.22 mag

[shiftyer1]

About a year ago, judging by a few threads I made back then. I decided I needed some thing a little more than .22lr maybe. So I asked about .17 vs. .22mag, I decided on .22 mag based on the opinons from that thread. Then I wondered if there was that big of a difference between .22mag and .22lr to get the larger gun. Again I heeded the advice of forum members and stayed with .22 mag. but still no gun.

I looked localy for a used one for a whole year with no results. This morning I got a phone call from a friend wanting to get rid of a marlin 783 he's had since a kid. He's not a gun guy so it was just in the closet not getting used. I haven't used it on anything other than targets yet but so far i'm impressed. I'm not a great shot by any means but I set a bic lighter up at 50 yards and aimed for the chrome top iron sites. I started putting pressure on the trigger and it just went off. First shot ever with it blasted the top off
the lighter. Light smooth pull.

It's not the prettiest with some dings and nicks but not to bad overall. ANNNND quite possibly the best shooting rifle I own.

I'll let ya know what I think next time the coons come to the chicken coop and I get to use it for it's intended purpose.

 

[MachIVshooter]

.22 WMR is a fun round, with significant ballistic advantage over the .22 LR (even the hyper velocity stuff).

Interestingly, though, the .17 HMR does out-perform it in pretty much every way. Flatter shooting, less affected by wind. Used to be that .17 HMR was too destructive for small game hunting, but with the availability of FMJ bullets now, that is no longer true.

This doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the WMR, though, and it's still less expensive to plink with, ammo being as low as $7/box (BVAC). .17 HMR is $10/box miniumum, usually closer to $15.

 

[shiftyer1]

Ammo cost had alot to do with my decision, along with the fact that I live near a small town and walmart doesn't carry .17hmr regularly.

 

[Mike1234567]

As with most threads mentioning .17 HMR or .22 WMR, this one will likely lead to a debate over which one is better than the other.

As I understand the large percentage of what I've read, for anything up to coons, a .22 WMR is a very good choice. Others, who own and prefer the .17 HMR, will argue that the HMR is better but I don't buy that. My research tells me, for game larger than cotton tail rabbits, the WMR is better. With the right ammo you can use it against coyotes (in a pinch) but for HMR that's really pushing it. On the other hand, a lightweight BT bullet in WMR will dispatch squirrels too and, if one wants to harvest the meat, head shots are necessary even with HMR so meat damage is a moot point. Ricochet, on the other hand, is a valid point and HMR may be a little better in that reagrd... I don't know because I've yet to find a direct comparison of HMR/WMR BT ammo.

At any rate, IMHO, there's only a "hare's" difference between the two. For itty-bitty varmints, the HMR is slighlty better. For larger varmints the WMR is slightly better.

For you it came down to ammo availability so you made a wise choice. My suspicion is that WMR is probably always going to be in larger supply.

 

[JEB]

.22 mag is by far my favorite small game round at the time (hope to get a .22 hornet at some point so this may change). yes, headshots are more or less mandatory if you want to get much meat.

 

[MachIVshooter]

With the right ammo you can use it against coyotes (in a pinch) but for HMR that's really pushing it.

I agree. But I also feel that .22 WMR is light for coyotes, especially further than 50 yards or so. I use .17 Rem for yotes during pelt season, .22 Hornet, .223, .220 Swift, 6mm Rem and .25-06 when I just want them dead.

 

[thomis]

It's hard to believe the .17 HMR has been around so many years because it's so popular now. I remember when I was 12 my Dad took me to a gun show in Charlotte. I picked up a Marlin catalog and picked out the 25MN and put it on my Christmas list. I actually got it that year for Christmas and very soon after I saw an article in a gun magazine about the .17 HMR. I couldn't believe it! That was around 1988 IIRC.
I still have that Marlin. It's all scarred up with years of field use and it's still my go-to "yard gun".
I love the .22 WMR!

 

[bangaway]

shiftyer1

What ammo are you shooting in the .22 mag. Keep us posted on the coon hunt. Are you going to scope the mag. as I shoot better in low light with one. Have fun and bangaway.

 

[bangaway]

fed 50 gr mag.

Any of you guys use 50 gr 22 mag? Seems like it would be a better killer. Have fun and bangaway.

 

[snakeman]

I just use the standard CCI 40 grain hollow point and have taken everything from rabbits to bobcats with it without a problem. Shots have been from 10-200 yards. The 200 yard shot was a prairie dog. I have also used 17hmr on foxes and my dad uses it trapping coyotes. The 22 mag definitely drops the bigger critters harder. This is coming from personal experience not ballistics tables.

 

[MachIVshooter]

I actually got it that year for Christmas and very soon after I saw an article in a gun magazine about the .17 HMR. I couldn't believe it! That was around 1988 IIRC

If "very soon after" means 14 years.........

.17 HMR came out in 2002.

 

[snakeman]

^^^^ Is that really necessary? Maybe he meant 1998

 

[shiftyer1]

All I have right now as far as ammo is a couple boxes of dynapoints. It seems to like them so i'll probably stick with them since they are cheapest I have found. I'm not sure if i'll scope it or not. It will see quite a bit of nite time use as well as daylight so i'll probably stick with open sites for now.

 

[x_wrench]

22wmr is a great round. the only drawback is the price of the ammo. i can shoot reload 223 rounds just as cheap, and have a lot better performance. if the price of ammo was less, the round would be more popular. which means more sales of guns chambered for it. which means an increase in demand for ammo, which means cheaper ammo prices. but SOMETHING has to kick start the cycle. it will not start on its own. i have owned several 22wmr rifles and one pistol over the last 40 years. i still enjoy shooting them, but i certainly do not just go shoot a couple of hundred rounds just for the heck of it.

 

[Hocka Louis]

Interesting. How much can you reload .22 Mag for?


.22 Mag offers the same features and benefits as .22 LR with twice the power for twice the price. I'm good with that. And this includes for a general purpose survival gun (including defense as far as I'm concerned).

For .17 shooters, there is rather similar polymer-tip .22 Mag ammo available for years now...

 

[DM~]

I'm a BIG 22WMR fan! It's a very good round out to 150 yds on smaller stuff, and will easily take coyotes at 100 yds.

Best part is, i DON'T have to chase brass or reload it!

DM

 

[riomedinamike]

I agree with the choice for 22mag, b/c I get the ammo at either wally world or academy, and they always seem to have some type of 22 mag, usually cci, on hand.

Plus I do not want to buy a whole new set of rifles and pistols (s&w k frame and ruger convertible single action) for a caliber that may be marginally more effective in a few situations, which for me are varmints, rabid skunks, coyotes, and feral dogs.

Before znyone calls the humane society the feral dogs are wild and kill our sheep and goats, seemingly for fun.

 

[GooseGestapo]

Actually, there is a "reloadable" version of the .22wrm. It's called the .22 Cooper. It was developed by the "silhoutte" shooters that were reloading the .22mag ammo (removing factory bullets) with higher quality bullets such as the 40gr Nosler B.T. or the Sierra 40gr Spt bullets for competition. Now that Remington is loading a very good 40gr Spt, that is no longer neccessary. That, and the Winchester 40gr JHP load has been improved over the last 15yrs with the increased popularity of the .22wrm. Also, the addition of the 33gr Ballistic Tips....

Most of the .22Coopers I saw were being shot in T/C Contenders with .22WRM barrels. With the T/C, all that was neccessary was to switch the hammer from rf to cf. The brass was developed from the .22VeloDog cartridge from the early 20century. The .22VeloDog was popular in Europe with cyclist. Hence the name. They used it to "tame" rogue dogs that chased "cyclists". It was essentially the .22Cooper, a 100yrs sooner.... I believe brass was made in Australia....

 

[shiftyer1]

I stopped in at academy the other day and they had the polymer tips mentioned above, I can't remember the brand.

Are these worth buying and what is the intended use for them?

 

[T.R.]

I've had very good luck with Winchester 40 grain hollow tip ammo. Hits like a little grenade! Accurasy is amazing - dime sized groups at 75 yards!

TR

 

[thomis]

machivshooter

Hi, the article I was thinking about was actually in 1992 so I was a little off in my recollection. It was an article in shooting times. I looked for it last night for a couple hours. I was going to scan it but I just can't find it. Been a long time!

I did find reference to it on this website though:

"A LITTLE .17 RIMFIRE HISTORY
Development of the ammunition has been a long process. If you’re a longtime reader of Shooting Times, you may already be experiencing deja-vu. If you’ve kept your back issues, take a look at the January 1992 issue for an article called the “Revolutionary .17 Rimfire.” In that article I outlined experiments by Steve Chernicky, Terry Kopp, W.A. Eichelberger, A.J. Jones, Fred Wood, and others who have worked on various versions of small caliber rimfires. Shooting Times technical staff member Kopp’s round was called the .17 KRM. It fired a 25-grain bullet at 2100 to 2400 fps that was intended to duplicate the performance of the defunct 5mm Remington Magnum. It did so nicely–and then some. Chernicky, on the other hand, went all out for velocity, pushing the limit and eventually getting 2700 fps with lighter 20-grain bullets...."