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Viable 22 cal ammo for varmints?


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When shooting varmints (armadillo, opossum, etc.) on our property there have been on occasion, the ricochet of the bullet on a distant object in those cases where a miss occurs. I am using my Henry Lever Rifle with 22 cal hollow point ammo.

Shots are ALWAYS at the ground from a standing position.

Obviously hitting the varmint incurs no problems and the ammo does its job.

But as I mentioned above, on occasion, I will hear the bullet make a sound some short distance from the varmint's location and I can only imagine that the bullet, even with a downward trajectory has ricocheted leaving at the same angle.

I know that there is expanding ammo out there with plastic bullets that shred upon impact, yet wasn't sure if they made same in 22 cal. Supposedly these bullets will expand upon the slightest bit of resistance, thus the theory that a miss, hitting the ground, would prevent a ricochet from occurring.

Is there anyone who may have had this experience and if so, what did you change to?

Based on our property, I'm not concerned, but always aware, about what is past the target that the ricochet is hitting, but merely trying to prevent it from happening. 

Thoughts and solutions would be appreciated.

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4 minutes ago, Alpo said:

How far are you shooting?

 

I use Super Colibris, but I'm shooting at 45 feet or less.

 

Alpo:

     Typical distance is as close as I can get, depending on the varmint.

     Rabbits are more skittish, Armadillo if they smell you, Opossum same thing.

     The majority of the times it is less than 50 feet.

     What makes the Super Colibri fit my request?

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6 minutes ago, Sixgun Sheridan said:

My only suggestion would be to use hyper-velocity hollow points, which usually fragment on impact.

 

Sixgun:

     I believe that is what I am currently using; however, the occasional ricochet still occurs.

     Much like a rock skipping across the water (which one assumes the rock would sink upon impact) the bullet is ricocheting off a piece of pine bark, leaf, hard dirt, etc.

     I will check when I get back home and post what is currently being loaded in my Henry.

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3 minutes ago, Father Kit Cool Gun Garth said:

     What makes the Super Colibri fit my request

It's a 20 grain bullet at around 500 fps mv. After about 50 feet they are too slow to be very dangerous.

 

And then there's the "be sure of your backstop" thing. I shoot at them either on the ground, so misses go in the dirt, or where there is a solid thing directly behind them. If the squirrel is on the face of the tree, so if I miss it hits the trunk, I'll shoot. If he's on the side of the tree, so if I miss it goes down range, or if I get full penetration it goes down range, I won't take the shot.I have shot squirrels on the wall of my storage on the wall my storage shed. That puny bullet will not penetrate the plywood.

 

 

What are the varmints on, that you are getting ricochets?

 

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3 minutes ago, Father Kit Cool Gun Garth said:

 

Sixgun:

     I believe that is what I am currently using; however, the occasional ricochet still occurs.

     Much like a rock skipping across the water (which one assumes the rock would sink upon impact) the bullet is ricocheting off a piece of pine bark, leaf, hard dirt, etc.

     I will check when I get back home and post what is currently being loaded in my Henry.

 

2 minutes ago, Alpo said:

It's a 20 grain bullet at around 500 fps mv. After about 50 feet they are too slow to be very dangerous.

 

And then there's the "be sure of your backstop" thing. I shoot at them either on the ground, so misses go in the dirt, or where there is a solid thing directly behind them. If the squirrel is on the face of the tree, so if I miss it hits the trunk, I'll shoot. If he's on the side of the tree, so if I miss it goes down range, or if I get full penetration it goes down range, I won't take the shot.I have shot squirrels on the wall of my storage on the wall my storage shed. That puny bullet will not penetrate the plywood.

 

 

What are the varmints on, that you are getting ricochets?

 

 

Alpo:

      On the ground (see above in RED).

      Sounds like a viable option for squirrels (which I use my Gamo Whisperquiet air rifle for); however, may not have enough power to kill a thick skinned opossum or the armored armadillo.

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A bullet should not ricochet off of bark, a leaf, or dirt. Ricochets happen when a bullet hits something it can't penetrate like rocks or gravel, or else hits at such an extreme angle it glances off rather than digging in.

 

This kinda reminds me of the old "war stories" of the M16A1, how the bullet would supposedly penetrate an engine block yet ricochet off a jungle leaf.

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15 minutes ago, Sixgun Sheridan said:

A bullet should not ricochet off of bark, a leaf, or dirt. Ricochets happen when a bullet hits something it can't penetrate like rocks or gravel, or else hits at such an extreme angle it glances off rather than digging in.

 

This kinda reminds me of the old "war stories" of the M16A1, how the bullet would supposedly penetrate an engine block yet ricochet off a jungle leaf.

 

Sixgun:

      If that assumption is made, then those times when the bullet does ricochet by happenstance upon hitting a rock, or grouping of gravel, and if so, would a change in the bullet make-up, (ie. lead hollow point, expanding plastic, etc.) prevent such ricochets from occurring upon hitting those harder items?

      In the end, could it merely be said that preventing a ricochet PERIOD, is not obtainable based on the ammo being used?

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My Go-To .22 ammo for short-range "varmints" has long been the CCI CB Long ammo.

 

VERY quiet when fired from a heavy-barreled rifle.

 

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39 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

My Go-To .22 ammo for short-range "varmints" has long been the CCI CB Long ammo.

 

VERY quiet when fired from a heavy-barreled rifle.

 

 

Hardpan:

        I'm making the assumption that for Armadillo and Opossum there is no need for "hollow point"?

        My goal is to be effective in the kill and not have the varmint suffer. 

        I prefer not to have to take a second shot to be the "kill shot".

 

     918379812_CBLong22calammo.JPG.f7c0b3da4b5922646a1f305ffc68e503.JPG

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When shooting critters, in town, I use my Crossman pellet pistol with “hunter” pellets. 

 

If I can use a .22 I use CCI Stingers. 

 

I tried Aguila powderless loads on squirrels about 12 years ago. They hit but didn’t penetrate so I decided to make sure if I hit them they died. I didn’t want to wound them. I went to Stingers or the pellets. 9 pumps on my Crossman with these pellets took care of squirrels and possum just fine.

https://www.amazon.com/Daisy-Outdoor-Products-Pointed-Pellets/dp/B0006FRD3Q

 

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34 minutes ago, Father Kit Cool Gun Garth said:

In the end, could it merely be said that preventing a ricochet PERIOD, is not obtainable based on the ammo being used?

 

I'm not a physicist, nor do I play on on TV, but my understanding of objects in motion striking other objects is that the energy has to go somewhere. Either one (or both) of the objects absorbs the energy or else the objects are deflected from one another. A lead bullet either has to penetrate or splatter on the target or it will be bounced off of it. Even shotshell shot will ricochet, although the pellets are so tiny they won't travel far.

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13 minutes ago, Sixgun Sheridan said:

Even shotshell shot will ricochet, although the pellets are so tiny they won't travel far. 

We had a high-dollar double at the gun shop, some years back. Churchill, I believe. Wanted to see how it shot. Took it out to the range and shot some bowling pins that were on the table, fifty feet away.

 

Expected it to blow them off the table, like you see in a movie.

 

Nope.

 

Field loads, #7 1/2 shot. Bounced right off them hard wood pins and came straight back.

 

Didn't draw blood, but they dang sure stung.

 

It did move 'em around a little, but it didn't even knock 'em down.

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12 minutes ago, Alpo said:

We had a high-dollar double at the gun shop, some years back. Churchill, I believe. Wanted to see how it shot. Took it out to the range and shot some bowling pins that were on the table, fifty feet away.

 

Expected it to blow them off the table, like you see in a movie.

 

Nope.

 

Field loads, #7 1/2 shot. Bounced right off them hard wood pins and came straight back.

 

Didn't draw blood, but they dang sure stung.

 

It did move 'em around a little, but it didn't even knock 'em down.

Ouch. Had some double-aught buck comeback after hitting Lexmark once. Got a scar to prove it. Got a lot of respect for ricochets after that.

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Heard of a new cartridge called CCI 22 copper, but havn"t found any yet.    Light weight copper compressed bullet at over 1800 fps.   Reviews are not that great for accuracy but will try anyway.   GW

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1 hour ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

My Go-To .22 ammo for short-range "varmints" has long been the CCI CB Long ammo.

 

VERY quiet when fired from a heavy-barreled rifle.

 

EXACTLY!!!!! I love those things!!

 

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1 hour ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Ouch. Had some double-aught buck comeback after hitting Lexmark once. Got a scar to prove it. Got a lot of respect for ricochets after that.

Was shooting some steel plates with a 32HE. Had 'em all down but one, so walked down to set them back up. I had reloaded before I started down, and when I was about eight or ten feet away I got this brilliant idea. Point shot at that last plate. Hit it dead center. Took it off the table. The ricochet came back and stuck in my forearm just below the bend of my elbow. Sumbich! I done shot myself.

 

Just pulled it out with my fingers, but dang that hurt.

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3 hours ago, Father Kit Cool Gun Garth said:

 

 

Alpo:

      On the ground (see above in RED).

      Sounds like a viable option for squirrels (which I use my Gamo Whisperquiet air rifle for); however, may not have enough power to kill a thick skinned opossum or the armored armadillo.

When thinning the opposum and coon population, I learned my Gamo air rifle was not humane. 

 

Aquila sub sonic 22s fit the bill. 

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2 hours ago, Father Kit Cool Gun Garth said:

In the end, could it merely be said that preventing a ricochet PERIOD, is not obtainable based on the ammo being used?

That is my fixed opinion. 

 

The “plastic” bullets you describe sound like 223 Hornady V-Max. I did some testing a few years ago when thinking about an AR-15 for home defense. I set up a test box that replicated a stud wall with two layers of 1/2” sheet rock. 

 

I tried five five different kinds of varmint ammo to see if any would consistently fragment in the sheet rock. The Hornady ammo was the only that went 20/20 breaking up into small fragments. 

 

I know 223 doesn’t sound like an answer to your problem. Honestly, I know of no 22 that does what you ask. 

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1 hour ago, G W Wade said:

Heard of a new cartridge called CCI 22 copper, but havn"t found any yet.    Light weight copper compressed bullet at over 1800 fps.   Reviews are not that great for accuracy but will try anyway.   GW

 

I have a box by my elbow...

 

Haven't shot any yet, but from what I've read and heard accuracy is fine from a rifle, but practical range is limited to 50 yards.  

 

Not exactly sintered, the bullets are a copper/poly mixture.  Lightweight (21 gr), the bullets have an outrageous 1850 fps muzzle velocity!  Supposedly they're pretty frangible.

 

But most importantly, they satisfy the SO practical "lead-free" requirement of our state...  I'd feel right bummed if I got cited for shooting a ground squirrel with a standard .22. :wacko:

 

 

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4 hours ago, Alpo said:

We had a high-dollar double at the gun shop, some years back. Churchill, I believe. Wanted to see how it shot. Took it out to the range and shot some bowling pins that were on the table, fifty feet away.

 

Expected it to blow them off the table, like you see in a movie.

 

Nope.

 

Field loads, #7 1/2 shot. Bounced right off them hard wood pins and came straight back.

 

Didn't draw blood, but they dang sure stung.

 

It did move 'em around a little, but it didn't even knock 'em down.

You learned the hard way not to shoot bowling pins with a shotgun loaded with anything but slugs or buck shoot.  Especially at SASS distances.

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I've heard that a 22 caliber gas cylinder air rifle is a very effective varmint killer.   I tried using a 1200 FPM break barrel 17 caliber air rifle to take out ground squirrels at 50-80 ft.  The BC of the pellets are so bad that I had to zero the scope so the laser borsighters red dot was 1 ft. higher than the point of aim at 10 yards.

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Why would you want to shoot a 'dillo? Yeah, I probably did when I was a kid. They don't do nothing worse than dig around a mite and make a helluva lot of noise when you're deer hunting.

JHC :blink:

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7 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

My Go-To .22 ammo for short-range "varmints" has long been the CCI CB Long ammo.

 

VERY quiet when fired from a heavy-barreled rifle.

 

 

Agree 100%, except I have a Marlin 39A which feeds shorts real well, so I use the CB Shorts.

CCI-22short-CB-s-o__82842.1536789761.thumb.jpg.29f93cc01d45650b7193470fb342fc84.jpg

 

Out of a 24" barrel, they are as quite as an air rifle!:ph34r:

 

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1 hour ago, Dutch Wheeler said:

 

Agree 100%, except I have a Marlin 39A which feeds shorts real well, so I use the CB Shorts.

 

Out of a 24" barrel, they are as quite as an air rifle!:ph34r:

 

 

Heck yeah, that'll work!!  :lol:

 

I have one.  Courtesy of an earlier owner, it has a scope (and a poor one at that) but the iron sights were stripped.  Dangit.  

 

I'd like to find decent iron sights... may or may not replace the scope.  If I do, I'll have to decide between an older, "period" model or something modern, which would work well but look odd.  Not that looking odd was ever a consideration...  :rolleyes:

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8 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

 

Heck yeah, that'll work!!  :lol:

 

I have one (Marlin 39A).  Courtesy of an earlier owner, it has a scope (and a poor one at that) but the iron sights were stripped.  Dangit.  

 

I'd like to find decent iron sights... may or may not replace the scope.  If I do, I'll have to decide between an older, "period" model or something modern, which would work well but look odd.  Not that looking odd was ever a consideration...  :rolleyes:

 

Hardpan, I have a Skinner Peep Sight on one of my Marlin 39A's, and I love it!  An option you might want to look into. :)

 

39_sight3.thumb.jpg.b32b2698950f8f4d1b742c456dfc19a1.jpg

 

http://www.skinnersights.com/2.html

 

 

 

 

 

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