Effective range of .22 long rifle rat shot from a 4 inch barrel?

Never fired any myself, but from what I've seen on the net, no more than about 10 feet.

More like 5 feet.........If you are lucky.

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S&W Accumulator

Maybe 8 feet, and that's stretching it.

IT totally depends on the target,,
for a real RAT! ,,Point blank range, under 1 foot, literally.
I have seen rats at a junk yard, that a 36 grain 22LR will not stop without proper shot placement.

For a mouse, the range stretches to the double figure range (10 feet)

I doubt it will break a grocery store inflated balloon at 15 feet, or more.

Feathers are VERY good at stopping the little pellets,,
do not expect much,, there.

Do a search on you-tube. There is guy on there using a 22 with shot shells to shoot carpenter bees on the wing off his front porch. He is effect to three or four feet it seems like and he does not seem to do any damage to the background behind the bees.

Is that the same guy that was shooting primers only with the cases loaded with salt?

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SWCA 3563
10mm aficionado

I bought some primed brass, it was so cheap, I thought the primers might be defective,,
so,,
I fired about 5 of them in a rifle, primer only,, WOW I was surprised at the "report" , they were loud.

I used to shoot the plastic bullets in 44 MAG, and 45 ACP, powered by the primer alone,,

The flat nose plastic bullet penetrated quite a few sections of newspapers.
That was fun indoor shooting. AND, the 44 MAG was CRAZY accurate, when shot out of a Contender.

I don't know from personal experience, but I've read the .22 shotshells actually perform pretty well out of a smoothbore barrel . . . several of the big .22 rifle makers used to sell "garden guns" with .22 smooth bore barrels. Savage still does, I believe.

i have had better luck with the crimped brass cases as opposed to the ones with the plastic capsule. had an infested portable building housing livestock feed and such. with my little Ruger 3 screw revolver was deadly at 10-12 feet. lot of fun. go out there at night turn on the light and it was on.i was sort of disappointed after a night or 3 with no more targets. mind you these weren't big rats. large mice at best. oh and it had to be a revolver as the rounds would not create enough pressure to cycle simi auto. keny

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Too good

The BUG-A-SALT 3.0 Black Fly Edition | Salt Gun | New Design
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no experience out of a 4 inch barrel..
I have a smoothbore Remington pump 22.. using the crimped brass shells they work well out to 10-12 feet

From experience dispatching copperheads I would say in the 5ft range.....I afraid to get any closer.

I' ve been doing it for years started with .22 rat shot. For the last few years I've used 38 spl with #12 shot. I shoot them on the wing around my barn and shop. By reloading they are cheaper and much more effective.

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S&W Accumulator

Daisy used to make smoothbore barrels for those .22 rifles they sold.....that would be about the best thing to shoot .22 shot

If you've got adjustable sights, the Colibri ammo from Aguilla is much better for the larger rats. I had one in a trap and the rat/snake shot just irritated him. One round of the Colibri ended the problem.

With empty 12 oz plastic soft drink bottles as targets, the slugs wouldn't exit. Can't recall the range.

I've found the snake shot in .38 snubbies to be disappointing.

22 shot shells are miserable devices, useful for shooting bugs (I’ve used them to shoot dragonflies). They aren’t at all useful for snakes or small mammals unless you are shooting at fingertip distances.

Oh, I forgot one use: introducing children to wing shooting using balloons with some water added and pitched underhanded as the target. For that, effective range is about 15’-20’. They work for this purpose at those extreme ranges because it just takes one #12 shot to pop a balloon: just has to penetrate one side of the balloon.

I like smooth bore .22, used to collect them but now only have a couple. One is a Savage Mk 2 SB and it works well on mice to 12-15 feet with either the crimped shot or the CCI plastic capsules.. I also have a Marlin in .22 WMR smooth bore that is deadly on squirrels to about 20-25 feet

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Old paratrooper in NC

I have used the crimped Federal shells in a .22 rifle to good effect on red squirrels. (By red squirrel I mean the chipmunk-sized type found in northern Michigan). They were a plague at my mother's place and regular .22s were not an option due to no backstop. At 5-10 yards (not feet) it sometimes took a second shot. Beyond that the pattern spread and loss of velocity make it worthless. The first thing to do is hit them. 30 or so of the little vermin over the past couple of years proved not to be as tough as party balloons or wasps. Not hearsay, not Youtube, just my experience sitting on the porch.

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I need ammo, not a ride.

I have a 2" M-317 that I keep for a snake gun. It is "good luck" because I never see a snake when I have it in my pocket.

I experimented with it with both the CCI plastic capsule and Winchester crimped brass loads. I put 2 empty aluminum cans on the ground and stood 6' away and shot the cans. Even at that short range, the pattern was wider than the can, but there were a lot of pellets that went through both sides of the can. Both loads had similar results. I concluded that with 8 rounds in the gun, it would kill a snake if I had to.

ANOTHER STORY:
A long time ago - when I was a teenager my buddy's family had two barns of laying hens. His dad told us we could try to shoot the wild birds that got into the barns as long as we used 22 rat shot and shot them in the air so we didn't shoot his chickens. The rat shot was very effective from 22 rifles.

I did learn not to use rat shot in a semi-auto rifle. I broke the extractor and cost me $10 to repair. That was 2 tanks of gas in those days.

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6/23/2022

Thanks for all the replies. If I need to be that close to the varmints I'm probably better off just stomping on them. Will stick with my Crossman pistol.

In answer to the effective range of .22 rat shot ..... As close as you can get.
I don't know why someone would want to see how far away they could shoot something with it, beyond 5-8 feet or so, the tiny shot doesn't have any energy to speak of, never mind the pattern.

I found the older style brass crimped cases to pattern a bit denser and penetrate the off side of a steel can with more pellets than the plastic capsule CCI shells.
These cans were shot with shot loads out of my 5 1/2" Single Six@ 5 feet.

But if I have to shoot a varmint with a handgun shotshell I prefer to use one in .45ACP (shown) or .45 Colt.

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U. S. Army Veteran

I once shot a squirrel in my attic at 5 feet with 22 shot. Had to beat him to death with a 2x4.

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

5ft or less in .22 any thing more would be a stunn, speaking from first hand experience... ive killed mice that have happened to run by and shot a birds who wouldent stop pecking at my chimney... shot at the bird hit the bird watch the bird fall, walk over to the bird to make sure the job was done and the bird got up and flew away haha... to this day still pecking at my chimney on occasion haha, he won that round...

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This is the way....