Best 22LR brand for hunting

[Lupinus]

I know it boils down to what your gun fires best quite a bit but generally speaking what are some good .22LR brands/lines to use?

Standard high velocity bulk packs? Remington yellow jackets? What generally works really well for hunting?

 

[WillBrayJr]

Ruger's 10/22

Never had a malfunction with one, even at 15,000rds without a detail cleaning. I tried the mixed load test where I loaded different brands of ammo into one magazine and no jams. Any premium 22lr round like CCI Stingers are good for hunting.

 

[MCgunner]

Whatever's accurate and reliable. My Remington bolt gun likes anything good enough to hunt with. My 10/22 likes CCI mini mags. My Mossberg LOVES RWS target, but will shoot about anything decent enough to hunt with. My AR7 likes mini mag also.

One thing I learned when I was a kid was use solids on squirrel if you're going to do a body shot. At 50 yards, the head is kinda small. Solids don't do near the meat damage. A hollow point will blood up what little meat there is on a shoulder if it gets anywhere near. Use hollow points on rabbits. They're hard to stop with solids, but fold quicker when hit with a hollow point. I've still hit 'em in the body on the run with a hollow point and had 'em run 20 or 30 yards to cover before stopping. I've not lost one like that, but nearly did once. If they're on the run, they can continue and you need to slap 'em hard. Stingers would be best, but most guns don't shoot 'em well. My 10/22 is acceptable with 'em. If it'll shoot 1" groups at 25 yards, I feel that's acceptable, especially for rabbits. I like all the accuracy I can get and ain't really too worried about velocity or power for squirrels. They die easy, but are small targets and often flatten out on a tree and offer an even smaller target. Sometimes all you get to shoot at is the head peaking out.

 

[dakotasin]

i've had really good luck w/ federal bulk pack and federal game shok.

 

[waterhouse]

I use whatever is most accurate in my gun, and my CZ likes winchester dynapoints. I'm starting to ration them though, since I haven't found any for sale in several months.

 

[Rupestris]

i've had really good luck w/ federal bulk pack and federal game shok.

Game Shok (also 810's) are outstanding .22lr's. They've been 100% reliable in my semi autos and are plenty accurate.

 

[Hobie]

Winchester Power Point. If it has been said before it bears repeating.

 

[borrowedtime69]

my religion...

i am the high priest of the church of CCI Mini-Mag HP's. i use them in most of my hunting arms; ie. ruger 10-22, 3 ruger 22/45's, and a Marlin 39A.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Winchester Expert hollowpoints from Wal Mart -- accurate and reliable, and almost too hard-hitting.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Winchester Expert hollowpoints from Wal Mart -- accurate and reliable, and almost too hard-hitting.

That's the diametric opposite of my experience with XPerts. They don't shoot accurately in my 10/22 (or function well), 9422, Single Six, or S&W Model 18. I also found them to be dirty and leaded a lot.

The one animal I shot with them was a racoon. Six rounds in the thorax from about 20 feet and the damn thing still would die until a friend put a slug through its brain.

As always, YMMV.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

That's the diametric opposite of my experience with XPerts. They don't shoot accurately in my 10/22 (or function well), 9422, Single Six, or S&W Model 18. I also found them to be dirty and leaded a lot.

The one animal I shot with them was a racoon. Six rounds in the thorax from about 20 feet and the damn thing still would die until a friend put a slug through its brain.

As always, YMMV.

I shoot a Kimber Model 82, and these shoot better than I can -- and I practice a lot. They feed and function well, and expand with authority. I've killed a ton of squirrels with them.

I live on my own mostly-wooded 185 acre farm, and can hunt squirrels out the front door, so I shoot a lot of them.

 

[MCgunner]

I live on my own mostly-wooded 185 acre farm, and can hunt squirrels out the front door, so I shoot a lot of them.

Wow, living my dream. I have 10 acres I bought south of town in '88. The land is escalating in price and I've been thinking I might see how much I could get for it and try to by 30 or 40 acres somewhere up in the trees inland from here. My property is undeveloped, but only about a mile up a country road from a boat ramp and espiritu santos bay (great fishin' and duck huntin'), but it's open everywhere around and is infested with deer and a few hogs. I've killed at least one deer down there every year I've hunted it. But, I have to go up country to hunt squirrels. Plus, there's deer where I wanna buy. Sure have done some GREAT squirrel hunting in east Texas on the public hunting program land, though. Heck, none of it's fenced down there and I'm sittin' in the middle of about 100 acres that I have no idea who owns and on the fence line of a huge ranch of several thousand acres. Kinda neat I didn't have to buy, but 10 acres of it.

Folks, rifles and pistols ALL have different appetites in my experience. What works in one might not work in others. Just when I was thinking Stingers were inaccurate and worthless in all .22s, I found this little POS cheapo Phoenix HP22 is unreal accurate (for a 3" pocket gun) with 'em and prefers 'em to anything else. Go figure. Mini mags are less than stellar in most rifles and handguns I've owned, but shoot well in my 10/22.

The only constant I've found is that the really high grade medium velocity stuff seems to be accurate in about anything you put it in. I'm thinking RWS for instance, target grade stuff. That stuff turned a 50 year old Mossberg rifle I have into a friggin' target gun. Go to the range with a variety of ammo and try it all. If your quarry is squirrel or rabbit, power is not NEAR as important as accuracy.

BTW, I've never had that hard a time shooting raccoons either. Usually one shot, one kill. I've shot a few, but I'm not really a 'coon hunter.

 

[JohnKSa]

Hunting with a .22LR is more about accuracy than it is about ammunition performance. Anything you SHOULD be hunting with a .22LR CAN be killed cleanly with nearly any decent quality, accurate .22LR ammunition.

 

[redneck]

Seems like I've tried just about all of them now.....and there just isn't THAT much difference in performance once you get past finding stuff your gun likes to shoot.

Remington Golden bullet HP's- Expand well. Accurate out of my marlin 81TS. Cheap to shoot. They're also really dirty and don't feed well in autos from what I've seen.

CCI mini mag HP's- similar performance to the golden bullets for me. They are much cleaner, and seem to have a more consistent powder charge to them. Expensive.

CCI Velociraptor- Sort of a suped up Mini Mag. Hard hitting, clean and reliable. Good expansion. Not enough improvement over the cheaper stuff for me to use it on a regular basis.

CCI Stingers- Seem to hit harder, but not the best accuracy. Clean and reliable, like all CCI ammo. I guess it offers a longer range, but with the reduced accuracy I don't see much benefit. Another case of it not being that much better for the increased cost.

Winchester Power Points- I like these best. They are as good or better for accuracy than anything else I've tried. They also seem to hit harder than some others, and have good expansion. Decent price too. I'd say these give you the most for your money.

Winchester Xpert- Didn't shoot very well in my guns, poor accuracy. Did seem to hit hard.

Federal Lightning 40 gr solids- Poor accuracy from my gun.

Federal Champion high velocity solids- Very clean, good accuracy. Haven't used them on game yet, but they seem to hit fairly hard. Got these in a 500round pack for about $10. Might be my new plinking round over the golden bullets. They feed more reliably in auto's, and I didn't have any duds in the 300+ rounds I've shot so far.

Peters high velocity 40 grain solids- These have similar accuracy to the golden bullets. Hit pretty hard, and are very cheap. Reasonably clean for loose packed bulk ammo.

I know there's more, but thats about all I can come up with off the top of my head

 

[larryw]

In my 10/22, Cooper, both CZs and Rem 541, Winchester PowerPoints are super accuracte and every effective. Note, this applies only to the 40gr PowerPoints, the 37grain ones are among the worst ammo I've ever shot.

 

[Preacherman]

Since testing CCI Velocitors a couple of years ago, when they first came out, I've stayed with them for varmint use. They seem to be uniformly accurate and hard-hitting in any gun in which I've tried them. I also recommend them as defensive loads for those relying on a .22LR firearm for self-protection - hardly the ideal caliber, I agree, but there are those who can't manage anything else due to age, disability, etc.

 

[Chuck Dye]

My Ruger 77/22 likes the Eley HV Rabbit loads, both the solid and the HP. I, however, do not like the price or availability and reserve them strictly for hunting.

 

[redneck]

Since testing CCI Velocitors a couple of years ago, when they first came out, I've stayed with them for varmint use. They seem to be uniformly accurate and hard-hitting in any gun in which I've tried them. I also recommend them as defensive loads for those relying on a .22LR firearm for self-protection - hardly the ideal caliber, I agree, but there are those who can't manage anything else due to age, disability, etc.

Have to agree with you on that. I suppose its not fair to compare "premium" ammo to bulk packs, but I've found CCI to stuff to be much more likely to go bang every time,especially their more expensive lines. Actually can't remember ever having a dud with any of their ammo.
Still don't go for them on a regular basis due to price, but if it was a defense issue, they would probably be my choice.

 

[Sunray]

"...what your gun fires best..." Nothing else matters. Mind you, when the hypervelocities first came out some guys I know did some tests shooting at a W.W. II helmet. Stingers and Expediters penetrated one side. Yellow Jackets went through the steel hat. They only tested the three because, at the time, that's all there was. Slick, but if your rifle doesn't shoot a particuler brand or type accurately, it doesn't matter what it penetrates. Accuracy in your rifle is the only thing to consider. The game doesn't know or care. You may find that a regular .22lr shoots best in your rifle, but think hollow point HP's.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

Another vote for the Winchester PowerPoints. I hunt gophers, actually ground squirrels, here in Montana a lot. It's not at all unheard of to burn a brick a day. I've gotten outstanding accuracy and terminal performance from the PowerPoints in two of my .22's. It's certainly acceptable in all of the others, but not what those guns like best. It's the first ammo I try in any new .22lr.

900F

 

[Radjxf]

My favorites: CCI Mini-mag HP's, Winchester DynaPoints and PowerPoints for hunting, and Federal bulk pack for plinking. I totally avoid the Win Xperts and Golden bullets due to lack of accuracy and general filthiness in all of my guns. IMO only, the super hi-vel .22lr's i.e. Stinger, Velocitor, etc are trying too hard to be a 22mag and usually accuracy suffers a bit. Right now, my local Bass-Pro Shop has Remington Yellowjackets for $2.99 for 500! You may also consult Rimfirecentral.com for more opinions.