the shoulder that the deer would jump/run a few steps and then go back to feeding until they fell over.

Dink

Thanks for the report. I don't get to shoot much stuff, other than small game, with a rimfire anymore and was wondering how the new stuff stacked up.

Dink

We hog hunt on federal forest service land, if deer season is not open you have to use whatever firearm that would be legal to hunt whatever game the season is open for ( such as squirrel) as there is no "hog" season. So we hunt with either 22lr or 22mag. We only take close range head shots, 50 yards or less. Doesn't seem to matter what you shoot them with, if you put it in the skull it will die right there. I use 22 mag cci solids. Weight range of the hogs are 50-250lb. I guy who shot benchrest once told me all you need for deer is a .222, I asked where he shot them, he replied anywhere in the eye.

My 220 Swift always worked.

maybe our deer just arnt as tough as the rest of the country...
I have close neighbors and while it's 100% legal from every standpoint, noise is the reason I am even looking into using the 22.
A can and paperwork is going to run me just over $1K and even then if using subsonics I probably wont get the best stabilization from my 1-12" bbl, which means buying a different rifle to can up.
regardless, I would only going to take head/ neck shots even with a centerfire because I cant afford to have a deer run out into the road and into a car or through a neighbors sliding glass door.
Amazing that using a LEGAL cartrige, on MY land in a 100% LEGAL manner brings the slander from some here.
Do you guys really think that a 22LR in the head at 40 yards is less lethal than than a 223 at 200 in the body?

Thats as concise as it needs to be on the subject

I prefer the .50 BMG.....doesn't really matter where you hit em, it's always lethal

Aside from the noise issue, do y'all really think a head shot with a 22LR is that much safer in highly populated areas?

Even shooting at a sharp downward angle, it looks like ricochets on head shots could be problematic.

DJ

Standard velocity RN, CNS. Your problem will be placement, not terminal performance. You need to present the bullet to bone in as perpendicular aspect as possible to avoid deflection. You also have to recognize that deer move their heads often and abruptly. There is little difference in the killing of deer or hogs in context of terminal ballistics and anatomy, but the trick for deer is getting them to hold still for it.

Thinking this is a format you'd do well to reconsider.

Common sense answer and in addition with close neighbors who knows where the bullet will go if perchance it does pass through. Then there is the problem with the Deer dying in one of those close yards.

"Oh excuse me for interrupting your picnic. I'll have this out of the way in a minute."

When i was a young kid dad use to send me out at night to shoot a deer for a family at the end of the road that had about 10 children.

The daddy was a wood cutter and the mother cut and fixed other peoples hair in the community, they did the best they could, but had trouble making ends meet, 6 or 7 deer through the winter months sure didnt hurt, I must have shot 5 pickup bed loads of deer with the 22 LR and an old Weaver scope over the years, lead round nose bullet in the head/ear/eye and it was a done deal, never lost one.


Gunner

Here's a copy of some Milk Jug Tests I posted over at rimfirecentral about six years ago. Not bone/meat but may help you decide on what round to use. I quit testing solid points as they did not expand no matter the velocity and the penetration was eating up my jug supply. Based on this I would vote for the Velocitor or a solid (anything but Remington which have had velocity consistency issues for twenty five years that I am aware of).

Digital Dan also has/had(?) some pictures of pig skulls that were shot with 22's down on the rimfire forum.

Jerry

Milk Jug Expansion Tests
22 Rimfire Milk Jug Tests

Shot at 50 Yards unless noted otherwise, Original Bullet Weight is in Parenthesis. All Rounds are Long Rifle Except CCI-Short HP and Aguila Super Colibri. Barrel length was 22 inches.

A-HV HP (Aguila High Velocity HP); Completely Penetrated 3 Jugs. Recovered weight 37.6 grains (38). Max. Expansion 0.295".

A-SC (Aguila Super Colibri); Shot at 20 Yards. Penetrated into 1st Jug, did Not Dimple Back Wall of Jug. Recovered weight 20 grains (20). No Visible Expansion.

A-SS HP (Aguila Sub-Sonic Hollow Point); Recovered in 2nd Jug. Recovered weight 37.4 grains (38). Max. Expansion 0.325".

CCI-QS (CCI Quik Shok) Did not Penetrate Back Wall of 1st Jug, Blew Jug Apart. Only Found 1 Small Fragment in Jug. Recovered weight 3.5 grains. This was the older packaged Quik Shok (pre 2006).

CCI-Short HP (CCI Short Hollow Point); Shot at 35 Yards. Found in 2nd Jug. Recovered weight 27.0 grains (27). Max. Expansion 0.400".

CCI-Short HP (50) (CCI Short Hollow Point); Shot at 50 Yards. Found in 3rd Jug. Recovered weight 26.5 grains (27). Max. Expansion 0.420".

CCI-SS HP (CCI Sub Sonic Hollow Point); Penetrated 2 Milk Jugs, Stopped on Face of 3rd Jug, Blew Apart 1st Jug. Recovered weight 39.0 grains (40). Max. Expansion 0.380".

REM-SS HP (Remington Sub Sonic Hollow Point); Penetrated 2 Milk Jugs. Recovered weight 39.3 grains (?). Max. Expansion 0.335".

RWS-SS HP (RWS Sub-Sonic Hollow Point); Penetrated into 3rd Jug. Recovered weight 40.3 grains (40). Max. Expansion 0.330".

WMT (Wolf Match Target); Penetrated into 5th Jug. Recovered weight 40 grains (40). No Visible Expansion.



2nd Set of 22 Rimfire Milk Jug Tests
I dropped the expansion measurement and weight as I felt the picture gives a better idea of how they opened up.

All were shot at 50 Yards. 2 Rounds were tested of each type and both are in the photograph. All Rounds are Long Rifle Hollow Points. Barrel Length was 22 inches.

AGUILA-SUPER MAX ; Both bullets penetrated into 2nd Jug. 2nd Bullet did not lose it�s frontal mushroom piece.

CCI- MINI MAG HP; 1ST Bullet penetrated the 2nd Jug and left a dimple (leaking water) in 3rd Jug, bullet was found at interface of jugs 2 and 3. 2nd Bullet penetrated into 3rd Jug and had the more extensive mushroom.

CCI-QUIK SHOK; Small fragment found in 1st Jug, larger fragment found in 2nd Jug (1st round is on the right side). 2nd shot had the same results, except the fragment in 1st jug was larger (2nd round is on the left). This is the new packaged Quik Shok (2006), which as OIS noted earlier blows apart less violently than the older stuff.

CCI-stinger; 1st Bullet penetrated 2nd jug and was found at interface with 3rd jug. 2nd Bullet penetrated into the 3rd jug, 2nd Bullet has the larger mushroom.

CCI-velocitor; Both Bullets penetrated into the 3rd jug.
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Best advice so far, BC30cal !

I too lean to the Velocitor, mostly for the slight edge over the Mini-Mags for penetration.

About half the 'yotes will run on me. Usually about the distance you would expect for Rimfire stuff,, + or -, 70 yards or so. I usually go for the double lung shot on 'yotes because I know they will be dead 'shortly'.

I expect similar results on problem deer, up to about the 80# maximum live weight. Velocitor (and Mini-Mags) there also, with Velocitors again 1st choice. Over the 80# weight 'shortly' often gets different to predict.

The protocol on head and neck shots here is, as quickly as possible approach and another to the heart lung/area AND brain pan. Seen a few of those head and neck shots that were 'dead' get up and take off again.

Don't know the OP's situation, safety seems to be his paramount problem.

Out of this thread.