NdIndy
New member
My personal experience/report of using .22lr for prairie dogs.
A friend and I have been out PD'ing for the last few weeks. I'm shooting a 10/22 that I found, he's shooting an HMR. I've been struggling for a bit to get the ruger to shoot accurately, but found that the bulk ammo I was using to be 95% of the problem. Seeing 2 rounds hit target and the next 2 land 5' in front of it kind of shows the problem.
So by going to better ammo the accuracy has gotten quite a bit better, but even with solid hits I'm recovering very few compared to the HMR. I switched to yellowjacket rounds and saw better bullet performance, but they weren't very accurate. Picked up some CCI velociters and they are as accurate as I can expect the gun to be, but back to only recovering them after a headshot. Their bullet appears to be the same as any other .22 "hp", solid copper with a little dimple.
Last week I finally had the perfect opportunity to see what was happening using the CCI rounds. I had 1 fuzzy target broadside out in the middle of a field with no holes that I could see. Range was approximately 120-130 yards. Set the sticks, aimed and unleashed [beeep] at 1400fps /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Solid meaty 'thump' followed and a quick jump into the air. He touched down at a full out sprint that he maintained for over 30 yards before starting to slow and stagger for another 10, finally rolled over right next his hole. If he had been 1 foot closer to it when I pulled the trigger, he'd be gone forever. Examination showed a solid through and through the ribcage and lungs. Small blood trail that only extended the last foot or so of his run, no other visible trail. This certainly explained a lot regarding previous hits.
So what I'm seeing is 1 of 2 equally bad options. YJ's are a definite hollowpoint that do quite a bit of damage, but are also fairly inaccurate. The CCI's are more accurate, but have the little dimple as a hollowpoint and don't do as much apparent damage. What looks to be needed for this application is actually a deep HP with a ballistic tip. Not for any speed increase since the light bullets probably couldn't handle it, but for accuracy and quick expansion. No one makes them of course.
However I have found ballistic tip rounds in 22mag that might be the ticket. They only travel at around 2000fps, but I would have to assume that with the great BC, it should be fairly flat out to 150 or so and combine more power than the .22lr and a heavier bullet than the .17 coupled with 'hopefully' fast expansion.
Downside is I don't have a 22 mag /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif But there is one up for sale at an auction I'm going to, and hope is high. Another option I have is to just use my .223. It goes PD'ing anyway because I'm hoping like crazy to run across a coyote someday. But I don't think that round will leave much meat to throw in the freezer after a hit.
So, whatch think? Go for the mag or pick up a .17?
A friend and I have been out PD'ing for the last few weeks. I'm shooting a 10/22 that I found, he's shooting an HMR. I've been struggling for a bit to get the ruger to shoot accurately, but found that the bulk ammo I was using to be 95% of the problem. Seeing 2 rounds hit target and the next 2 land 5' in front of it kind of shows the problem.
So by going to better ammo the accuracy has gotten quite a bit better, but even with solid hits I'm recovering very few compared to the HMR. I switched to yellowjacket rounds and saw better bullet performance, but they weren't very accurate. Picked up some CCI velociters and they are as accurate as I can expect the gun to be, but back to only recovering them after a headshot. Their bullet appears to be the same as any other .22 "hp", solid copper with a little dimple.
Last week I finally had the perfect opportunity to see what was happening using the CCI rounds. I had 1 fuzzy target broadside out in the middle of a field with no holes that I could see. Range was approximately 120-130 yards. Set the sticks, aimed and unleashed [beeep] at 1400fps /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Solid meaty 'thump' followed and a quick jump into the air. He touched down at a full out sprint that he maintained for over 30 yards before starting to slow and stagger for another 10, finally rolled over right next his hole. If he had been 1 foot closer to it when I pulled the trigger, he'd be gone forever. Examination showed a solid through and through the ribcage and lungs. Small blood trail that only extended the last foot or so of his run, no other visible trail. This certainly explained a lot regarding previous hits.
So what I'm seeing is 1 of 2 equally bad options. YJ's are a definite hollowpoint that do quite a bit of damage, but are also fairly inaccurate. The CCI's are more accurate, but have the little dimple as a hollowpoint and don't do as much apparent damage. What looks to be needed for this application is actually a deep HP with a ballistic tip. Not for any speed increase since the light bullets probably couldn't handle it, but for accuracy and quick expansion. No one makes them of course.
However I have found ballistic tip rounds in 22mag that might be the ticket. They only travel at around 2000fps, but I would have to assume that with the great BC, it should be fairly flat out to 150 or so and combine more power than the .22lr and a heavier bullet than the .17 coupled with 'hopefully' fast expansion.
Downside is I don't have a 22 mag /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif But there is one up for sale at an auction I'm going to, and hope is high. Another option I have is to just use my .223. It goes PD'ing anyway because I'm hoping like crazy to run across a coyote someday. But I don't think that round will leave much meat to throw in the freezer after a hit.
So, whatch think? Go for the mag or pick up a .17?
