All the rimfires will give you a lot of groundhog hunting enjoyment. If your 22 long rifle shoots well, I personally would keep it.
Then, perhaps at some later date, get a 22 mag or even a 17 HMR. You can enjoy all of those on groundhogs.
Your .22 long rifle, if it's accurate enough, will take groundhogs at the distances you mentioned. The 22 long rifle cartridge is just
fine for groundhogs. I have shot several over the years with that cartridge. You just need to shoot the rifle from a good steady rest
and check out the accuracy and how far you can keep the groups tight. Shooting to determine the rifle's accuracy as well as
trajectory will tell you how far you can use it successfully.
The HMR is a dandy groundhog getter and is our cartridge of choice. It's so accurate and flat shooting that taking groundhogs at
100 yards with head shots is not much of a problem. I recommend head shots and not body shots with the HMR, though we have
killed some with body shots.
We have used the .22 mag as well and have had good success with it. It hits hard with 40 gr. HPs, but we do prefer the .17 HMR
(just our preference) for consistently dropping groundhogs.
With rimfires, you just need to be a little more precise with your shooting than if using a centerfire.
This one was taken with my 10-22.
A buddy and one taken with a Ruger bolt action .22 long rifle, headshot
Even handguns can be used. This is a stainless Ruger Single Six. I was shooting a 22 mag round.
Here's one a friend shot with a Savage model 93, 17 HMR at 101 yards.
Another HMR groundhog - CZ 452 American
My son and a groundhog with the CZ 452 American .17 HMR.
Two with a .22 magnum - Ruger 77/22 VMBZ. One was slightly over 100 yards and the other around 60 yards.
The rimfires allow for some stalking skills in order to get close. That in and of itself is a lot of fun.
We spotted a groundhog at about 250 yards and had to do quite a bit of stalking and belly crawling to get within shooting range.
After crawling into shooting position, my buddy took the groundhog with a head shot at 81 yards with the HMR.
Here's a short trailer to an upcoming video I have been working on, hunting groundhogs with rimfires. We used 22 long rifle, 22 magnum and 17 HMR.
GO ENJOY YOUR RIMFIRES. THEY ARE A LOT OF FUN.
