.22 RNL or .22 HP...Opinions please

Kermit

New member
Are .22 long rifle round nose lead bullets effective on prairie dogs? I'm sure that .22 hollow points are more effective. The reason I asked is that my father gave me a brick of Remington .22 cal round nose lead bullets. If they'll be adequate for dispatching prairie dogs I plan on taking them on a hunt next week in western Oklahoma. I was considering using them out to 75 yards or so. I'd appreciate any opinions on the .22 round nose versus the .22 hollow point. Thanks for your time. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
i've never shot dogs with 22LR. My guess would be that anything will kill em (they're not tough critters), but HP's will probably kill em a bit cleaner and quicker. Most important thing is accuracy. If you can hit em with the RNL's, good enough.
 
A .22 long would not be my first choice for a PD gun. But if it's all you have, then by all means use it. Hopefully your .22 is adequately scoped. Try for head shots, it's the decent thing to do. Body shots, even with HP's, will leave more injured than dead. Best choice for a 1 shot/1 kill rimfire on PD's is the HMR.
 
Some statistics you might want to consider.

The .22 Long Rifle has a velocity somewhere in the 1,300 feet-per-second range, and has its best accuracy under 75 yards or so. It starts dropping its trajectory with a 37-grain bullet pretty drastically past 50 yards. At 200 yds. the .22 LR has a trajectory drop of some 45 inches.

The .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (WMR) has a velocity around 1,900 fps, but the standard 40-grain bullets drops some 22 inches at 200 yds.

The .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire (HMR) has a muzzle velocity of more than 2,550 fps — more than 25 percent faster than a .22 magnum. The .17 HMR only drops 10 inches at 200 yards.
 
So have I. In June, when they're young and dumb, and they'll let you get within 20-30 yards of them. This time of year the shots are in the 200-300 yard range. You won't kill very many with a .22 at those distances.
 
Have to agree with NASA on going 17 if you can. The difference is drastic and significant. If 22 is your only option, I found I had more effect with the HP's. Just aim high.
 
I have shot thousands of prairie dogs with a 22.I like using hollow points most of the time but I have killed them with both.Alot less will crawl into their holes if you use hollow points.I have been using a 17HMR lately but me and my brother went and shot a few last year during the spring.I was using Federal hollow points and CCI Stingers and I killed close to 80 by myself all were DRT and my brother was using CCI Blazer solid bullets and Remington Thunder Bolts and he killed at least 50 and half of them required a second shot.If your going in the spring be sure to take lots of ammo. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
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