Just to what Art was sayin' about vermin, my wife's uncle only owns one gun, a Ruger 10/22. Hogs come up to his house all the time. He takes 'em out with CCI mini mags to the head, HOGS, some pushing 300 lbs. He don't care if they crawl off into the woods and croak. As Josie said in a GREAT western movie, buzzards and worms gotta eat.
He's put quite a few down DRT, though, with head shots. That don't make the .22LR a great choice for hog huntin', however.
As I've stated, I took ONE large feral dog with a .22LR from a NAA mini revolver, 1 5/8" barrel from 20 yards or so, head shot. That bullet might have been packin' 50 ft lbs.
Dog just fell over. He was a big dog, my bud's Great Pyrenees was having a hard time with him and my bud called the dog off him so I could get the shot before his Pyrenees got hurt. That Pyrenees is one HELL of a big, bad dog, too. I don't want him on ME! That dog has killed, by himself, a 40 lb bobcat and numerous 'yotes. The little NAA was all we had at the time. Larry was impressed.
I'd rather have had a rifle to do it, but I didn't since we were working with his goats and I shoot the little NAA quite well.
A Winchester 61 pump action is the BEST Fur gun around, as you don't take the sights from your eye and get the full power of the round.
I'd argue with you about my Remington 597 Magnum, a super accurate, reliable (in Texas) semi auto. That thing's pretty awesome, but I think up there in that cold I'd probably want the pump.
I don't know how the semi would take that. I'd probably freeze first, though. LOL!