.22 win mag limits

T

TheBear

New member
Im thinking about getting a cz455 in .22win mag for pest control and plinking. A .22 with twice the power and extended range - sounds nice to me. But some of my buddies said that this cartridge ist not as accurate as the 22lr and that it doesnt pack enough punch for bigger varmint like fox, raccoon, etc., that its a dying cartridge thats just not up to date. Ive heard a lot about the .17hmr being the sh**.
Opinions?
 
I like the .22 WMR and have used it on prairie dogs and jacks out to 200 yards quite a bit. Kills them dead with 30 grain TNT bullets, mainly I use Federal premium ammunition. Both of those targets are smaller than the two you mentioned, so accuracy isn't a problem. I did kill a coyote with the .22 WMR and found it a little lacking in stopping power on them.

I shot prairie dogs with a guy using a little .17 HM2 cartridge and he killed them out to 200 yards as well. They weren't spectacular kills but they were dead rodents. A .17 HMR will extend your range a bit .vs the WMR but really once you get past 150 yards they don't work well on larger vermin.
 
I don't know about punch for larger animals (I don't hunt with it) but it has plenty of accuracy. It's as accurate as the 22lr is and has far greater range to it. At 100yds the 22 magnum will still have more force than the 22lr does out the barrel.
 
You EITHER gain 50 yards in trajectory or 50 yards in energy, not both, when compared to the latest 40 grain hyper velocity .22lrs. The lighter .22M offerings have the better trajectory but not better punch and the 40gr .22M offerings have more punch 50 yards farther out but their trajectory is only 20-25 yards better. A long ways away from twice the anything over the .22lrs available.


It's a niche round. Not substantially better at anything than a .22LR but falls well short of even pipsqueak centerfire cartridges. Is the extra cost of a rifle and pricier ammo worth the gains I outlined above? Only you can answer that question.

LK
 
170 ft-lbs at 100yds for the 22 Magnum ... 324 ft-lbs out the barrel for a 40gr load.

22lr typically rolls in about 145 to 150 for a good cartridge (the little light weight Stinger excluded), barely breaking 90ft-lbs at 100 yards.

I like plinking with the 45gr Dynapoints myself. Give a couple boxes a roll and you'll quickly see the difference between the 22Mag and the 22lr. Thee 22 Magnum is a great cartridge for range, accuracy, and punch in the .22 platform, rumors of it being outdated or obsolete are from sources who don't know or understand the cartridge very well (although I tend to agree, for hunting anything other than varmint control why not use a slightly larger centerfire round?).

The .17 is an odd-ball in my opinion and I'm personally confused by it's popularity (way not just shoot the 22 Mag?). Yea it's cool but it's really not functionally superior IMO nor is it more affordable. For pest control, it'll only give you about 250 ft-lbs out the barrel and 100 yards out it's down to about 130. And all of that is behind a small 17gr bullet. It's really fast so that gives it a long, flatter trajectory for target shooting but other than that it's inferior to the .22 mag in my opinion. But that's just my opinion, I love the .22 mag and I know I'm part of a small but devoted group.
 
There is very little that a .22WMR can do that a .22LR can't do. There are lots of things that the .22LR does much better than the .22WMR. If you are shooting any small game that you want to eat, the .22LR kills them just as dead but destroys less meat. If you are shooting pests, most can be killed just as dead by the .22LR at a fraction of the cost.

Like said earlier, the .22WMR is kind of a niche round. About the only time I would really prefer to use the magnum is if I really wanted something bigger but the law wouldn't allow it. For instance, the screwy law in GA for hunting on public land says you have to use shotguns with #4 shot or smaller, rimfire rifles, or muzzleloaders during small game season - even when hunting hogs.
 
I cant believe someone said that the .22 mag is not big eneough for a Racoon. LOL I have hunted Racoon for years with a .22 LR and killed hundreds of them.
 
I have killed coons with a .22LR but it does have to be properly placed.
Personally, if I believed I needed more bang for what I'm shooting at, I would go with .223 and reload.
Or, if it is still around the .22 Hornet.
Edit: addition: The only time I use .22 mag. is when I go woods walking or ATV riding during the proper hunting season. It gives me a legal carry for unfriendly critters, 2 legged, no legged (snakes) and the occasional feral dog.
It is, IMHO, an otherwise pointless and expensive round to shoot.
 
A .22 with twice the power and extended range - sounds nice to me.
Click to expand...

At 25 cents a pop, you may as well shoot bulk .223: a .22 with ten times the power and extended range...... and you can reload the brass.

THAT is why the .22 WMR is going the way of the dodo: I costs nearly 10 times what .22lr does and does not give 10x the performance.

That niche is filled with the .223.
 
The number of raccoons I've killed with a .22lr can be counted in the 1000's. And we aren't talking those little southern house cat sized critters. And when a coon is stuck in a trap or in the crotch of a tree after being treed by dogs a .22lr is fine. Heck, a .22 short is plenty when you can take your time and plunk em in the brain pan.

But for my preferred style of coon hunting, calling them, it's dang hard to drop em DRT with a .22lr OR a .22M. Why is it important to drop em DRT? Because many times they are within feet, if not inches, from a den. Brain pan and central nervous system hits are far from a guarantee on a moving and/or possibly running raccoon.

Let's compare the Velocitor vs. CCI's MaxiMag+V:
CCI Velocitor: MPBR=104 yards Zero=89 yards 1435/183@muzzle 1110/109@MPBR (3" maximum point blank range, look it up)
CCI Maxi-Mag+V: MPBR=137 yards Zero=121 yards 2200/322@muzzle 1320/116@MPBR

As you can see, both rounds have comparable energy numbers at their MPBR's. A difference of 33 yards. If you think a MaxiMag+V is a 137 yard round for what ever critter you are shooting than you must conclude that a Velocitor is a 104 yard round.

Now lets compare the Velocitor to CCI's 40gr. MaxiMag:
CCI Maxi-Mag: MPBR=129 yards Zero=112 yards 1875/312@muzzle 1302/150@MPBR

The 40gr MaxiMag only has a 3" MPBR of 25 yards over the Velocitor. At that range it does have about 50% more energy than the Velocitor but if you move out to 154 yards (50 yards over the Velocitors MPBR) the MaxiMag numbers are much closer. Again, if you think a MaxiMag is a 130-150 yard round for the task at hand than you must conclude that a Velocitor is a 104 yard round.

Like I said, 50 yards either trajectory or power is all you gain.

For a comparison, a lowly .22 Hornet (considered minimum for coyote by many including me) has a 3" MPBR around 190 yards and has FOUR TIMES the energy that the .22M has at 129 yards. 50% Increase not so great compared to a 400% increase is it?

Of coarse this is all considering proper bullet selection but I can vouch for the design of the bullets used in all the above CCI ammunition.

LK
 
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22 magnum is a more reliable performer than a 17hmr. It does not have the accuracy or range but it has plenty of punch for a rimfire.

The best of all the smallbore rimfires would be the 5mm RRFM

I am still hoping one day that a company will release a new rifle chambered for this awesome cartridge.
 
The magnum is not the best choice for general shooting but if you wanted just one cartridge to carry around the farm and coyotes were an ever present problem, the 22 magnum would be a lot better than a LR. The 22 steps up the power 5X over LR rather than 2x with the mag. The 223 also extends range and noise 5x as well. The cost of 20 rounds of 223 soft points can run $15 to $20. You have to reload to get cost of the 223 using hunting bullets down to a reasonable level. The 22 mag at $10/box is about 4X the cost of typical 22 LR in today's dollars. The cost is actually closer today than it was 5 or 6 years ago when 99 cents was high for 50 rounds of promotional 22 LR. Even hand loading 100 rounds of hunting 223 will cost about $30-$40. You can get 3 to 4 boxes of 22 mag for that and not spend a minute reloading. I don't think the 22 mag is the best gun for a novice who needs lots of practice, but it is a good choice for someone experienced that would like a second or third 22 with more punch than 22 LR. In isolated rural areas the 223 gives a lot more range but that's not always a good thing in populated areas.
 
Im also considering a new rimfire rifle & am tossing up between a .22 magnum & .17hmr. The rifle will mainly be used in a specific hunting role & Im leaning towards the .17hmr because they seem to have exceptional accuracy. One property that I hunt regularly has open rolling hills that are heavily populated with rabbits. Most shoots present themselves in the 75 to 150 yard range - a bit too far for consistant hits with a 22lr. The main rabbit hill is relatively close to the farmhouse, thus ruling out my 22/250 because of noise. For specific roles the .17hmr is ideal, but for an allround plinker & small game rifle the .22lr is hard to beat, but I already own one of those.
Of course you could buy the cz455 in .22lr & then purchase a .17hmr barrel at a later date. Interchanging barrels is a feature of the CZ455, & then you have the best of both worlds.
 
The .22 WRM fills one niche that between the .22 LR or any center fire round: Hunting hogs in Alabama Wildlife Management Areas during squirrel season.

Rimfires are legal while center fires are not during squirrel season. .22 WRM is a bit better for that than the .22 LR.
 
I could get the cz455 in 22wmr for 300 bucks (thats not much where I live). I already own a .223 but its too loud and too strong for some places I hunt varmint so I only used .22lr there till now. Sometimes I just want a little more punch and range.
So what most of you are saying is that its a nice cartridge with fairly more punch than a .22lr, pretty accurate but pretty expensive too? How much louder is it compared to a standard velocity 22lr?? How loud is it compared to a .223?
 
if you want quite load up some rounds for your 223 with IMR trail boss powder. Super light loads with no recoil and very low noise level. Not sure what the velocity and stuff would be but they sure are fun to shoot. this is really only an option if you reload or know someone who does.
 
I'm up to $10 for CCI's and Super-X in the .22 magnum but I can still get Dynapoints for $8 a box. I'll always grab the CCI's for those long target shots but for plinking the Dynapoints do just fine and are still very accurate. 1/2 the price of .223 and no reloading necessary (I can barely keep up with my pistol rounds). I also couldn't find a bolt action .223 for under $700 or $800 that I like as well as my $400 .22 Mag rifle that holds 7 rounds in the magazine. There's no doubt the .223 is superior to the magnum but that's not the point, someone else will come along and say yea but you could shoot an xxxx, that's better than the .223. If the discussion is kept to 22lr vs 22Mag, well the 22lr is great for cheap plinking and down right fun to shoot in something like the VTR (and yes, it does nice effective, quiet varmint control) but the .22Mag brings a whole new level of fun to this little cartridge. Just try shooting them both. For me and anyone who's shot my .22mag, there is no comparison, the .22magnum is one cool little cartridge.
 
Since SOME states, like mine for instance, prohibit CF rifles from Sept - Apr, and allow only up to .22 CF from Apr-Sept, the .22 Mag comes into it's own.

It's effective for me on Fox & Coyote out to 100yds - as far as I usually can see, in the terrain available to me for hunting.
Under 50yds, it shoots minute-of-earache in rifles (I have several).

FWIW, in the mid-60's, when I was in the service (in NC) I was squill hunting (.22LR's) with my Sergeant, and watched while he dropped a Whitetail with his .22LR (one-shot/earache).
He had a deer tag in his pocket - but pulled rank on me for the drag. ;)
Timing, and shot placement is everything.
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The CZ is a good choice. I own .22LRs, .22WMRs and .17HMRs. The .22WMR is good out to 125 yards with the new 30 grain ballistic tip pills it is accurate and still packs a punch. I wouldn't hunt coyote with the .22 magnum, but raccoon, and other furry critters of the same size, or smaller would be no problem. For coyote I grab one of my .223s. There is still a place in this old world for the .22WMR and it shouldn't be overlooked when it comes to hunting small game.
 
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