Hello Gun Owners

[BlueHammer]

Now that the FJR is officially retired for the season, My mind turns to other hobbies to while away the hours.

This christmas Santa will be bringing my boys air rifles and myself a .22 bolt action.

Mainly the .22 will be used for plinking, or target practice, but it will also pull double duty as a serious deterrent to those #$%@ing red and grey squirrels at my bird feeders.

I havn't owned a .22 in 20 years now, and need some adivce on ammunition before I er, santa purchases the rifle. What are the differences between .22 short, .22.long, .22 LR and .22 Magnum/Win. Mag?

I sort of figured out the shorts and longs main differences but my searching on the internet has yeilded very little as to the education of the 4 types together and what will work best for me shooting targets and tiny varmints.

This was my backyard saturday, perhaps I should get a nice remington 700 too?

 

[lomaxcm]

Look on the Barrel of the .22 that you purchased and it will give you the caliber. I would assume that you purchased a .22 and not a .22 Magnum. If so DO NOT shoot .22 Magnum ammo in your rifle. The case length is longer and the bullet diameter is larger. If you purchased a single shot or bolt action then the .22 short, .22 long, and .22 long rifle will all work just fine. I would suggest just sticking to the .22 long rifle as it is the most common and probably the cheapest.

AGAIN make sure you look on the barrel and confirm that it says .22 long rifle as the caliber before shooting anything in it.

You Can't shoot the pests in your back yard unless they are in season

Cheers.

Marc

 

[BlueHammer]

Didn't buy the rifle yet. I have my eye on a few, but I didn't want to buy one that didn't run the loads I wanted.

I've been told, but have yet to verify, that my area has varmint laws vaguely to the effect that if they put my family in danger I can shootl em.... as long as I am such and such distance from any residences. I can see it now "Look out, that evil squirrel is coming right for us! BANG" I always did like that south park episode.

 

[S_Palmer]

The 22mag. is a great round, but pretty expensive for plinking, check ammo prices before you decide. I would stick with the LR, with carefull shot placement it will also get rid of the forrest rats with out alerting the neighbors.

Steve

 

[lomaxcm]

I would also agree to stick with the 22LR. The Mag is a good round but quite a bit more expensive. With the 22LR you can get all kinds of ammo to do what ever you need. Good single shot or bolt action rifles will probably be the most accurate. A good old stand by Ruger 10/22 semi auto would also work well. Pump actions are a lot of fun also. It all depends on how accurate you want it to be and if you are going to mount a scope or leave it iron sights. You dealer should be able to give you all sorts of information. Please do check your local laws as they do get a little bent out of shape if you break them.

Cheers.

Marc

 

[ionbeam]

The 22 Short has lowest muzzle velocity, lowest projectile energy and shortest distance traveled. Wind will move the bullet around and bullet drop occurs sooner than Long or Long Rifle. The longer cased bullets have more power producing increasing muzzle velocity, more energy delivered, longer distance, less drop and somewhat reduced wind movement. Hollow points increase delivered energy even more. All three produce more than enough power to take care of your problems. Except for those large Kamikaze motorcycle attack rodents you are infested with. Since you know where they gather invite a few friends over with their guns too.

The Mag or a .222 is way overkill. No corpses left to dispose of though.

NH allows us to (legally) murder tree rodents from Sept. 1 to Dec 31 except in some restricted areas. I have a 1000 fps air rifle that is more than adequate for the job as it becomes necessary.

Alan

 

[Geezer]

Single shot or bolt action .22 long rifle is probably the best for both accuracy and general plinking fun.

If you are going to use the sights that come on the riflr then a longer barrel will normally give you a longer sight radius (the distance between the front and rear sight) and the longer radius will make it easier to shoot accurately. Target rifles will normally have the back sight as far back as possible while inexpensive plinkers will have it in front of the chamber where it is less expensive for manufacturing. If you have older eyes you will probably want a scope of some sort. Almost all .22 rifles will have grooves in the receiver to mount scopes made specifically for .22s. These can cost as alittle as $20 and go way up from there. You should look through a scope before buying. For closer ranges I like an inexpensive red dot scope with no magnification. These give quick target acquisition which is especially convenient for squirrel hunting.

You can buy .22 long rifle in sub-sonic target rounds which cost a few pennies more per box and are more consistent from shot to shot. Sub-sonics are also quieter since they don't have the sharp crack that a super-sonic round makes as it breaks the sound barrier. That is a consideration if you have neighbors that you don't want to annoy.

As others have said, the .22 magnum is a different animal. The round is longer, louder, and more expensive. It is a very nice round and is preferred over the long rifle if you are shooting beyond 75 yards or so. For shooting beyond 75 yards my preference would be the .17 rimfire magnum over the 22 mag because it is actually moe accurate and higher velocity and costs about the same per round as the 22 mag. .22 long rifle round cost 2 or 3 cents per round, the 22 mag and 17 mag are much more expensive and you are into the lower end of center fire ammunition at that point.

 

[galxy5]

c'mon man ,,

get yourself a mini 14 ranch rifle .223

the .22 long rifle works great for most uses

I use snake shot for the tree rats

and a Rem 750 military special will get rid of those pesky Bambi's

in Virginia ,, if it's on your land you can kill it ,,

 

[Bounce]

If you think 22 mag amo is expensive check out .223! Additionally, .223 will be more difficult to shoot out your back door unless your neighbors are a long ways away. Not so much a plinking gun as a .22 is.

As for the various .22's. I'd agree with the choice of .22 Long Rifle (LR). In a bolt action, it will support .22 short and .22 long, too. You could then choose .22 CB Cap (in a .22 short case). There are also sub-sonic loads for the .22 LR that will keep noise levels down when near the house (be sure of your backstop - those photos showed a single hill that you can depend on, since a tree being where you need it isn't a 100% assurance).

We won't talk about "field expedient silencers" as the US laws frown on such things. But the .22 LR in a subsonic variation would work with such when such is legal to make/own.

 

[HIGHLANDER]

THE .22 WILL FLY A COUPLE OF MILES SO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKSTOP AS BOUNCE SUGGESTED... NO SKY SHOTS !!

Also do ya think it's time to take in the hammock ???

 

[Penforhire]

Even .22LR comes in a range of prices. Do yourself a favor and stay away from the worst stuff like WinXP. You'll know 'the worst' because its price is always stunningly low. But misfires, varied velocity, and excess smoke will drive you nuts. On the low end I like Lightning or Peters. I am happiest with CCI ammo but none of it is "cheap." On the high-power end try Velociraptors or Stingers to actually do some damage.

That Ruger 10/22 suggestion is a good semi to tinker with. I'm not sure what bolt action I'd pick these days, probably the CZ brand.

 

[moby one]

I have a 1000 fps air rifle that is more than adequate for the job as it becomes necessary.
Alan

I too have the 1000fps .177 single shot. It works great on the tree rodents. They are pretty quiet too if you have neighbors. FYI, the first 5 or 10 shots that you put through it will be pretty loud. Mine was just as loud as a .22. After that it is sniper time.

If neighbors are not an issue check into the .17HMR. Its a 22mag necked down to a .17. Mine shoots dead on at 100 yards without any wind. A box of 50 rounds costs anywhere from $7-$10. The HMR blows the hell out anything smaller than a rabbit. Crows are the most fun. Some guys even use it on Coyote.

Happy hunting.

 

[vectervp1]

I think if your looking for a rifle to use for plunking around, you should get one of these. This should be accurate enough to use for target practice, and to take care of any rodent infestations that you might have.... :trinibob: A friend of mine has one of these and let me tell you, this thing is absolutely awesome to fire!

 

[Fastfar]

Nice pics of the ditch donkeys...poached venison is my favorite...a .22 Long Rifle well placed will eradicate the pesky critters although it is not legal (if you get caught)

 

[ionbeam]

I too have the 1000fps .177 single shot. It works great on the tree rodents

I would add that I shoot Beeman's Crow Magnum pellets. I can shoot 12 shot patterns at 75 feet that can be covered by a dime. These are semi-match grade pellets that are nearly as accurate as match grade pellets but still act like hollow points upon delivery :erm: I have used pointed ammunition like Copperheads but find two problems. The most significant is shot to shot variance. The second problem is that they work like body piercing tools. The tree rodent can be shot with a pointed pellet that does such a good job that some times the pellets pass through the rodent so effectively that they don’t even stop eating. When a wad cutter, semi wad cutter or Crow Magnum hits the rodent they often don't pierce the whole body. The near hollow point Magnums expend 100% of their energy within the rodent with devastating results... err, hope you weren't at a PITA meeting <_< The positive outlook is that no wounded critter runs off to suffer. Pop, body, job done. If my wife knew I did this to our tree rodents I would be thrown out of the house :blink: Nature always provides, I remove 5-10 from the feeding pool and they are instantly replaced by 10 more.

Alan

P.S. vectervp1 Stop by any day with your Terminator!!!

I know some places where we could have a lot of fun! <Usually legal!>

 

[Ratchman]

Thing to do is buy whatever strikes your fancy! If you want a bolt action, buy one. Price will vary greatly from the Marlin line (fine for the job you describe) to the high end stuff like Kimber. For just fooling around with, you would most likely want the .22 long rifle since as was pointed out, you can shoot longs and shorts as well from that rifle. The Magnum is great but very costly to shoot (much louder also). I personally own a Ruger 10/22 and have for 25 years. It never gives me any grief if I pay it a little bit of attention.

 

[toophast]

The Ruger 10/22 would be your best all around, and with it's 10 round magazine (or larger if you go aftermarket) you can utiilize it for home defense as it will fire just as fast as you can pull the trigger (yes I know there are many many calibers out there better suited for home defense than the 22LR but I'm thinking this is presently a no gun house at present --until the Christmas presents)

One VERY IMPORTANT (IMO) thing so far unmentioned is to give strong consideration to taking a firearms safety course (check NRA sites for contacts) for you and your family members (since there will be guns in the house Everyone needs to know how to safely use them--IMO again)

The 1000 feet per second pellet rifles (check out Cabela's etc) are just dandy for plinking and rodent population thinning ...you can even get targets for them that you can plink at indoors (keeping safety in mind with your set up of course)

Vectorvp1-nice .50 BMG (it is a BMG isn't it?)

 

[Bike Effects]

I too have a Ruger 10/22, but for a boy beginning, a bolt action will teach him to take carefull aim and not just squeeze off shot after shot.

Have fun and be safe.

 

[vectervp1]

P.S.  vectervp1  Stop by any day with your Terminator!!!I know some places where we could have a lot of fun!  <Usually legal!>

Heh... I wish that was me... well, I wish that was my home protection system. That's just some picture I found online. A buddy of mine does have one that looks alot like that one. His has a bipod, and a slighly larger scope. He's part of a machine gun shooting club and I've been fortunate enough to be invited a few times.

Vectorvp1-nice .50 BMG (it is a BMG isn't it?)

Yup, it's an ArmLite AR-50, .50cal BMG. If your really interested in one, they have a "Limited Edition" green stock one right now for the low low price of $2885 from your local dealer.

On topic, I personally like bolt action rifles, so if I were in the market for a .22, I would look at the Marlin .22 bolt action rifles. I've considered buying one for a while now, but just havent gone down to a store to buy one. Besides, then I'd actually have to go out and shoot it on a regular basis. I hardly go out and shoot my two handguns, and those I can shoot at the ranges near me.