What's your favorite .22 Mag round?

pachuckhunter

pachuckhunter

New member
I like my .22-250, but some fields are too small, houses, etc., and I use my .22 Mag. I just got some CCI Maxi Mag TNT rounds, but have not sighted them in yet. Huge cavity, they should expand well. They also have the newer packaging, with the "explosive" word on it, and the firecracker I guess. I know CCI also makes the V-max version, but Cabelas was out of them when I was there. Anyone have any experience with either of these rounds?

I used to use a Winchester HP round that came in a plastic 200 round box. They worked great, about 2200 fps also, but it doesnt look like winchester sells them anymore.
 
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for a hollowpoint i like the 34 grain winchester supreme. for a hollowpoint it is awesome. i normally stick with 40 grain solids for extremely deep penetration.
 
I used the WW 40 gr. lead HP for years.

A few years ago I tried the Remington 33 gr. HP ( The Premire?)in my Ruger. It shot about 1" give or take a 1/10 which is good for the mag. The velocity was over 2300 FPS with he Ruger and the ammo lot I puchased. That is fast for the mag.

I did shoot one hog with it and it worked fine.

The original WW 40 gr. lead HP still shoots in my old Savage 24.
 
The Federal with the 30 gr Sierra HP. I purchased a carton before Federal switched bullets to the Speer TNT. The Federal 30 gr Sierra was the best 22 mag ammo you could buy , very accurate and killed like lighting. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
i like the ww 34 grainers, but only in the 77/22, my brno won't shoot anything but the old 40 grain ww stuf, and my S&W digests about anything. Over all i find it to be a very fussy round gun for gun. gotta shoot a few round of everything to see what likes what
 
The best I have seen at 100 is the Rem (I believe 33gr V-max). It has a green plastic tip. Shoots much better than all the rest in my rifles.
 
I wish like heck Winchester still sold their .22 Mag Varmint Loads. They came in a 200 pack plastic box with 4 50 round cardboard "inners" in it. The rounds were 34 grain high velocity hp, and the product number was X22MHV. The trajectory graph on the box listed 1927 fps/25 yards.
The hp looks like the "Starfire" pistol ammo hp.
 
Winchester 40gr super-x, workhorse 22wmr.
(not to be mistaken with the 45gr dynaturd)

Jury is still out on the Rem (CCI) gamepoint & CCI's new 30gr vmax for 22wmr.
 
I have tried about .22 mag round made and winchester 40 grain HP's are the ones I use. CCI's wouldn't group they would pattern. All the others wouldn't kill they would cripple. So I'll stick with winchester. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
The Remmy Premiers grouped best out of my Marlin, about .25and smaller, sometimes overlapping groups at 50 yds. There are only a few bullets I've used on game, one is the cci 40grain hollowpoint, man that pill literally decapitates squirrels /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif, it's like a bomb. I thought the Winny 34's might be more explosive but surprisingly they weren't. For my new 982vs I picked up today I'm gonna get some cci 30grain TNT like you got, and maybe try the V-max load they have. The controlled expansion bullets are for larger game and the groups I have shot with them show it, with about 1 inch groups, maybe smaller at 50yds, but thats good enough for foxes/yotes at close range. I wish I could find some Winny 45 grain lead hollowpoint, that was good stuff, works well on fox I hear. Have tried more but I can't remember.

If you can't already tell, my favorite calibre is the 22mag. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Can't wait for next squirrel season to try the TNT's, man the DEEP cavity in that bullet just looks NASTY!
 
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I have tried Remington, Wichester, Federal, and CCI offerings in my Marlin 882. Group wise the Remington 33 grain is the best. More testing needs to be done on terminal performance of the ammo before I can say which I like the best.

However, I did have a run in with a bunch of bad Winchester 40 grain hollow points a few years back. At least one to three rounds in a fifty round box would split from the neck to the head. I ended up with a palm full of brass because of it once. Partially my fault for having my hand in the wrong spot (under the magazine while on the rest) and partially Winchester's fault.
 
Ive shot them all from RWS the OSSI. coyote killers. 35gr. extented range ammo, federals, Winchester, Remington, the new V-maxs and I think my favorite ammo is the Remington 33gr. V-maxs the lot# of the boxes that I have chronoed almost 2,200fps. out my rifle they hit hard and don't exit on fox and bobcat and I like that plus they are very accurate I think they add about 25 to 50yds. more range than other 22 mag loads. Havent tried the new V-maxs on varmints yet they may work as good don't know.
 
I've owned three rifles in 22 mag, and none were what I consider to be accurate. But, given the nature of the 22 mag, I have to say that the Remington 33 gr. V-Max is the one I settled on, specifically for accuracy.

Crows and starlings have been the only targets to date with the 33 V-Max, so I can't say how it might perform on groundhogs and such. But it is devastating on crows and starlings.

GroundhogTarget1.jpg
 
6mm06 Ive killed a bunch of coyotes and bobcats with this round and it works great very fur friendly and I like the power of it too 164ft.lbs at 100yds. and thats with a 2,000fps. muzzle velocity mine are going over 150fps faster than that and thats 10ft from the muzzle Im maybe looking at 170 maybe 180ft.lbs at 100yds? I like them and like I said Ive shot them all and all are great rounds but this V-max adds some longer range to the old Mag. Havent shot the new 30v-max at varmints but there very accurate out of my heavy barreled Ruger 5 shots at 50 yards will put them into the .4s! Had a buddy of mine shoot them this weekend for the first time and he said his Marlin acts like a diffenent gun he said alot of them were going into the same hole!
 
Marco, I'm just trying to learn more about the 22 mag and its capabilities, so I appreciate any info. That you have taken several coyotes and bobcats with that cartridge seems to indicate that the round works well, or at least ok, or at least under the field conditions you had at the time. Have you come to a consensus about just how well it works, putting them down and with little tracking involved? Of course there is always the peverbial "shot placement" discussion as being critical, and I contend that is important with most any cartridge. As I say, I am in learning mode here and just wanting to hear what others have to say about experiences with the 22 mag.

I like the idea of it (the 22 mag) if it works well. I tend to go heavier than needed for cats and coyotes - 6x45 is my main go-to cartridge, but have used 223 as well on bobcas, but no coyotes with it. My experience with bobcats, at least, is that they tend to turn somersaults in mid-air and run some regardless of whether they were hit with the 223 or the 6x45. I even had one do that with a 243, but in truth, the bullet I used was in question since I wasn't specifically hunting bobcats at the time - Barnes X-bullet, and the only cat I have ever lost.

Just curious to hear more about your experiences with the 22 mag, if you don't mind taking time to talk about it. And don't get me wrong please; I'm not critizing nor defending, but rather just looking to hear straight forward, honest talk about it. Everyone has their own experiences, good and bad, and I'm sure this might generate lots of discussion about it, both positive and negative. I'm just hoping to hear what your experiences have been, and anyone else who has shot enough animals with the cartidge to be able to say one way or the other. I personally don't consider one animal or two as being enough to draw proper conclusions. But, in your case, apparently you have more experience, and I'm looking forward to hearing about it. I appreciate any input.
 
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