.22 magnum - Pros & Cons

G

Glock_Racer

New member
I currently am in the .22LR pool (own a 22/45, 10/22 for plinking and such) and wanted to dive-in to the more powerful .22WMR cartridge. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this underrated load?

1. Accuracy
2. Hunting/Defense
3. Reliability

By the way I am planning to shoot it out of a Ruger 77/22 Target.
 
I've owned several 22 magnums and have tried to fall in love the cartridge but can't for one reason accuracy. Everything the use of the .22 magnum is predicated on requires accuracy from the firearm and I've yet to find a 22 magnum that would shoot as good as a decent .22LR.

I've heard two reasons for this a lack of accuracy in .22 mag guns. The first being that manufacturers use 22 LR barrels for the magnum because it's simply cheaper than making special barrels just for them. This would mean the diameter would be .001 off and the twist rate would not be optimized for the 22 magnums loads. The second I've heard is that the ammunition is simply made rather cheaply. As people compare it's price to the 22LR and manufacturers quickly learned that high dollar 22 mag ammo didn't sell well, they cut corners to keep cost down. In particular there seems to be problem with the consistency of rim thickness which leads to problems with accuracy. I've heard of a gauge you can use to sort your ammo by rim thickness to minimize this problem, but if your going to go too all this trouble why not just reload a .22 hornet.

I'm not sure if both or either theory is true, but like I've said I gone through several and have not found many accurate rifles in .22 mag. It's a real shame, because it's got great ballistics that fill a neat nich between the 22LR and .223. That nich at least for my use however requires accuracy. Whats the use of flattening the trajectory and increasing the leathality for small game at long range when your taking away the ability to hit your target?

This has just been my experince and maybe the Ruger shoots great, but I'd look into it from other owners before I layed my bucks down on one.

Just my thoughts, Blue Duck
 
In my state to hunt foxes,bobcats,racoons,possums the .22 mag is the only choice in a rifle.In Georgia we can't hunt those animals with centerfires other than shotguns with shot no bigger than no.2.If you can only hunt these animals in your state with a rimfire than I highly recommend the .22 mag.If your state's regulations are otherwise go with a centerfire.
 
I ignored the 22 WRM for years, anything the 22 WRM could do my 223 could do better (with reloads of course)I thought. That is until I started hunting wildlife mgt areas. Shotguns with #2 or smaller (steel at that!), muzzle loader, and rimfire only. Bought a marlin bolt action last year and mounted a burris 4x compact scope, killed 3 grey fox and lots of crows, rabbits, squirrels and a few groundhogs.

Accuracy: Ammo sensitive, CCI maxi-mag solids give consistent 1.5" 5 shot groups @ 100 yd (rolled jacket on bench for support) on a calm day. Sub 50 yards my 22 lr rifles groop better, at 100-150 yards the 22 WMR does better. Although the 22 WRM has a repututation for poor accuracy, my marlin bolt is as accurate as I can expect a $180.00 (wal-mart)rifle to be.

Hunting/defense: Defense, don't know, probably too light but better than 22 lr. Hunting, lots of tissue destruction with hollowpoints. Use solids if your going to eat it. I think it's a good killer for anything up to fox and groundhog.

Reliability: I've had a few fail to fire with good firing pin strike, no more than I've had with 22 lr. Must be a rimfire thing, failure to fire is extemely rare with my centerfire firearms.

If laws or regulations keep you from using your centerfire, it may be worth a try. Good luck and have fun.
 
I've had more misfires with the .22 Mag than with the regular .22s--for the latter it has been rare, even with older ammo.

The misfires have been in both a NAA derringer and a Marlin bolt-action. The indentations looked normal whether the cartridge fired or not, when comparing.

I was not impressed with the accuracy in the rifle, although I used CCI only. Dunno if what Blue Duck heard relates to what I've experienced, or not.

The cartridge and a rifle for it *oughta* be a good combination. Dangfino.

Art
 
Hi all

I picked up a Volquartsen 10-22 clone in 22 mag last year. Not their top-of-the-line model but a nice one. ( Carbon fiber barrel, stainless action, laminated stock, and God help me a muzzle brake). It too is ammo sensitive but either the Winchester Supreme or the Federal Premium stays well under an inch at 100 yds. CCI or PMC it sprays. Tickled to death with it.

http://www.volquartsen.com
 
I have a Ruger 77/22M-Varmint & my wife has a 77/22M-standard model.

My Varmint (Target) model does best with the Winchester Super 34gr high velocity hollow points. I have seen many a 5 shot, 100 yard group at under 3/4 inch, but a fair average is right around 1 to 1 1/4 inches. Got to remember how much effect wind has on those little 22 bullets. BTW I also put a Volquartsen trigger kit in it which really helped the rifle a lot.

My wifes standard rifle prefers CCI MaxiMag. The HP do slightly better than the solid bullet. The gun has just never done very good at 100 yards, about 2 inches on a good day. At 50 & 75 yards this rifle does just fine averaging right around 1 inch with the CCI ammo.

I admit that neither one of these are "tack driver" but for when you need that little extra power from a rimfire they have more than enough accuracy & oomph to offer.

[Edited by k in AR on 01-13-2001 at 10:47 AM]
 
What's been said so far, here, seems to indicate that if one avoids "el cheapo" rifles, accuracy is in the acceptable-to-very-good category. And, brand of ammo is important.

My opinion as to self-defense is that the .22 Mag is better than the regular .22 rimfire and such pistol cartridges as the .25ACP and possibly the .32 autos.

So far, in my experience, the shelf-life seems shorter than the same brands of .22 rimfire. I've had two duds in five rounds, from my little NAA mini-revolver. The ammo was maybe a year old. (Certainly gives a reason for regular practice!)

Art
 
So forgive a stupid question, but is .22 magnum the same thing as .22 WMR? I assume it is from this discussion. What are the relative ballistics?

And what is .22 Hornet?
 
22mag and 22 wmr are the same. 22 hornet is a rimmed center fire ctg dating back about 100 years or so. nice 150 to 200 yd varmint /small game round.
 
So forgive a stupid question, but is .22 magnum the same thing as .22 WMR? I assume it is from this discussion. What are the relative ballistics? And what is .22 Hornet?
Click to expand...

Yes the .22 Mag and .22 WMR are the same cartridge, but the .22 WRF is not. .22WRF is an old cartridge not often seen anymore.

The .22 Hornet is an OLD tiny 22 caliber centerfire. It is more powerful than the .22 WMR. The .22 Hornet is the smallest centerfire rifle cartridge still being made. It has the advantage of being quiet and accurate.

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22 Mag

Living in the People's Republic of NC I can understand and agree with all the posts about trying to deal with Wildlife Commission Regulations on public land and how that gives the 22 Mag a green light in some areas, but that is the only reason I can think of to buy one. I have a Marlin 22 Mag and have used other models and none of them are up to centerfire standards.

Now that you can buy a Savage 110 or Remington 700 in the low $300's in 223 Remington, money isn't the factor that it once was in buying a 22 Mag. Plus ammo for any of the 22 centerfires can be reloaded for less than the price of a 22 Mag. Military surplus for the 223 keeps even factory ammo in the same price range if you just want to plink. If you want rimfire performance its easy to load the centerfires down to those velocity levels. If you shoot alot the savings in ammo costs alone are enough make a centerfire the way to go.
 
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