Best 22lr for woodchucks

I am surprised that a 40 yard head shot has failed for you

CCI Standard Velocity is among the most accurate rounds. Will easily produce a pass-through at 50 yards. If not a head or lung shot that drops it, the groundhog may run away but will be toast.

i have shot litterally hundreds of groundhogs. no matter what ammo yu use its highly likely they will reach there burrow. in 22 lr i mean.

i always looked a itt as a good thing. i didnt have to collect them and never seen them again.

Probably a lot of people won't care if a groundhog lies in its burrow in pain for perhaps hours after being wounded by a .22LR but the humane thing is to put them down where they are. I would suggest a .17 HMR, .22 Mag or .22 Hornet at the least. Personally I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I knew I was leaving wounded animals around. As caretakers of this world we should do it with a conscience.

If you don't have a .17 HMR, (which effectively doubles the effective range of a .22 lr), then I suggest you see if CCI Velocitors are accurate in your rifle. Next choice would be the Winchester Power Point 40 gr HP. They are 200 fps slower than the 40 gr HP Velocitors, but still retain good velocity at 75 yards and sport a nice large hollow point.
Being the humanitarian I am, I prefer the .223 Remington with 40 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips at 3650 fps to ensure convincing kills out to 300 yards. But I realize there are places where the noise and proximity of buildings prevent that solution.

Normally what's most accurate, but I've seen some woodchucks take some good hits and still get to the hole. I like the cci velocitors, they shoot great in all my guns.

A head shot from any gun should drop it in it's tracks.

I'm a fan of the hypervelocity winchester 40 grain hp's. I think there is a similar CCI loading as well.

The CCI Quiet 40 grs Segmented HP is good ammo, super quiet, and has been pretty devastating on prairie dogs out to 65 -70 yards. Chucks are bigger, but the segmented HP is pretty explosive.

The Ground Hogs that I've seen are tough little critters. .22 mag does the trick, but if you only have the .22 LR at least a fast hollow point. The Remington Yellow Jacket is some pretty good stuff, and it's being offered for sale still.

LD

Here is some of my groundhog experience.

1. I shot one from about four feet in the head with a 380 Auto. It got back into it's hole. Two or three months later I killed the groundhog again (LOL) which had a round scar in it's head.

2. Groundhogs are tough and if not hit right and hard will likely make it back to their hole. Cartridges I've used successfully that leave them DRT include 357 Herrett, 9mm Luger, 300 Winchester Magnum and the lowly 17 HMR. The 17 HMR is what I use mostly on everything from squirrels to raccoons.

If you use a 22 LR, I would recommend the highest velocity most frangible bullet available.

Back in the day we used to cull woodchucks in my buddies small meadow. Most were done at 100 yds or less. Eventually we established a 50 yd limit and head shots only if using 22LR. They are tough critters indeed and most any high velocity 22LR could be used if it's accurate and head shots are employed, which are much more likely to produce instant kills which are much more humane. Body shots with 22LR usually result in a 'chuck making it down into the den wounded. In some parts of the meadow where the range would be from about 50 -125 yds. my 22 Hornet proved ideal. Wish I took more pictures back then; I could have filled an album with woodchuck & rifle pictures. Here's one of the few I have on the computer here, ( a digital pic of a print),. An iron sighted Model 67 Winchester .22 with 'chuck that was taken at about 30-40 yds. IIRC . Head shot; nice clean, one shot, instant stop.... .

I've never thought of woodchucks as being tough. Compared to rabbits they are but that's not saying much.
I have shot many, most with a 17HMR in recent years. Even in excess of 100 yards, the little 17 grain bullets are surprisingly effective.

Fine Figure of a Man said:

I've never thought of woodchucks as being tough. Compared to rabbits they are but that's not saying much.

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I've seen them lose an arm at the shoulder from a 6mm Remington hit, and still crawl to their hole...,
Same for being hit in the body with .22 LR..., and scamper off....,

LD

The first groundhog I shot was with a 145gr Silvertip Hollow Point from a 4” S&W 686. The ‘hog made it into the hole dragging intestines. Three days later, I went by the same spot and a coyote was trying to excavate the dead groundhog.

Shot my first coyote! Same load, same 75yd distance... but coyote was DRT. GO FIGURE!

They can leave a huge blood trail for a yard or two and still make it underground but of course they soon expire down there. Even from fairly close range with something like a powerful .30 cal. centerfire. It's all about where that shot lands. It can be amazing to see some of the toughness they can display. Although any good center mass hit at a reasonable range with a centerfire rifle usually stops them in their tracks or within a couple feet. A 'chuck den with multiple residents will remove a dead one that makes it down there wounded and dies. Takes a few days but when the deceased one starts to get ripe the other chucks will drag it out and the scavengers will do the rest of the clean up.

I first catch them in a large live trap baited with yummy greens for their last meal. I take them to the nearby state game area and dispatch them with a head shot while in the cage. I use a .22LR in my S&W revolver.

Sounds like an excuse to get a 22 mag or 17 wsm.

I have been using CCI Stingers with mixed results. Sometimes it anchors them, and other times they make it to the rock wall. I have also hit them with a 22 Mag and they make it to the rock wall too, so they can be pretty tough.

Axis II said:

So I’ve been trying to shoot woodchucks for some farmers but some spots aren’t 223 friendly so I figured get a box of mini mags and take the 22lr along. My concern is I’ve hit them with CCI standard at 40yards and didn’t kill them. The farthest shot would be 75yards. I’ll have a good solid rest so head shots won’t be an issue.

what do you prefer? Target round, standard, mini mag, subsonic, HP?

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Stingers work the best for me

Axis II said:

So I’ve been trying to shoot woodchucks for some farmers but some spots aren’t 223 friendly so I figured get a box of mini mags and take the 22lr along. My concern is I’ve hit them with CCI standard at 40yards and didn’t kill them. The farthest shot would be 75yards. I’ll have a good solid rest so head shots won’t be an issue.

what do you prefer? Target round, standard, mini mag, subsonic, HP?

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The most accurate gun/ammo combo is the one you want to take out. If you can consistently put 5 rested shots in a dime at 50 yards then you've found your combo. A 22 short to the head from 50 yards and back will kill them stone dead. But you gotta hit 'em right! Your .22 will be fine at the ranges you want to shoot, just make good shots.

Mac

CCI Velocitors work as well as anything I've tried in .22LR....still get a few crawl-backs but fewer of them. My preference would be a center-fire but a couple of properties I've shot on didn't want the noise and requested rimfires only.

On someone else's property it's their call if they want rimfires only and I've been in that situation before and just used rimfires. But in some areas where you can use a centerfire but don't wish to annoy any neighbors, then it's time to look at a 22 Hornet for more power & range than rimfires but with less decibels. It's a nice little "in between" type round that fills the gap between most rimfires and the bigger, louder, centerfire varmint rounds.