22wmr ammo question

Artillarylover · Nov 12, 2017

Hi all, looking for a good overall 22wmr ammo that will be good for small game hunting at about 100 to 150 yards. I like to squirrel hunt at frederick watershed during the week and recently purchased at wmr rifle . ammo is a bit more then 22 so wqnt something that will work but not too pricy. Does anyone have a favorite brand they could steer me too?

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basscat · Nov 12, 2017

Hornaday critical defense. 45 grain. Nasty round for a 22mag.

edrod68 · Nov 12, 2017

We use the 30 grain Hornady VMax load for my Father-in-laws Marlin lever action. It is extremely accurate in his rifle and when zeroed at 50 yards still hits within 1 1/2 of POI at 100 yards...

Uncle Duke · Nov 12, 2017

Artillarylover said:
Hi all, looking for a good overall 22wmr ammo that will be good for small game hunting at about 100 to 150 yards. I like to squirrel hunt at frederick watershed during the week and recently purchased at wmr rifle . ammo is a bit more then 22 so wqnt something that will work but not too pricy. Does anyone have a favorite brand they could steer me too?

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There are more flavors of 22WMR available today than ever. Like rifles generally, and with rimfires in particular, I'll bet the ranch that your particular 22WMR rifle will show a decided preference for one brand and bullet weight of ammo over others. You won't know until you give each brand a go.

Best advice I can give you is to buy a box of whatever you can get your hands on, settle in at the range, do some testing, and have fun with it. The good news is that 22WMR is again plentiful, as it wasn't long ago that it could be hard to find even one brand and bullet weight, much less several. Check Ammoseek.com for competitive pricing. Prices are better now than they've been in a number of years. The bad news is that, if you find a clear winner, and I believe you will, you ideally want to lay in a good stock of hunting ammo with the same lot number, which is hard to do with price driven online purchases.

Just by way of mention, you're also going to want to be selective with shots on squirrels, as WMR body hits at the wrong angle by mistake or on purpose can tear up some otherwise really good table fare.

dedan · Nov 12, 2017

squirrels

best go with the 22 long rifle, hollow points and head shots, no need for hv stuff, sv stuff works great. have fun, be safe

fidelity · Nov 12, 2017

edrod68 said:
We use the 30 grain Hornady VMax load for my Father-in-laws Marlin lever action. It is extremely accurate in his rifle and when zeroed at 50 yards still hits within 1 1/2 of POI at 100 yards...

I've also found this same round to be very accurate out of two different 22 WMR rifles. I bought some from here ...

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/0000383202/22-winchester-mag-30-grain-v-max-50-rounds

Although there may be better prices elsewhere.

Here are 50 yard (lower right group) and 100 yard targets with the ammo (approx 1.5 inch center to center spread). Rifle was a CZ 512. My Browning T-bolt Sporter also shoots the Hornady V-Max well.

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lazarus · Nov 12, 2017

dedan said:
best go with the 22 long rifle, hollow points and head shots, no need for hv stuff, sv stuff works great. have fun, be safe

The higher the velocity, the longer the point blank range. Just depends on how far out you want to stretch. The higher the velocity, the less it is going to leave of the squirrel with a body shot. So make sure you go headshot with a 22WMR.

Other than massive skill or not minding a lot of misses (or accidental body shots), it’s rather hard to squirrel hunt past 50, maybe 60yds with SV 22lr. A 30gr VMax 22wmr if you’ve got a steady hand, you probably can push a 100yd head shot on a squirrel.

2701Jim · Nov 13, 2017

I will also vouch for the Hornady VMax 30 GR 22WMR. In both my Marlin bolt actions it shoots noticably better than anything else I have tried.

Biggfoot44 · Nov 13, 2017

Good Overall , and squirrel specific are two different things for .22WMR .

Most lightweight wmr is intended to be explosive on varmits . Squirrel you presumably wish to recover some meat , and further presume the choice of .22wmr is for extended range, and flatter trajectory .

To minimize meat damage , W-W 40gr FMJ .

Edging into all around , CCI 40gr Plated RN . While nominally a "solid" , the soft-ish alloy with relatively thing plating will generally mushroom to a degree.

Best actual all around is W-W 40gr JHP . Expands in similar manner to handgun jhp . ( Also good choice for hunting large for rimfire game , and SD in longer than snubnose bbls .)

Artillarylover · Nov 13, 2017

Thanks for all the info. I usually use a 22lr when small game hunting but I found a location there while bow hunting the other day in a small valley with tons of nest and the perfect backstop with a good sitting position to see the area. I figured I wanted to try a challenge with longer range hunting and did some research on .17 and 22 wmr, everything said wmr is better at saving meat but from what everyone is saying here I still will need to,go,for a head shot.

I've also never tried the SV 22lr ill have to pick some up

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Uncle Duke · Nov 13, 2017

Artillarylover said:
Thanks for all the info. I usually use a 22lr when small game hunting but I found a location there while bow hunting the other day in a small valley with tons of nest and the perfect backstop with a good sitting position to see the area. I figured I wanted to try a challenge with longer range hunting and did some research on .17 and 22 wmr, everything said wmr is better at saving meat but from what everyone is saying here I still will need to,go,for a head shot.

I've also never tried the SV 22lr ill have to pick some up

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I absolutely love the type of longer range squirrel hunting you describe. Mountain fox squirrels in WVA especially comes to mind, in a wide open stand of old growth mountain woods, and the sort of woods that you won't find just anywhere. Bonus that fox squirrels are more ground oriented critters than their grey climber cousins, which means better opportunity for good backstops.

Saving meat becomes a consideration with either 17HMR or 22WMR, so the focus with either becomes about ammo selection. As BF44 mentioned, one way to go with the 22WMR and saving meat in mind is the FMJ route. With .17, CCI makes a 20 grain Game Point, which is constructed to mushroom instead of fragment. It too can be a somewhat less destructive choice for squirrels. I've hunted pretty extensively with both cartridges, and like both for different reasons. I personally prefer the .17 for the purpose you describe when it comes to squirrels because the trajectory is minute of squirrel head laser like flat inside of 150 yards, and squirrel heads at extended ranges are tiny targets. It's a fun game. But the bigger .17/.22 debate is a whole other discussion, with purpose to me being key. And the only way I ever "solved" that debate was to buy both.

Artillarylover · Nov 13, 2017

Uncle Duke said:
I absolutely love the type of longer range squirrel hunting you describe. Mountain fox squirrels in WVA especially comes to mind, in a wide open stand of old growth mountain woods, and the sort of woods that you won't find just anywhere. Bonus that fox squirrels are more ground oriented critters than their grey climber cousins, which means better opportunity for good backstops.

Saving meat becomes a consideration with either 17HMR or 22WMR, so the focus with either becomes about ammo selection. As BF44 mentioned, one way to go with the 22WMR and saving meat in mind is the FMJ route. With .17, CCI makes a 20 grain Game Point, which is constructed to mushroom instead of fragment. It too can be a somewhat less destructive choice for squirrels. I've hunted pretty extensively with both cartridges, and like both for different reasons. I personally prefer the .17 for the purpose you describe when it comes to squirrels because the trajectory is minute of squirrel head laser like flat inside of 150 yards, and squirrel heads at extended ranges are tiny targets. It's a fun game. But the bigger .17/.22 debate is a whole other discussion, with purpose to me being key. And the only way I ever "solved" that debate was to buy both.

Are there much fox squirrel in MD?

I will probably go fmj route, as for another gun it will have to be some time. I haven't let the wife know I got the wmr yet 8-0

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lazarus · Nov 13, 2017

Yeah, it becomes a little “what are you going to do with it”. If all you want is a squirrel gun, a .17 is there better way to go. A .22wmr is at least possible to do body shots with non-expanding ammo. Downside is even for squirrel I don’t believe that is legal in MD (ammunition must be if expanding construction for rifles).

But if you want it for other uses, like fox or coyote, the 22wmr is going to be a lot better than 17hmr. You’ve got more round options that aren’t simply going to fragment on impact and you’ve got a wider wound channel and also more retained energy with the 40gr rounds in 22wmr.

Docster · Nov 13, 2017

Here's a good value to start your trials. $9.99 for .22 Mag 40 gr JHP is ALWAYS a good price. Picked up a few last week

http://www.cabelas.com/product/home...er-reg-rimfire-ammunition/705405.uts?slotId=9

Uncle Duke · Nov 13, 2017

Artillarylover said:
Are there much fox squirrel in MD?

I will probably go fmj route, as for another gun it will have to be some time. I haven't let the wife know I got the wmr yet 8-0

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I probably should have been more specific.

In addition to the common Grey Squirrel found throughout Maryland, as pictured on top, there are also 2 main varieties of fox squirrel in parts of Maryland. One is the Delmarva, found on Maryland's eastern shore. Those are protected and cannot be hunted. The other and ok to hunt variety is the Eastern.

The fox squirrel variety that you can legally hunt in Maryland that I'm referring to are Eastern Fox squirrels, as pictured on the bottom. Both their coloring variations and their size distinguishes them, as they tend to be considerably larger than most greys. Their habits are somewhat different also. The further into Western Maryland you go, the more likely you become to encounter these Eastern fox squirrels, as pictured on the bottom.

Artillarylover · Nov 13, 2017

lazarus said:
Yeah, it becomes a little “what are you going to do with it”. If all you want is a squirrel gun, a .17 is there better way to go. A .22wmr is at least possible to do body shots with non-expanding ammo. Downside is even for squirrel I don’t believe that is legal in MD (ammunition must be if expanding construction for rifles).

But if you want it for other uses, like fox or coyote, the 22wmr is going to be a lot better than 17hmr. You’ve got more round options that aren’t simply going to fragment on impact and you’ve got a wider wound channel and also more retained energy with the 40gr rounds in 22wmr.

Lazarus where have you seen that it is illegal to use 22wmr in Maryland for small game? I was looking into the regulations and didn't see anything about it

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Biggfoot44 · Nov 13, 2017

I believe he is refering to the FMJ part , not the .22WMR part .

And the prohibition on hunting with FMJ is for Deer/ Big Game, as defined in Md law.

Artillarylover · Nov 13, 2017

Biggfoot44 said:
I believe he is refering to the FMJ part , not the .22WMR part .

And the prohibition on hunting with FMJ is for Deer/ Big Game, as defined in Md law.

So not small game I know 22wmr is not enough foot pounds for a deer anyways in MD,

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Biggfoot44 · Nov 13, 2017

But it is in South Carolina.

Artillarylover · Nov 13, 2017

Biggfoot44 said:
But it is in South Carolina.

Maybe ill have to head there someday

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22wmr ammo question

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