.22 solid lead for hunting?

[trigga]

I've always used cci stingers for squirrel hunting but with the shortage of .22 lr I was only able to find some 50pk 40 gr solid lead. Wondering if this is any good for small game? I haven't had much success with bulk ammo hunting as they are underpowered or just don't get the job done. Also are these designed to penetrate or frag/expand because we can't use anything other than expanding bullets for hunting

 

[trigga]

They're made by federal btw in a blue box. Lucky after many months of searching for .22 lr was able to find these. They were almost out too when I got there

 

[SlowFuse]

I've used what I believe is the exact same thing you're talking about. Federal Champion solids. Only once. Squirrel about 35 yards out, took 2 good shots to put it down. I changed the mag and saved those for plinking. My experience may be unusual but it was enough to sway me away from them for that use.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

During hard times you will make do with what you have be it shorts, longs or long rifles. A shot to the head with any .22 is a dead squirrel.

 

[Blue68f100]

A lot prefer solid lead over a HP because it does not tear the meat as bad on a bad short. Any head shot = dead squirrel. My LGS has always had the AE AE22 in stock. It is what I use in my gun for the tree rats.

 

[CraigC]

It's best to restrict yourself to head shots when using round nosed solids.

 

[ldlfh7]

Any 22 round should kill a squirrel. Lung, heart, head, or neck shot will dispatch a squirrel easily. Just like hunting any other animal... shot placement is everything. If you are worried about it, pull out the 410 or 20 ga.

 

[hdbiker]

I use nothing but 40 grain solids for small game, the super hot or hollow points are to distructive on eatable game. hdbiker

 

[Patocazador]

I shoot squirrels exclusively with standard LR .22s with my old Ruger Mk I auto pistol. Any shot to the chest or head area does them in and doesn't ruin edible meat.

 

[buck460XVR]

Growin' up as a kid, all we ever used for squirrels was .22 shorts cause they were a dime cheaper than LRs. Hard for me to believe any .22 LR load being underpowered for squirrels, even subsonic. Never seems to matter whether it's a HP or solid if you hit 'em right. If it's accurate, it should kill 'em.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

When I hunted squirrel with my Uncle Ed and his dog Henry, he carried a shotgun and took running shots and I carried my .22 Glenfield 99G and took sitting shots. Head shots only to avoid damaging meat. .22 LR HV HP or standard solids, or .22 shorts for that matter, should take a squirrel with a well placed bullet.

Afterthought: I do realize that some people regard squirrel as vermin (not as edible game) and might want a round like the .22 Stinger to kill with any hit to head, chest or gut.

If the hunting regs state expanding bullets only, that I believe is a prohibition on full metal jacket. Plain lead or even copper washed .22 is an expanding bullet especially if it hits bone, but I would check the hunting regulations for details; localities vary. Generally though unjacketed lead bullets are regarded as expanding bullets most places I know about.

 

[Sniper66]

I have killed and eaten 100s of squirrels and rabbits shot with 40gr lead round nose bullets. It kills them on the spot unless you gut shoot them. Even then, they won 't go far. A shot through the head or lungs will drop them easily. I have shot both rabbits and squirrels with .22 LR, Longs, Shorts, and CB caps. Only the CB caps wound them, unless it's a head shot. When I was a kid with no money, we always shot Shorts because they were cheap. Killed 100s of rabbits and squirrels that fed us during the winter. Lots of fun too.

 

[fragout]

Same here as the above post.

Have killed a truck load over the yrs with them, and in several different states.

Standard velocity will do just fine for any tree rats in the Americas that I have ever seen, and it matters little if the bullet's coated in copper or not.

Same with rabbits.

Subsonics work just fine to boot.

Head, neck, heart, lungs. Even poorly placed shots in guts will still put um in the pot.

Now get out there and get some squirrels.

Happy hunting.

 

[CraigC]

I reckon mileage varies because I always had terrible results on rabbits with anything that wasn't a hollow point. A decent hollowpoint in the boiler room anchors them quickly, even out to ~130yds but a solid almost always resulted in a wounded critter. We hunted in Florida where orange growers wanted them controlled because they chewed on their water lines and the state has no closed season on cottontails and marsh rabbits. We hunted them year round and killed thousands.

 

[MCgunner]

I have always found that HPs are totally un-necessary for squirrels (work better for rabbits) and damage more meat if a body shot is taken. I used to hunt squirrel with .22 short solids, less noise and works fine to 25 yards. Long Rifles give me more range. Shorts will shoot 50 yards, but accuracy isn't that great past 25 in my old Remington. .22 solids work fanstastic, though, and Federals are as good as any.

In my 10/22, I hunt with Eley Match. They produce 1" 50 yard groups in that gun, about a half inch better than the best cheap ammo I've tried. They're solids, of course, and are expensive, but I only use 'em for hunting.