Best 22lr for woodchucks

Before I bought my 22 WMR, I did a bunch of research into 22LR. I was looking at the most energy (ft-lb) at muzzle and 100 yards. All numbers are from boxes/manufacturer's webpages. Looks like the Aguila has the "best" power. Of course, no idea what works best in your gun, but I ended up buying a bunch of the Browning as my bolt action likes it.

Yellowjackets, 50 yards and in.

And if he doesnt immediately start the black tail salute, hit him again.

And.......this one really steams me as Ive seen folks not do it......

If you shoot and he drops and you cant see him.....you hurry down to add a finisher if need be

No blabbing to your buds, high fives or taking a drink of water.

Get your butt down and there and finish the job.

Yeah, its a varmint, a pest.......still needs to exit as humanely as possible.

Took some coworkers chuckin over the years and was sorely disappointed in their attitude and abilities.

Groundhogs are making a comeback around here. They were pretty scarce for the last 20 yrs.
You have to try a .22magnum for groundhogs. The round was practically made for it.
.22/.22mag
.17hmr
.204 if you need more range

This poor unlucky guy was on my back patio last Sunday. Unfortunately for him I had just stepped out for some backyard practice with my ccw. Talk about bad timing!

Killed alot of ground hogs with CCI Stingers in my 10/22. Later I bought a Marlin 25MN and use the Remington 33gr ballistic tipped 22 WRM to kill a heap too. My best day was 9 groundhogs in a day with the Marlin.

Whacked a fair amount with a 9422M rifles.
Inside of 75 yards an iron sighted lightweight rig was fun.

Bought a used Mk1 5 1/2" and hadn't even shot it.
Stopped by my buds farm to check it out in the junk pile, parked and saw a chuck stand up in bean field. Offhand, over 50 yards..........I shot (beans tall, only see neck and head when he stood). Impact was to right and down he went.

Waited and he stood again, over a little. Since I saw the hit in the bean leaves, I adjusted my hold and shot again. dead center of his head.
Laid right there w just a trickle on the noggin.

I have rimfired chucks w .22 on purpose, but that was when I had a 10.5" AMT Lightning, ran hyper V. and yellowjackets in a 552 iron sights.
The latter you'd take a good careful shot, they'd drop and you'd zing a bunch of followups in the beans.

My buddy saw me smoke a couple like that and laughed, said I musta had a flashback or something ( I never was in the military ).

Every animal-woodchuck, prairie dog, coyote, deer, bear, lion, rhino, whatever- deserves a quick, humane death from a well placed shot. If you are not sure, don’t pull the trigger. You are in control of the situation, it’s your responsibility.

In eastern Colorado 1962, as an 18 year old, I took a shot at a prairie dog from a sitting position with my open sighted .22 LR bolt action JC Higgins rifle, at 96 paces. I held about one dog length over him and fired. The bullet broke his neck and he collapsed in his tracks, on the rim of his burrow. I celebrated for a minute after inspecting him, then realized that it had been luck, not skill, making that shot. That was my last prairie dog.

I use a Ruger #1 single shot because for deer hunting because it forces me to make clean one shot kills. I use a single shot muzzle loading Hawken during black powder season for the same reason. I could legally use a black powder handgun, but I’m too shaky.

If you find your technique is not resulting in quick one shot kills, please reconsider the .22 LR.

I use the cheap Aguila .22LR subsonic out of my CZ 455 with AAC Element 2. I aim for the neck and head and try to stay within 75 yards. It’s a super quiet and deadly combination.

Shooting at longer distances, I use my CZ 452 in .17HMR.

Type of rifle does not influence my shot selection.
Falling block, bolt, front stuffer or black rifle w 20 round mag............its all the same on that first shot.
However, should things not go as planned, some are a bit faster on the fix

Chucks...........are tough, can take some punishment.
Shot one w Speer 75 gr HP from .243 up close and it was unrecognizable. And alive.
Must have just displaced all the stuff and ripped the hide, flipped it inside out. It got another quick.

Shot one w 55gr SX from a .222 rem at maybe 60 yards. Ran into ditch line. Hot, nasty, raspberry and poison ivy............I went to do my followup and found him near the waterline, tail out of hole. Could not remove. Not kidding, got channel locks from the car and went back and pulled him out.

Got crap all over me and the channel locks.

Made my way up to field edge where pops was waiting. Stung and scratched, I hoisted my prize (down the hole and gone is scored as a miss).
I could see daylight through the chuck, stuff hanging down over the head.

And it made a noise.

SOB was NOT dead!

Pops handed me a Colt Woodsman and I finished it off, while holding it by the tail w other hand.
Again, I think that bullet just moved stuff away and split the skin.

Switched to reg 55 gr SP and rarely lost one. Had some shoulder hits by holes, where they made it down without recovery........only w the SX though.

Biggest chuck of my life, around 20# (used to use a scale so knew what they'd weigh, but didn't have it on this one)...........was killed w a .22 lr.

Rem 141, during squirrel season. Knew of a den under a big oak, never saw a chuck there for years. Then one day ..........he was there. 50 yards, aimed behind shoulder POP. And he ran down the hole (not under tree but by it). I ran up and he came out growling, POP same type of shot, down the hole he goes. I run the rest of the way to the den and out he comes AGAIN. and one from a couple feet in the noggin and he was done.

Federal solids, about an inch apart going in behind one shoulder, and out the other side.........all it did was honk him off.
Oh he'd have died soon, as they were lung hits.........but he wasn't going without a fight.

I still feel bad about shooting him, biggest yet..........and not in a field where he was doing damage.
King of the woods he was. Shoulda left him alone.

But he was a monster for these parts. Stepson couldn't carry him very far. That was kinda funny.

giggitygiggity said:

I use the cheap Aguila .22LR subsonic out of my CZ 455 with AAC Element 2. I aim for the neck and head and try to stay within 75 yards. It’s a super quiet and deadly combination.

Shooting at longer distances, I use my CZ 452 in .17HMR.

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My buddy LOVES the 17 HMR and says out to 100 yards it works very well and is quiet compared to centerfire.
Wind reportedly limits things to around 100 and in.

I've never messed with one. Liked the reg 22 mag well enough, but was more of a 75 yards and in guy with those.

CCI subsonics in my CZ 452 American cut to 16.5”. Very quiet with the can. It is quite accurate in that rifle as well. 80 yards and under and they lay where shot nearly every time.

I refuse to shoot any critter with roundnose solids. I learned years ago how much more effective hollowpoints are than roundnose. Ground hogs are tough and the .22Mag would be preferred but proper placement with the .22LR will do the job.

When I was a teenager, groundhogs were getting into grandpa's garden. I set a steel leghold trap by the burrow that went underneath the barn floor, and nailed it the chain to the wall. Went back later with my .22 rifle, and started pulling on the chain. All it had in it was a hairy leg. That was a shock to this youngster. A few days later he told me he caught one. When I asked how he killed it, he said, "I hit in the head with an ax handle." We never did see the three legged one. I stopped my short trapping career after that.

Please excuse my ignorance. But how deep and far do the borrows go? If not to big. A couple nice chunks of dry ice. Should get them. Hang out with rifle in hand in case they pop up.

Meeks36 said:

Please excuse my ignorance. But how deep and far do the borrows go? If not to big. A couple nice chunks of dry ice. Should get them. Hang out with rifle in hand in case they pop up.

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They are smarter than we give credit. Usually the dens are multiple chambers 2-3 feet in size and the entrance/exits go down then back up so water doesn't pool where they sleep, raise young, or hibernate. They can cause severe building foundation damage. I've dug up areas to fix damage that had hole complexes that went over 4 feet down and spread out close to 15 feet across. We tried smoke bomb fireworks and just got haze out of pockets all over the place. They moved somewhere and did not come out while we watched.

CCI Velocitors.

illinoisburt said:

I'm a fan of the hypervelocity winchester 40 grain hp's. I think there is a similar CCI loading as well.
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I'd use those Winchester rounds on woodchucks, out to 40 yards or so, but try for a head shot. I've seen chucks run off after being shot with centerfires in the heart-lung area.

The .17 HMR is very effective on chucks out to 50 yards or so...more so than the .22 WMR IMHO.

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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CCI Stingers. Hands down.

Otherwise I’d go 22mag or 22hornet.

.22 Mag. the extra range and power makes a difference.