Whats the biggest Game you would shoot with the 22 MAG? - your thoughts?

I was thinking to add hmr.17 >>but that's garbage!>>just a paper puncher! so we will stick to the great 22 mag!Enjoy

I think these varmints would disagree about the .17HMR being "garbage" and a "paper puncher."

They'd be embarrassed to admit that they were put down by such a puny little bullet

-Jake

Yup,just downright embarrassed.

Used the 17hmr on 2 fox hunts.

I no longer own a 17hmr.

I do however own a couple 22mags......I’d say coyotes out to 75 yardsish

I dunno. Dinosaurs have been gone awhile ya know. Mebbe a cape buff if I had some FMJ ammo.

my Marlin 25MN, is one I've since 1980....

It has spent a lot of time in my 4 Runner, in my travels...

over that period of time, it has dispatched about 10 deer that had been hit by a car...

head shots with the old CCI 40 grain FMJ, out to 125 yds, with a rest off the hood...

dropped them like a rock...

my adopted son consistently drops deer under hunting conditions with the 17hmr. i killed a big coyote with a 17.
so i guess i'd have no qualms using a 22mag on a deer. under kiss me conditions i am sure it would kill an elk. but it would have to be protecting my sweet young body to try it. oh wait i am a sour old fudd. guess the elk could have its way with me.

I thought there was some guys that have shot hogs with the 22 magnum, not head shots either.

A 22 mag will kill animals that are bigger than what is legal to use it on. Precise shot placement is required.

I really don't know but heres some food for thought...

I once shot a steel spinning target (basic store bought type, maybe 5/16" thick) at 75 yards with a 34 grain Win Supreme load.
The little bullet mushroomed perfectly and pushed the front of the steel disc back to a ways past where the back face had been. Maybe another 1/8" or so.

Its worth noting that the target didn't have any dents in it from constant use at much closer range from plenty of HV 22lr. Plus the disc was free to move with the impact, and this was a light hollow point.

I have to think that it would be no problem to get through a deers ribcage at the same distance, and I wonder what a standard 40 grain solid would penetrate.
Not the most humane kills without a headshot, but deer are definitely on the 22 mag's menu.
There's a reason they have a reputation as a poachers gun.

Just my .02

.22 MAG is legal for hunting deer in Maine.

The 10/22 MAG is, or was, a favorite of fish/game/parts departments for use by conservation officers who were assigned to do crop damage or herd reduction shooting.

Had a couple, but neither were really accurate, though plenty for the stuff I'd hunt with one. Got a Hornet, which makes a good .22 mag if you leave out some if the powder.

Biggest critter I ever shot with the maggie was a fat barn pigeon I took with a Single Six. Sure made him pop!

22 mag is deer legal in Maine? I had no idea and I'm pretty surprised...

elk are those ground squirrels or tree squirrels..????

Works well at night, aiming between two bright, shining eyeballs...

Or so I've been told.

The round's a given, candlepower's the issue...

DF

Ground squirrels.

Monopoly maybe?

Rockem Sockem robots was a hoot with the Daisy...

The biggest I've seen, my butcher from years back used a .22 Mag to kill butcher animals. So, how about a 1 ton bull..

Right between the eyes, lights out. Maybe not game, but big.

DF

The .22 Magnum is specifically allowed, while all other .17 and .22 rimfire cartridges are prohibited.

This is the actual wording:

§11454. Hunting deer with .22 caliber rimfire cartridge
1. Prohibition. A person may not hunt deer with any firearms using a .17 or .22 caliber rimfire cartridge, except that the use of the .22 caliber rimfire magnum cartridge is not prohibited.
[ 2005, c. 477, §12 (AMD) .]

Hungry Hungry Hippos. One of the Big Five.

My father in law told me stories of when he was kid and times were tough, him and his old man would take the family sedan out to some fruit orchards to poach deer to feed the family. A single shot 22 mag, one shot in the neck. Tarp all laid out in the trunk, throw the deer in there and get outta dodge.

I'm pretty sure a bull would be considered game in Texas, provided you shoot it from an elevated position while it's standing over a pile of feed.

Well I appreciate the folks at Maine DEM for validating my educated guess. 👍

kilt several young feeder steers & grade heifers with a .22 rf pistol up close. lights out. 40 grain because that's all we had.

all the hogs got kilt in the pen with lr .22 with the bullet cut in half. didn't want it to penetrate beyond the brain pan into the neck meat.

.22 mags have been the choice of rural "deer hunters" for ages. the game wardens know it works, but it's still illegal in ga.

22 mag for years was known as the poacher`s special,alot of poor families in Minnesota up north used a 22 mag to get fresh meat ! a good friend who is a butcher always use`s a 22 mag to slaughter all his animals to butcher,size does not matter to him 1 head shot with the 22 mag and its down.

I've killed several deer with a .22 mag already and several more with a .22LR and 5mm Remington magnum rimfire. I won't know what the biggest critter I'd use it on will be until I run into one that needs killing with the .22 mag. in my hands.

Neck shots? What bullet?

Neck shots, head shots and lung shots. Various 40 grain solids in .22LR {head shots only} Winchester 40 gr JHP's in .22 mag. { head, neck and lung shots} and Remington 38 gr PLHP's in the 5mm {neck and lung}. Never had a lung shot deer go more than 75 yards with .22 mag.. the Win 40 gr. JHP will penetrate completely through the chest cavity/lungs of a 140 lb. deer broadside. All shots taken inside 60 yards except for one head shot at 80 yards.

I've heard lots of stories but the biggest "game" I've personally killed are Bobcats...some called...some treed.

I SEE THE>> 22 mag kills Deer!! and kills them well MM>> I see the .17 boys are Quit MMN>> how would you say >>silent!!

One more thing we should talk is the 22 mag bullet itself!!>I have heard that that the 22 mag bullet is made more like a centerfire bullet and much superior then the 22 long bullet!! ??

I see>> EH<>>is mouthing OFF>I think these varmints would disagree about the .17HMR being "garbage" and a "paper puncher.">> Tell US> the Deer you brought down with your .17?

Talk is cheap.

"Luckily",Imagination and Pretend are free...for you Day Dreaming Do NOTHING Dumb Fhuqks.

Hint..................

That's a pretty dumb question.

Good answer.

I don't hunt deer with a .17 HMR,I prefer something bigger. I wonder how many deer are wounded and lost with the .22 mag?

Many an elk and deer around this part of the world have been killed with a .22 mag. While most of them have been done illegally and at night, many have been killed to feed a family. Not by me either.

There has been many a poacher from neighboring counties have been busted shooting trophy animals and leaving the carcass to rot. Thank God the game and fish eventually catch some of them.

Back when I worked summers in the packing house, if a big thick headed cow or bull came back to life after the knocker wouldn't put them out long enough to cut their corotid arteries, a guy with a .22 LR pistol did the deed with a close up shot to the forehead. The meat inspector was right there to condemn the head for possible lead contamination, but it did the job on 1,200 pound cattle. A .22 Mag would be more than enough with a brain shot on a big animal.

Depends on how bad you wanted to kill it . I've put a few deer in the freezer with one . Also seen a lot of beef that was butchered that fell to a 22 mag.

When was in grad school, I worked on a big ranch down in south Texas. I carried an Anschutz bolt-action rifle chambered in .22 mag as my "truck gun." The management paid $5 for coyote tails and $10 for a bobcat scalp. I made enough extra cash just about very time I was down there to cover my gas back and forth to College Station--and I often had enough left over to buy my wife dinner after I got home. (Gas and restaurant meals were pretty cheap back then. )

i've never understood the combination of science and politics behind which gun calibers are allowed and which aren't.

it's a pretty arcane science for sure.

is there a better answer?

i doubt it.

I simply shoot it all.

Hint................

You mean you steal em all

Excellent Accuracy
Hornady claims the new 22 WMR loaded with the 30gr V-MAX™ is “significantly more accurate” than any other 22 WMR ammo they’ve tested. According to Hornady’s Dave Emary, “we started with a better bullet, and the added velocity provides a flatter trajectory.” Even out of old, inexpensive rifles, the new ammo is delivering 1.5 MOA or better groups at 100 yards. That’s exceptional for a 22 WMR according to noted gun writer Chuck Hawks: “I have also owned and used enough .22 WMR rifles to know that they will seldom match that level of performance. I used to have a rather accurate Mossberg bolt action varmint rifle that would consistently shoot into about 1.5″ at 100 yards if I did my part. That is as accurate as any .22 WMR rifle I have ever tested.”New 2200 FPS .22 Mag Rimfire from Hornady

Every rifle is different. I haven't tried these Hornady. But when I bought my 22 mag. I bought a box of every type of ammo available at the time to try. Mine shoots Fed classic 50 gn hp. Into an enlarged hole at 50 yds. None of the 30 gn loads shot worth using. At a 100 yards the 30s keyholed in the paper if i could hit the paper at all. It also shoots cci 40 gn solids and HP well enough to use to shoot small animals in the head. Or big animals if needed.

Ooopsie!.............

Is that a .22 mag ?

i know the 22mag are good for elks and sometimes squirrels

On the old Shooters.com there was a Poster named McBendyElbow who had been a Maine State Legislator when the law was passed. He gave the reasons behind the law which I believe had to do with the fact that the round would kill deer and that many in the rural areas of Maine at the time were too poor to afford a centerfire rifle and the much more expensive cartridges....

I've seen two deer killed by ranch hands down in Texas with .22 Magnum... Probably illegal but that's Texas....

..for me...to actually go hunting, coyote or hogs up close...

Bob

The LA Wildlife and Fisheries has basically made that decision for me, if I want to hunt hogs on a Wildlife Management Area. The regs do not establish a specific season for hogs but rather mandate the use of whatever firearms/calibers are legal for the game that is in season. Now, I have a WMA about 10 minutes from my home but I refuse to hunt deer there for 2 reasons: I have access to 100 acres of private property I can hunt free of charge and too many city folk using the WMA for deer hunting and shooting at anything that moves. Since the WMA near my home is loaded with hogs, I can hunt them for just over 2 months after deer season ends but only with a rimfire or shotgun (no buckshot allowed), since that is as long as the rabbit/squirrel season lasts. I recently purchased a CZ 512 22 Magnum semi-auto Carbine that is hunting accurate with any ammo I've thus tried out to 50 yards (the farthest shot I would ever get at this WMA) but is most accurate with the CCI A22 Mag ammo. Now that I am newly retired, I may actually get a chance to do this.