farscott
Member
Over the holiday weekend, one of my wife's free-range chickens (a hen) was horribly mauled (wing mostly torn away and a huge rent in her side) by a dog, and she asked me to "put down" the poor bird. I was unable to get close enough to the bird (it would thrash/stumble/hop every time I got to within ten feet of it) to wring its neck, so I yanked my suppressed Ruger Mark II and a magazine of Remington Subsonics from the safe. My hope was to end its suffering quickly without alarming everything else. Well, I failed.
From a distance of about twenty feet, I shot the poor bird in the head. The bullet failed to penetrate, and just left a mark/divot on the bird's skull. The bird then tried to hop/stumble even farther away. I figured I had a bad angle, so I moved and tried again. By then, I was so upset (this bird was really suffering) and missed. I collected myself and carefully aimed again. The third shot was a dead center hit and the bird spasmed a few times and went still. I thought I finally had suceeded. After digging a grave and placing the bird in the hole, I noticed the bird was still moving. So I gently picked her up and broke her neck. A cursory exam showed the second .22 round that hit, while a center hit above the right eye, did not penetrate the skull. I guess it just stunned the poor bird.
I am not too happy about any of this. First, one of our dogs mauled the chicken. I want the dog gone, but my wife and daughter "want to give her another chance". Second, I failed to both protect this bird and to quickly relieve her suffering. Third, the Remington Subsonics failed to do their job. I literally am nauesous about what happened.
I am looking for a better tool should I need to do this again. I already readied my VQ .22 rifle and loaded a magazine for it with the Subsonics and another magazine with 40-grain standard velocity solids. I had gone to the suppressed pistol with the Subsonics in an attempt to be quiet. I know the barrel on a suppressed gun limits velocity (this is a SWR integral tube on the stainless Mark II), but I expected better performance. If I had known this would be the result, I would have used my .410 BPS or the VQ rifle.
Does anyone have any suggestions on a better round to use in a suppressed Mark II for this application? Or are my expectations wholly wrong?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
From a distance of about twenty feet, I shot the poor bird in the head. The bullet failed to penetrate, and just left a mark/divot on the bird's skull. The bird then tried to hop/stumble even farther away. I figured I had a bad angle, so I moved and tried again. By then, I was so upset (this bird was really suffering) and missed. I collected myself and carefully aimed again. The third shot was a dead center hit and the bird spasmed a few times and went still. I thought I finally had suceeded. After digging a grave and placing the bird in the hole, I noticed the bird was still moving. So I gently picked her up and broke her neck. A cursory exam showed the second .22 round that hit, while a center hit above the right eye, did not penetrate the skull. I guess it just stunned the poor bird.
I am not too happy about any of this. First, one of our dogs mauled the chicken. I want the dog gone, but my wife and daughter "want to give her another chance". Second, I failed to both protect this bird and to quickly relieve her suffering. Third, the Remington Subsonics failed to do their job. I literally am nauesous about what happened.
I am looking for a better tool should I need to do this again. I already readied my VQ .22 rifle and loaded a magazine for it with the Subsonics and another magazine with 40-grain standard velocity solids. I had gone to the suppressed pistol with the Subsonics in an attempt to be quiet. I know the barrel on a suppressed gun limits velocity (this is a SWR integral tube on the stainless Mark II), but I expected better performance. If I had known this would be the result, I would have used my .410 BPS or the VQ rifle.
Does anyone have any suggestions on a better round to use in a suppressed Mark II for this application? Or are my expectations wholly wrong?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
