Date: 27 Feb 94  21:24:42
From: Ed Harris
To:   All
Subj: .22s for Small Game

Practical Dope On Rimfire Game Bullets

By Ed Harris (Rev. March 1, 1994)

Most inexpensive .22 ammunition at discount stores is high
velocity long rifle solids.  These penetrate well, (about 9-11"
in wet telephone books) but expand little, if any.  They don't
tear up much meat, but aren't sure killers on small game unless
they hit a large bone and tumble, which they often do on larger
small game animals like woodchucks.  High velocity solids are
seldom accurate enough for sure head-shots on squirrels beyond
about 50 yards.  The racket they make ensures your second shot
will be a running one, and unless you tag the little rascal
through the head or both shoulders you may not recover him.

The common alternative, high-speed hollow points do not improve
the accuracy situation, leave alot less of the squirrel to eat
and sure make a mess of the game bag!  A high velocity long rifle
hollow-point penetrates from 4.5-6" in wet telephone books, and
blows the entire front half of the bullet off in a shower of
fragments.  The cavity produced in wet telephone books is
golfball sized at the point where it would exit a squirrel or
rabbit.  The only hollow-point .22s which make sense to me are
high speed shorts for close trap line work, or the accurate, and
the deadly Eley Sub-Sonic hollow-point Long Rifles which are
accurate sure killers of bushytails.

The ideal general-purpose rimfire, in my opinion, would be a 40
or 42-gr flatnosed bullet like Winchester's Super Silhouette or
CCI's Small Game Bullet, but loaded to a quiet subsonic velocity
of 1030-1080 f.p.s.  This would give better killing power than
ordinary Long Rifle solids, but without the "crack" associated
with a high velocity load.   In my experience, the Eley or RWS
Sub-Sonic Hollow Points are the best .22 game bullets available
as factory ammunition.  Both loads perform remarkably alike. 
They are reliable 3/4" groupers at 50 yards from an accurate
rifle, expand to a classic mushroom and penetrate to a uniform 6"
in wet telephone books.  They are reliable killers of small game,
but not overly destructive. I regret that no US manufacturer
makes a similar load, because these are very quiet, accurate, and
effective on small game.  The imported loads are expensive and
not widely distributed.

A cost-effective alternative is to take an accurate standard
velocity Long Rifle round and make a flatnosed "small game
bullet" or SGB out of it.  Hanned Precision, which invented the
"SGB die" is out of business.  That's unfortunate, because the
idea works well.  The SGB die is a file trim die which produces a
flat on the nose of a .22 LR bullet, and removes only 1-1.2
grains of lead.

Although you can't buy the die by mail order any more, it is easy
to make.  Start with a piece of 5/8" diameter air hardening drill
rod.  Put this in the lathe, square the end and center drill it. 
Then drill a 1" deep pilot hole using a No. 4 (.209") drill. 
Ream the pilot hole ream up with a new No. 3 (.218") drill.  At
this point, if you have a .22 LR Sporting chamber reamer, use
this to finish the chamber of the die.  If you don't have a
chamber reamer, continue by reaming the hole full length with a
No. 2 (.221") drill and finish by runing a No. 1 (.228") in short
for a depth of 0.65"-0.70". 

If you don't use a chamber reamer it is necessary to lap the die
chamber with 220 or 240 grit to break the sharp corner at the transition 
between the two diameters.  When doing this you should also enlarge the
"bullet seat" of the die chamber until the chosen round of
ammunition will drop in freely, and fall out of its own weight
withoput "sizing" the bullet in the die.  After the die is
chambered, break the edges on the corners and turn a few grasping rings on
the OD to aid holding it in your hand, then turn it around in the
lathe and use a parting tool to cut it off at 0.90", break the
sharp edges, remove the die from the lathe and harden it.

The flat-nosed .22 LR modification does not significantly affect
point of impact or accuracy.  The altered bullets expand to about
1.5 times their diameter. Penetration is reduced from about 8-9"
for ordinary Standard Velocity to about 6-7" for the standard
velocity SGB.  CCI's factory-loaded SGB .22 Long Rifle Small Game
Bullet is a high velocity load.  The CCI SGB or Winchester Super
Silhouette flat-nosed high velocity rounds make good sense for
handgun use, but are louder than I like for a squirrel rifle. 

In penetration tests there was little difference between .22
Short or .22 Long Rifle solids, or between high velocity or
standard velocity rounds.  Altering either standard or high
velocity Long Rifles to a flat-nosed shape by removing .05" off
the nose in an SGB"die NEI gave considerable improvement, which
approximated the effect of subsonic hollowpoint ammunition.  High
speed hollowpoints showed some bullet fragmentation on the 2"
blocks which parallels their excessive destruction of edible
small game.

The Hyper-velocity rounds like the CCI Stinger or
Remington Yellowjacket were extremely destructive, leaving
golfball sized exit holes in 2" wax blocks.  These rounds have
proven effective killers on groundhogs, but I find them less
accurate than other .22 rimfire ammunition, and they leave little
edible meat on rabbits or squirrels.



In Home Mix We Trust, Regards, Ed

--- msged 2.05
 * Origin: Home of Ed's Red (1:109/120.3006)

