whats the heaviest/largest animal youve ever taken with a 22lr/22 short?

Status
Not open for further replies.
1

1858rem

Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2008
Messages
1,235
Location
in the sticks of nc
just thought it might make for good reading, particularly stories from WAY back, i often hear of deer hunting with 22lr/mag, even killed with shorts.. i like 22lr but any of the old, or new rimfires count, maybe 22 hornet also since its a neat little cartridge. myself, nothing larger than squirrel, and a rabbit once but i prefer my old single shot 20 ga for rabbit.
 
Biggest - a large feral dog that was part of a pack that was approaching me at a trot. He was probably about 75-80 lbs, and from his coloration, mostly Rottweiler. Looked like the alpha, so I figured if I hit him, it would discourage his gang. I got him at around 40 yards with one shot about 4" behind and below his right shoulder. He went down immediately. The rest of the pack scattered. If I recall correctly, I was using CCI Mini-Mag hollow points. Another case of shot placement trumping caliber.
 
Mule deer with 22LR from a Remington. Clean one shot kill @30 yards.
Click to expand...

crazy man, where did the shot hit?

150 pound boar hog inside a trap from about 2 feet . CCI Stinger, one shot in the ear, DRT.
Click to expand...

i always hear of them being tough but most stuff is a little less protected through its ear hole:)
 
ABout a 6# fox squirrel. No, I'm not kidding. Beautiful critter, and I should have gone ahead and had him mounted b/c he didn't taste good at all.
 
.22 LR on a big ole fat woodchuck... One shot about 30 yards and he dropped like a sack of rocks. I can't remember if it was hollow points on not, but the round certainly came out of a bulk pack.
 
50-60 lb coy-dog,kept creeping around woodline with a pack,let it slid until he tried climbing into dog kennel with my pets. CCI stinger from my 10/22,between the eyes from 5 yards,dropped and pack dragged him off.I think they were trying to eat my dogs,but they ended up with a meal anywho,complete with a little rat poison in the tip:evil:
 
For me it would be a hog - like Shear-stress's buddy we use them to put our hogs down for butchering. They can be several hundred pounds, but we ARE talking about shooting a still animal in the head from ~ 8 inches away.

Outside of farm use, when I was younger my dad and I would go out trapping for raccoons and I shot several of those in the traps with the .22LR. Again though, very short range. Beyond those two uses I generally don't use a .22 much for hunting - mostly just target practice.
 
I, personally haven't taken larger than a jack rabbit, but when I was younger, I'd help my dad slaughter one of the pigs (70-90lb.), or he'd kill and quarter a beef steer (800-1,000lb.) from our farm.
We used a Ruger Single Six .22lr revolver on the pigs and a Marlin .22lr rifle on the bovine. One shot in the sweet-spot on their forehead, and they fold up like a towel.

dirty-pig.jpg


good_steer_p9ck.jpg
 
I killed a medium sized bobcat with an RG 22 w/1.75'' barrel shooting .22 shorts. I shot it in the neck as it was preparing to drink from a stream. Several 40lb+ beavers with .22 shorts,longs and long rifles as well as .22WMR.
 
Last edited:
Woodchuck, probably a good 10 pounder or more, the big matriarch that had been leading raids on my poor, defenceless garden, I got all three miscreants, but this big female was clearly the ringleader...

IMG_3112 2.jpg

Rifle; NEF single-shot .22LR
Ammo; CCI Velocitor
Range; 25 feet
The round went in her right ear, out her left, dropping her instantly, instant, humane kill shot, the Velocitor flipped her lightswitch to "off"
the second bullethole in the pic was due to me being an inexperienced hunter, and using my Ruger Mark II to put a Velocitor into the top of her skull just to insure she was dead, but after I inspected the corpse, it was clear that second shot was unnecessary
 
1858REM: Keep in mind that this was years ago and 22 rimfire is and was legal for deer. 1960 in right eye, smallish spike buck on last day of season.
Click to expand...

One thing to keep in mind too is that legal weaponry for hunting varies from state to state (and sometimes varies within the same state). I personally hunt in SC Game Zone 6, and here, on private lands, ANY rifle is legal for deer. .22LR or even .17HMR is legal - on private land. Buckshot while still hunting is legal on private land.

If you move over to WMA (Public/Government) hunting lands then the buckshot and "Rimfires smaller or equal to .22 caliber" become illegal, but it's still legal to hunt with anything centerfire.

BUT we also have a 4.5 month long deer season with only a 3" on one side antler requirement on bucks, with no seasonal bag limit for them on private land (I know people who kill 25+ every year, and one who passed the 100 mark at least one year). Some states just aren't very strict on hunting regs.

With that said the smallest thing I typically take out for deer is my .257 Roberts, though I'll admit to taking out a .225 Winchester ONCE. It was the only thing I had sighted in at the time. I didn't see anything, but I've seen enough deer fall to the nearly identically performing .22-250 that I think I would have been fine if I had.
 
I would never consider it for hunting game of the same size, but I have killed steers with a .22 LR fired from a rifle. The last one weighed only 846 pounds. I still have most of one side of beef, butchered, in the freezer.
 
a coyote at about 85 yards with some federal value pack ammo.
hit him straight in the heart. didn't take another step.
 
Average sized coyote, with a Remington 514 single shot. Maybe 40 yards, crossing shot, he was moving at a trot. One shot with a high velocity hollow point, hit the spine right behind the head. I was aiming for the head. It dropped right there, and stopped kicking before I could reload.
 
Big MF'n Racoon is the biggest for me. Also got a good sized cat once, a whole mess of muskrats, a couple rabbits, and a shload of steel pigs and chickens.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

C
.22lr killing ability taken too lightly?
2 3 4 5
Replies
102
Views
5K
Old Hobo
Old Hobo
Maverick223
  • Locked
  • Poll
Near-Perfect Hunting Cartridges...
2 3 4 5
Replies
108
Views
5K
saturno_v
S
RevolvingGarbage
  • Locked
The CCI .22 CB Short
2
Replies
35
Views
11K
natman
N
S
  • Locked
Looking to add another varmint cartridge, but what?
2
Replies
49
Views
2K
SwampWolf
S
H
  • Locked
.19 Calhoon?
Replies
4
Views
4K
SoCalGeek
S
Back
Top