22LR Range?

.22LR range

If the squirrel was strolling along at a mile and 1/4, it could technically get accidentally killed. But then, according to NRA training, you should know your target and what's behind the target. Though, if you can see the squirrel, it is close enough for the range of the .22lr. On the other hand, if you miss the game, the bullet will still travel about a mile and 1/4, and possibly in Farmer Brown's rusty pick-up truck, or favorite hound dog...giving hunters a bad name.
 
Trajectory of standard velocity .22LR Ammo: See the attachment.

High speed 1250 fps ammo will usually go subsonic within 50 yards, but as the chart shows, target ammo will drop about 7.5" below the 50 yard zero at 100 yards and 55 inches at 200 yards.

If a person wants to shoot squirrels reliably at 100 yards or more, a rangefinder and ballistics chart would come in very handy.

Vertical angle is also to be taken into account. The horizontal distance to the squirrel is what should be used, instead of the distance from muzzle to the squirrel high in a tree. There's a point just below vertical that no holdover is necessary, but perfectly straight up will result in the bullet hitting above the crosshairs (past vertical), if sighted in for level shots.
 

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In my opinion, today's 22LR ammo is nowhere near as good as the ammo from the 1970's. The Western XPERT ammo in the yellow boxes was the best I ever shot. I had a Marlin semi-auto that would routinely put 5 of those into 3/4" at 100 yards. Nothing I've shot in this century has even come close. I know this is about squirrels, but if you can't hit 'em, they will get the last laugh.
Click to expand...
And it couldn't POSSIBLY be the extra 40 years of age on your eyes.

I think I'll start blaming the ammo now too ;)
 
Snyper: An older guy who shot an older Win 52 bought several cases of the Western ammo you described around 1970 and was shooting it in rimfire benchrest matches around 1990. He cleaned up!

Of course that was during the BR50 era and some of us were shooting Rem 581s with cheap hunting scopes and nobody used wind flags. It wasn't like today's "equipment race" game, that's for sure.
 
No, Snyper, it's not the age of one's eyes; it's the ammo. Check out the NRA web site's National Records page, fill out the search drop down menu then run it; you'll see that the 100 yard ones for outdoor prone, open, 100 yard, any sight ones set in the 1970's still stand. As does most of the records with metallic sights. Back then, it was easy to find ammo that shot under 1/2 inch at 100 yards for 40 shots and 3/8 inch was not unheard of; now it takes a lot of time to find ammo that'll shoot under 3/4 inch at 100.

To shoot a 400-40X score at 100 yards, the ammo has to print no larger on target than 1.112" extreme spread so the .224" diameter bullets will cut into the 1" diameter X ring for all 40 record shots. The hard part is holding still for at least .004 second while the bullet goes down the barrel after the round fires along with holding the rifle exactly the same for each shot.

It's common for aging eyes to have better vision over time. Ask a local ophthalmologist about that. My old eyes measured between 20/20 and 20/10, corrected, at my last exam by an ophthalmologist (a doctor), not an optometrist (a marketing technician). My correction is about 1 diopter less now than it was 10 to 15 years ago. Besides, with a scope, ones vision qualities don't mean much at all. And adjustable rear sight diopter lenses can help sharpen the front sight image if ones eyesight is a bit focus diminished.

Federal Cartridge Company made some excellent .22 rimfire match ammo in the early 1990 that was as good as what was made in England (Eley Tenex) and Russia (Olimp). But it was discontinued when their costs for powder went too high, so they quit making their rimfire Gold Medal match ammo.
 
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don't bet money on it

I'm 60 and with my progressive lens glasses I can see the sights very well maybe better than when I was much younger. My overall eye sight was better when I was young that's true but these glasses enable me to get a very good focus on a given spot such as the front sight. So when you look up and down the line at the shooters beware of old age and treachery .
 
Myth busters did a episode on 22 deadlines and took a 3/8 ply wood and said that it would be equal a human death shot I don't know how they figure I guess mussel tension is equal and eventually bleed out !! Any way as far as the went back the bullet always went through the wood which meant the 22 is deadly to humans for as far as you can see them if they don't search for medical care so I would say sane fore a squirrel
 
A bit off target

Do not buy a gun at Walmart.
I recently bought a MK-II F at wally world. When I got home I saw that it did not have the accutrigger. You would think that I would have noticed this when I inspected the gun ... and you'd be right ... except that they had a trigger lock on the gun when I inspected it so I assumed that the gun they were selling met the manufacturers published specs. The trigger lock was not removed until all the paperwork had been completed and then the gun was boxed by the manager and I was escorted out with the gun. Did some research, turns out that Walmart special orders these models from Savage w/o the accutrigger so that they can sell them cheaper. Here's the disclaimer from Savage's website: NOTE: Some retailers order non-catalog items to their own specifications. In certain cases, those specifications may exclude the AccuTrigger.
Some I'm not a very happy camper. Walmart's policy is that all gun sales are final. However, this is blatant deception on their part in not disclosing that the MK=II F that they're selling DOES NOT meet the manufacturers stated specs. I read on other forums where others have been duped as I have. I will NEVER buy a gun from walmart and am really doubtful that I would entertain buying another Savage Arms due to this deceitful practice. If Walmart wants to do this and Savage wants to support it then they should simply create another model # that reflects the Walmart special order does not have the accutrigger. BTW, I read that Dick's does the same thing.
 
The rim fire forum is considering a 22 long range as 500 yards I couldn't and really don't believe it now !!!! But I guess it's true apparently the barrels that are wrapped in carbon fiber are twisting loading up the small shell of a barrel inside and when the 22 comes through it elongates it to a smaller longer dimension designed for further travel so I've been told !! I picked up 7000 rounds of 22 LR in 9 different names I have 5 rifles and I'm going to run some testing soon!
 
The longest shot I ever made on a squirrel was about 75 PACES (not yards). He was stretched out on a tree limb, I took a rest on the side of a tree, and held the horizontal line of the scope level with the upper line of his back, and squeezed it off. Figured I'd hit or miss clean.

I don't know who was more surprised...Him or me.

I couldn't see him without the scope, except I saw his tail hanging down and moving around. Most of my shots are in the 20-25 yard range.

I remember I missed one at about 7 yards once. I about fell over laughing at that one. He was on his back legs, in the "surrender" position. In the scope he looked about the size of a groundhog. I missed him clean as monday morning wash. He looked around, just as bored as could be, and sort of hopped up a tree. I just let him go and didn't even bother to try to see him again.
 
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