'Splain to me the .22 Magnum

[Gene L]

When I grew up, I was a meat hunter with a .22. Squirrels, rabbits and such. I never owned or shot a .22 Mag and didn't know anyone who did.

My point being we wanted to minimize tissue damage. We felt .LR hollow points were too damaging! (Unless head shots.)

I've asked knowledgeable people why the .22 Mag and they always (almost always) respond that it's a "great caliber." Groundhog shooting, I guess. But while I acknowledge that it's a great caliber, accurate and powerful, my penurious past has prevented me from childhood on from buying one.

Ammo is more expensive than LR, and from what I hear, destructive on small game.

So what is the attraction? This is not meant to be a post denigrating the .22 Mag which almost everyone loves, just to understand the attraction. Very early in my life, I had access to a .22 Hornet, which I couldn't afford to shoot much, but it took the place of an upgraded .22 LR. If there was a place. I'm a Hornet fan, but not as a game rifle. I have not owned a Mag rifle.

 

[armorer951]

I think you are correct. The increase in velocity (from 1600-2200fps) results in a "flatter" trajectory over longer ranges, making the caliber better suited for "larger" varmints like groundhogs and such, at greater ranges.

I've never fired them from a production rifle, so I can't attest to how their accuracy compares to the .22 long rifle. Considering the cost or the ammo, I would assume that the .22 WMR was designed more as a hunting and varmint load than a plinking L.R. round, which is what most of us grew up on.

 

[kenjen]

it will shoot flatter and longer (easily a 100yd.) then 22 lr's, best if shot out of a rifle than a pistol.

 

[Tubbsy]

I've never really cared for the 22 mag.... lot of noise for ballistics you can achieve out of the much quieter .17hmr....

 

[shocker]

Example: lots of farms around my local that need pests kept in check. Permission to hunt with a rimfire is generally easier to get than a centerfire. 22 mag and 17 provide a nice increase in range over 22 LR without disturbing the farmer's family or spooking the livestock.

 

[Buzzzer]

I was always under the impression it was pretty much for varmints as well, even coyotes...

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I have also shot more 22 Mag from Handguns than I have Rifles.
22 Mag has more muzzle blast and appears to be less accurate than LR.
And the 22 Mag does have knock down advantage on varmints like Jack Rabbits.
And I do own one - it's a 4 inch 651.

 

[Marshwheeling]

My Single Six is convertible to .22mag by swapping cylinders. I only ever use it for fun: lots of noise and muzzle flash as noted, plus a big ring of blue flame around the forcing cone. I suppose if a guy ever had to press it into service for self-defense, the stouter round might come in handy.

 

[Injunbro]

How come most of the people who don't like .22 mag have never used one on game? Flatter, better penetrating & better knockdown in a small package. I have a few & prefer them to any other varmint round.

 

[dwh]

I have serval 22mags. Its more power in the same rifle as a 22rf. For the life of me it don't understand the noise and muzzle blast comments (in general). I mean it's not a 357 magnum or a
22-250. Just sayin.

 

[Rpg]

A good deal of the attraction of the 22 mag in handguns arises from ballistic tables: the numbers match up well with the 38special in terms of foot pounds of energy. Of course, that over emphasizes the value of velocity in terminal effect in handguns, and the ballistic tables for 22 mag are usually based on rifle performance.

In practice, a 22 mag in a rifle offers more range than a 22 lr in a rifle. When you use handguns, the range benefit disappears because of the limitations of the platform: precious few shooters have the skill to shoot varmints at 100 yards with a handgun. Most knowledgeable shooters wouldn't even try.

So what you get in a 22 mag handgun is muzzle blast, noise and expensive ammo.

 

[The_Truth]

Supposedly I get the same velocity out of my 651 snubbie with 22WMR as I would get shooting 22LR out of a rifle. My woods walking loadout during Spring/Summer is a Savage 93G 22WMR and my 651 snubbie.

Plus it's just cool as hell

 

[Echo40]

You seem to be under the misapprehension that .22 Magnum is intended for small game like squirrels to begin with.

.22WMR (.22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, or .22 Magnum for short) is good for larger varmints or game than .22LR, offering adequate penetration for reliable, humane kills where .22LR starts to get iffy.

When fired from an average sized rifle with a 16"-24" barrel, .22WMR offers energy foot-pounds somewhere between .38 Special +P and 9mm Luger Standard Pressure, (topping off at roughly about 325ft-lbs) but with a better ballistic coefficient, resulting in deeper penetration with less tissue damage, thus resulting in a round which can reliably/humanely drop larger game with less wasted meat or damage to the pelt.

Furthermore, .22WMR is an inside the case lubricated bullet design, thus making it inherently more reliable than .22LR.

 

[Gene L]

The above post about misapprehension illustrates what I mean. What, exactly IS the .22 Mag for? Beyond the ballistic tables, that is. Shooting varmints and letting them lay in the field is a relatively new concept.

I hear the explanation that it's flatter-shooting longer range arguments, but to what purpose? It seems to be the universal statement from Mag lovers who generally can't say what it's better at. No coyotes or jackrabbits where I grew up, so no need for that. Again, I'm not against the .22 Mag, I just don't understand where it fits in the grand scheme of things...not powerful enough for long range (100+ yards) too powerful for traditional squirrel hunting where you plan to eat the animals. As for permission to hunt, I've never been asked if I'm using a RF rifle...I guess it was assumed if I was squirrel hunting.

I couldn't afford a dedicated ground hog rifle when I grew up, and not many ground hogs anyway; I could barely afford .22 LR ammo. For me, it fills no niche. Given that it's superior to LR, so....? Where does the longer range of the Mag pay off? Too powerful for edible game and not enough range for a dedicated varmint gun. A casual varmint gun, crows and g-hogs, sure.

 

[mrchuck]

This cartridge is much,much,much more powerful than the regular .22 long rifle cartridge.
I still use my .22 mag rifle for pests, as it reaches out past 200 yds.

 

[OKFC05]

I actually used mostly .22 WRF ammo in the .22 Mag bolt rifle I bought used in 1964 and still have. (Ever hear of .22 WRF?)
.22 Mag is legal in OK for turkeys and perfect in an accurate rifle for an instant-kill neck shot. (.22LR is not legal for turkey)
Squirrels? If you shoot them in the head, instant kill, no meat loss.
Sitting rabbits? One shot between the ears, no meat loss.
If you can't make head shots with a small game rifle, maybe should use a shotgun?

Uncle Nobel lived within walking distance of the Clark's River bottoms back in KY, and the year before he died, killed 49 squirrels out of a box of 50 cartridges. He was 90. I should have retired in KY instead of getting "persuaded" by the distaff to try OK.

 

[mauser9]

Is a much better round for larger varmints in my opinion. I can get anywhere from 1800-2200 F.P.S. from my rifle depending on bullet weight. Of course that is from the 22 mag rifles I own. Have taken fox at 60-70 yards with the 40 grain H.P. ammo. Agree more of a hunting round than a plinker.

 

[Buick]

Just get out and shoot a varmint with it and you will know.

 

[Echo40]

I really don't want to get into what animals the .22WMR is capable of taking because that's doomed to receive a lot of responses arguing that it can't and how nothing less than "[insert arbitrary minimum caliber/cartridge here]" can reliably/humanely drop said animal(s) in the field, bonus points if the person practically goes out of their way to ignore that certain animals can potentially be smaller in certain states and only consider the biggest, heaviest examples of any given genus/family. (i.e. that guy in Bear Threads who seems to think that all Bears are Alaskan Polar Bear, even when someone specifically says "Black Bear" so he argues that whatever cartridge someone says they carry for defense against Black Bear is insufficient because Polar Bears.)

So I'm only going to say this one more time and folks can feel free to argue over the details below... As previously stated, .22WMR is substantially more powerful than .22LR and thusly can take substantially larger game than .22LR, so it's purpose is to take those animals, not squirrels or any other such small animals. If all you care to hunt are squirrels and that's the focal point of this thread, then it really doesn't do anything that .22LR can't do when hunting squirrels.

 

[BAM-BAM]

It's like asking why is there a .22 hornet, .222, .223 and/or 5.56

Or why .22 short .22 long and .22LR .... or .17HM2 or .17hmr

I have a couple of .22mag rifles..... good for Varmints like groundhogs,skunks crows and Coyotes out to 100-150 yards...... .22LR is maybe good to 40 on Coyotes. As a survival round it can take game up to whitetail deer ( a poachers favorite).....

Small rimfire size action makes for a smaller/lighter rifle..... to take along on a evening hike in Penn's Woods. Easy to carry 50-200 rounds if you like in a survival gun.

Round is quiet compared to any centerfire round.....

Muzzle energy of a 9mm for 2 legged varmints.

With CCI ammo my CZ 452FS will shoot to .9 at 100yds..... with my small 1-4x20Leupold scope it will shoot under the crosshairs (1-1.3) out to 125 or so......

For a day at the range take a .22LR ....... a walk in Penn's Woods make mine a .22mag.