Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires .22 RF shotshells... what do you REALLY use them for?

Use it for rats and snakes in the barns and sheds. Even at close range the shot won't penetrate tin or sheet metal.

Been times were I killed >20 rats in a single night using a single six. You'd run in with a flashlight and try to make the first six shots count then do your best to reload quickly before the stragglers get to cover. Fun times.

I've used one to kill a possum in the attic of the house. Up close and into the head and all was over.

We keep a revolver loaded with them in the boat for snakes. Fishing a bayou, we have run into nests of water moccasins that wanted in the boat with us. Works a lot better than two guys jumping up and down trying to whack the boarders with paddles.

Starlings in the outbuildings is the only use I've found for em. Tried em on rats at 12-15 feet, didn't stop em.

"I know you can shoot your little brother with them and he will live to rat you out."

CrowRifle....you must be my older brother!!!

My experience is the same as yours. I don't like getting that close to a snake to use this dustshot. I've shot about 6-8 rattlers with this stuff and all the seemed to do is curl up rattle and get pissed off. One lad said that you had to shoot them 2-3 times to kill'em and he is probably right.

I like a shotgun, when handy, or just plain lead, .22lr or .40S&W

I used them years ago......
and learned how to cuss.

I used one once to evaporate a hornet on a juniper branch once and caught the ricochet full in the face. No damage, except to the hornet, which I could not find. Stung a bit though. And I still have my eyes.

1flier

most guys use ccis but I can tell you from lots of experience that winchesters are the only way to go for 22 shotshells. you get twice the effective range. I shot bullfrogs with them for years and if you hit them in the back and head it paralizes them instantly.. when I was a kid I would spotlight rats in the barn and literally killed buckets full. Lots of clean fun for a farm boy.. if you carry them for snakes and use anything but the winchesters multiple shots are needed, never needed more than one shot with the wins...

I kill upward of a hundred watersnakes every summer. With the CCIs, I rarely need more than one shot from the Henry, usually from 6-8ft.

I've used them to shoot chipmunks around my house out in the woods[reg..22 rifle ammo to dangerous], and I used them to shoot mice in the fur shed out of my Ruger Single Six.


maddog

I find that if you give your guns a regular shampoo and brushing, they don't shed nearly as much.

I have used 22 LR shotshells on mice and small snakes,

and 22 MAG shotshells on rats and bigger snakes. Both with good results.

Anyone have the shot size difference between the two ?

The ones I've seen were marked #11 some brands, #12 on others.

I've killed a lot of copperheads and cotton mouths with LR shot loads. Usually 4-12 feet away.

Leaving the woods late one evening the bats were flying like crazy. I managed to get two out of six shots.

Last time I looked they were priced at $10 a box.

Didn't live around Crocketnj, did he?

The ones we used were the all metal kinds with the front crimped over. I cant imagine them being much account on anything bigger than insects. I think they had #12 shot.

The rogue chipmunks were room distance away, probably 10-12 feet. No sign of a hit. Maybe ole Alvin is tougher than he looked!?

That you guys were able to take out mice and rats and birds and snakes is pretty wild. I guess they are definitely more useful than I remembered as a kid.

Thanks for the reports.

You really need a smoothbore to make the shotshells shine. I have a Remington 572 smoothbore that really increases the range over a normal rifled barrel 22LR. I've killed sparrows, chipmunks, etc. with it.

I got one of those electric fly swatters that look like a badminton racket. Lots of fun. miles

Got this info right off the box:
CCI 22 WMR shotshell
1/8 oz. #12 shot (approx. 175 pellets)

I like them....except the cost.

I've used the old CCI 22LR shotshells to dispatch bats inside a log cabin.