.22lr killing ability taken too lightly?

[Australian410hunter]

I know it’s a small round and not that powerful and there are much better cartridges, but I believe the .22lr is taken lightly for it’s ability to kill. I know a .223 is better for coyotes but I’ve dropped one at 65 yards in a berry row because it was what I had on the tractor, and I’m not a great shot. When we butcher our hogs we used to use a .30-30 from 8ft or so cause bigger would mean better kill but it would go right through the head and not kill. From 2-3ft from the head we get 1 shot kills every time with standard .22lr hollow pts. I’d never use it for deer or game of that size obviously but it’s our most used cartridge because the smaller rifles easily fit on a tractor and rounds are cheap and most things shot are rabbits or gopher size. In a pinch we have used them on animals up to coyote size and always brought them down at 70yrds or under. I feel like it’s actually fairly deadly for the closer shots and if you take some time to aim but all I ever hear is “it’s only good for plinking and can’t really kill anything”.

We drop sheep in the paddock with a long barrel .22lr, and CCI standards, one shot, drop dead, on the spot (because they are unstressed the meat is much better), usually around a 20m shot; no exit, brain scrambled, no suffering.
We drop cattle with a cylinder bore .410, and a Winchester solid, again, one shot and they drop dead on the spot. I use a .410 with a solid for destruction of horses (these are 5-10m shots). Both of those are head shots, with no exit wound, and instantaneous death. I have shot horses with a .303, and failed to achieve as instantaneous a kill, and I had the round exit.
I suspect many people are confused by all the rubbish.
The .22lr, and the .410, are niche rounds, but within their limits they perform above and beyond, which is why they are still here.
The .22M is my go to for wild dogs, one shot, one kill, inside 100m, with CCI 40gr h/points.
We forget that our forefathers (and mothers) used black powder firearms, with a LOT less power, for decades, as effective firearms.

 

[tws3b2]

It's not the gun or caliber that counts the most.
It's where you put the round that counts. First shot, right place, when it needs to be there. Game Over.

 

[Old Hobo]

The "Bell Shot"

D. M. Bell

Bell was an ivory hunter and dropt untold number elephants with a 7mm Mauser. Me, I wouldn't recommend the 7mm for elephant unless one was tremendously adept at shot placement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._D._M._Bell

"He improved his hunting skills by the dissection and study of the skulls of elephants he shot. He perfected a technique of shooting elephants from the extremely difficult position, diagonally behind the target; this became known as the 'Bell Shot'"

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On TV and the movies, one will hear that the .22 LR is the preferred caliber of "professional hit-men". Nope, not true. The center-fire primer is as close to a "sure fire" as one can get. This is just not absolutely true with rim-fires; indeed, back in the day, rimfire firearms often had two firing pins to make sure the round went off. Assassins start at the .32 caliber level -- heavier bullet, sure to fire, and in small non-delayed-blow-back handguns, a silencer is not going to impede the feed/firing of subsequent rounds.

Sirhan sirhan used a .22 magnum out of an Iver Johnson revolver he took from, or was given to him by, his brother. I went into the original records to see if it was a .22 LR or a .22 magnum. Had to parse through a lot of documentation, but there it was -- i.e. the Iver Johnson was chambered for the .22 magnum. Still, the .22 mag is a rim-fire; but in a double-action revolver, if you have a misfire, just keep pulling the trigger. A .22 magnum WILL breach a skull -- even the skull of larger animals.
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With all of the above said, hey, we all know too well that the .22 LR is no toy. As a matter of fact, a standard velocity .22 short will kill. NEVER send one over the horizon. "Know your backstop." Safety = #1
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