How Instantly Lethal is .22?

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kbm6893

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I know it all depends on the bullet, and I am not a hunter, but last year I had to dispatch a pesky groundhog and I put a squirrel out of its misery thst must have been hit by a car. It's eye was hanging out and flies were already on it. It was sitting on my lawn staring at me.

So the groundhog was shot from about 60 feet with my 10/22. I was using Remington Thunderbolts that I was trying to get rid of. Rifle was zeroed st 100 yards so I had to hold low. First shot to the neck and it dropped into its hole. I was putting the rifle away and my son said "dad, he's back". So I shot him again and saw the head shot. Went to look at him to make sure and he was still breathing, but died a minute later.

Squirrel was very weird. Same ammo. Shot from about 6 feet. I'm squeamish about a close up head shot so I shot him in the side. Jumped but didn't die. Second shot underneath his armpit. Curled up and was surely dying, but still breathing. 3rd shot to the head and he was done.

So I got a brick of the new CCI Quiet ammo. Man, is it quiet! Sounds like a BB gun. I was reading the new John Sandford Prey novel. He's usually very meticulous about his gun details. One of the villains used the CCI Quiets to dispatch another bad guy. Took 4 head shots and the bad guy commented to his partner that the ammo wasn't as powerful as he hoped.

So do I need a head shot on a critter to put them down fast? I'm not looking for anything to suffer. And I know Thunderbolts suck, but they're still a .22 bullet and I figured would be enough to put a groundhog and a squirrel down with one shot. They're all shot up by now, but he majority of my shooting is the bulk pack stuff.
 
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I try for head shots on everything 22. It's hard to get them to expand and they're not fast enough to hydrostatic shot so you need to destroy the nervous system.

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Head shots are usually better but sometimes harder to make. Animals are tougher than we think sometimes.

Hunted small animals when I was a kid. Dad always told me to follow up with a quick head shot if needed.
 
IMO, a 22 is pretty iffy on any type of small varmint outside of a good solid head shot. As already said, little to no expansion even with 22lr hollow points.

One thing I found years ago that makes them much more deadly is to cut the tip off completely flat so it's basically a full wadcutter. Pretty much cut the tip off back to the knurled bearing surface. I can tell you this makes them very devastating with a decent head shot on any small varmint. With the CCI quiets you mentioned you will actually hear the bullet hit your target with a loud slap.
 
hkcavalier said:
Sounds like you're using plinking ammo to kill critters. Maybe try a high velocity/low weight HP instead? Of course those will shoot even lower.
Click to expand...

I know there is more effective ammo, but I'm trying to keep it as quiet as possible, and high velocity is gonna make thst harder. It's not like I shoot critters very often. Maybe I'll just stick to double or triple tapping anything I have to shoot. The Quiets won't cycle the bolt so I have to manually work the action.
 
Depends on where you hit them. I once saw a deer hit between the eyes at 75 yards with a HVHP and it went down as fast as anything I've ever seen. I've also seen squirrels hit through the lungs make it to their nest unrecoverable.

I always try for a headshot and have never seen a squirrel require a second one regardless of distance. Any hollowpoint, including subsonic, should work close up if placed properly.
 
I'm not surprised at the woodchuck not staying down - they are incredibly tough. I have seen the badly mangled (almost torn in half) by a 25-06 hollow point - and the front half was still trying for the hole. :eek:
 
ParkerCoachGun008.jpg
 
I started using Winchester Hyper Velocity 40 gr. HPs for squirrels. It is advertised at 1435 fps. It is as accurate in my CZ rifle as any ammo I have tried and very effective when it hits them. I have shot 7 squirrels off of deer feeders with this ammo this summer at ranges from 30 to 70 yards.
 
I've had very similar results as you. Takes a head shot a lot of times to put a squirrel down. Don't know why so many people carry 22lr for self defense
 
Maybe you're in the Twilight Zone and they were coming back to haunt you. :) As mentioned, you have to hit them in the head or squarely in the heart (tough to do).

On a side note, when I was younger, my Dad and I would hunt Rock Chucks across the Snake River canyon to zero in our deer rifles prior to hunting season (30-06 and 7x57). It they were on our side of the canyon, there wasn't anything left when we hit them.
 
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Groundhogs are very tough critters. I have seen them hit with a .223 and practically take off a shoulder and they run away. Squirrels should be easier to kill but unless you hit something important they will not die quickly, like anything else. With a .22LR I would not aim for anything other than a head shot on Groundhogs. They will die quickly even with .22 Quiet ammo. (don't ask how I know)
 
kbm6893 said:
I know it all depends on the bullet, and I am not a hunter, but last year I had to dispatch a pesky groundhog and I put a squirrel out of its misery thst must have been hit by a car. It's eye was hanging out and flies were already on it. It was sitting on my lawn staring at me.

So the groundhog was shot from about 60 feet with my 10/22. I was using Remington Thunderbolts that I was trying to get rid of. Rifle was zeroed st 100 yards so I had to hold low. First shot to the neck and it dropped into its hole. I was putting the rifle away and my son said "dad, he's back". So I shot him again and saw the head shot. Went to look at him to make sure and he was still breathing, but died a minute later.



Squirrel was very weird. Same ammo. Shot from about 6 feet. I'm squeamish about a close up head shot so I shot him in the side. Jumped but didn't die. Second shot underneath his armpit. Curled up and was surely dying, but still breathing. 3rd shot to the head and he was done.

So I got a brick of the new CCI Quiet ammo. Man, is it quiet! Sounds like a BB gun. I was reading the new John Sandford Prey novel. He's usually very meticulous about his gun details. One of the villains used the CCI Quiets to dispatch another bad guy. Took 4 head shots and the bad guy commented to his partner that the ammo wasn't as powerful as he hoped.

So do I need a head shot on a critter to put them down fast? I'm not looking for anything to suffer. And I know Thunderbolts suck, but they're still a .22 bullet and I figured would be enough to put a groundhog and a squirrel down with one shot. They're all shot up by now, but he majority of my shooting is the bulk pack stuff.
Click to expand...

Always try for head shots. Also IMO, Remington Thunderbolts are the worst 22 cal ammo ever loaded. I got rid of mine in 200 feet of salt water off of my boat
 
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