22LR ammo for squirrel

S

shelton573

Active member
I have shot a lot of squirrels in my life so far and have shot the majority with a 410 bolt action. We used to shoot them with 22s and just grab a hand full of whatever bulk ammo was in the cabinet. Over the years I have come to respect whatever animal I am hunting a bit more and want to get them put down as quick as possible. I made a post about the Savage 22 I just recently bought and it seems to like CCI Std. Velocity 40gr round nose lead the best so far with the RWS 40gr subsonic HP coming in a close second. I intend to only take head shots, but things can happen. Will the lead round nose do the job just fine or do I need to stick with the hollow point. My uncle and dad have killed loads of squirrels with every type of 22 ammo under the sun but I just wanted to get a few more opinions on what you guys like as far as bullet selection for tree rats. I know that the most accurate bullet is the best bullet but I tend to botch a shot now and again so I just want to make sure I am giving the squirrel the quickest dirt nap. Thanks!
 
Shelton, if it's a head shot, anything will do the job. 40 grains to the 'noggin ain't going to matter if it's a HP or RN. The most important factor is to get the ammunition that your rifle shoots the most accurately.
 
If I felt that I would occasionally shoot them through the chest I'd go hollow point. Brain shots bullet type doesn't matter, chest shots the hollow point will be more effective. Lead roundnose through the chest will occasionally leave a squirrel enough energy left to crawl into a hole and be lost. Especially if the accuracy difference favors the hollow point or is very close.
 
The little gun seems to really like the round nose but at 25 yds there is not really much of a difference to chance losing a squirrel I reckon. So far, the average of all the 25 yd groups for the hollow points are just under .4" and the round nose are right at .3" average. I have yet to shoot more than one 50 yard group with either so I can't draw any conclusions on that. I think I will likely use the hollow points if they group about the same as the rd nose past 25 yds. Thanks for your input guys!
 
CCI makes an outstanding flatnose hunting .22lr. Its called the SGB, Small Game Bullet. Its a 38-40gr flat nose at about standard velocity. It prodives a ton of shock that the RN bullet cant delivery but doesnt tear up any meat. They have been very accurate in all of my .22lr rifles. Give them a try if head shots become trouble some.
 
For years I have used eley subsonic hollow points and have had the best of luck with them .
But like a few guys said find something that your gun likes and you will be happy using them .

I'd rather sq hunt then hunt deer or other game .
Was one of the very few that run sq dogs in western md for years.

Best of luck and good hunting ,
Scott
 
I used those SGB flat points for years. They do work very well, I found them very accurate also. CCI dropped them from production and I moved on to subsonic hollow points. CCI brought the SGB back but like all Long Rifle rounds they are hard to come by in recent years. The subsonic hollow points are excellent squirrel killers. I like the Winchester truncated cone subsonic hollow point the best, followed closely by Eley. The Eley is usually slightly more accurate, cost three times more and doesn't expand quite as well as the Winchester product.
 
My KDF K22 absolutely loves the RWS Subsonics and that is all I have ever used since around 1979. I love how that RWS hollow point opens up like a Nosler Partition when you can recover them which isn't very often.
 
I did a bunch of testing a few years ago.

Get a set of dies to re-shape your .22 lr bullets. That way you can turn ANY bullet into a HP, FP, SWC, or huge deep HP. Whatever you want. I purchased a D Rock tool to use.

I found that CCI standard velocity shaped into a HP is very accurate in most guns and also expands pretty well in squirrels. It's generally available and relatively inexpensive. Wolf MT expands extremely well too when shaped into a HP.








 
As you can see, you can turn a round nose solid into a big fat HP if you want. Real easy.


You can also take a factory HP and re-shape it. Here I deepened the HP for testing.
 
For factory ammo, the old Remington Golden Bullets mushroomed textbook perfect right out of the box. But accuracy sucked.


Winchester 333 and 555 fragment as the HP petals sheer off. The seem to thump squirrels well. They are decently accurate in my rifles.


CCI MiniMag HP perform awesome. Accurate, good velocity, perfect mushrooms. Haven't seen any on the shelf in years.


CCI Velocity did well also, but are more expensive and harder to find.
 
The above tests were ALL done using wet phone books at 50 yards. I used the D Rock tool for modifying the tips.



Here are some Wolf MT hollow points recovered from real squirrels.
 
Great info Dirty Dog. I've seen the tool and info over at Rimfirecentral in the past. I keep saying that I'll pick one up sometime but never get around to it. I think you just nudged me enough to get that done.

BTW,
The Mini Mag wasnt altered? That's factory expansion? They do seem to do very well from the various test I have seen posted. Unfortunately Mini Mags are scarce as hens teeth around here. I have a couple semi auto handguns that absolutely love them.
 
I am surprised to hear accuracy problems with Remington Golden bullets...I found them to shoot the best in my guns, especially the hollow points. A squirrel can be a hard little animal to knock out. Those segmented bullets that split into tree pieces will flat line them quick, but I couldn't get them to group. Federal makes one and I think so does CCI.
I thought one time I could get more squirrels if I used quieter ammo...so I got some of that sub sonic match stuff. That was a mistake...the first two {and last two with that ammo} I shot made it back in a hollow.
 
Remington Golden Bullets quality has been in the gutter for years now. The consistency of the Remington load is a real crap shoot. Owing to the finicky nature of rimfires is the only possible reason I can imagine you have had any luck with them.

Shooting edible meat with a prefragmented bullet is going to destroy and bloodshot a lot of meat. Placed in the brain the pre-frag ammo has no advantage. Like you, they have never been particularly accurate in my guns either.

Regarding your subsonic experience, were those hollow points or lead roundnose? My guess is standard velocity lead roundnose. Hit in the body squirrels are going to get away from you when shot with that load. Subsonic hollow points on the other hand are very effective.
 


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