After finding a store that sells ground buffalo, my wife asked me if I would consider hunting for wild meat -- preferring a gamier taste to regular beef. Naturally, I'm totally against the idea. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Anyhow, I've been browsing Ian's ".22" thread and browsing rifles and on the search for information about small game hunting.

So to my point...does anyone here hunt for their food pretty routinely? Not just during deer season or elk, but go out on a fairly regular basis for rabbit or other small game.

Also, I've been on the search for a .22 wmr and without spending Ian's budget on a rifle, I'm leaning toward getting another marlin 872vs. While I have a personal tendency toward this caliber because I feel it's a bit more versatile, I'd like to know your thoughts about this vs. the .22 lr (and also the 17 Hornady or any other relevant caliver).

Thanks all. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

If you're looking to plink and hunt small game then a .22 should do you just fine. It's been an effective game dispatcher for many, many years. Poachers even use it to take deer.

The .22 is a very accurate round. And you won't have any problems dispatching any small game with it. Rabbits and squirrel can easily be taken with the .22. However, they can get pretty old if you're eating them on a regular basis. However, if you're looking to cut your teeth for a season or two before moving onn to larger game then it's a good way to go about it.

Cost wise it is about the cheapest to shoot. For plinking I pick up 550 round bulk packs for around 10.00 dollars give or take. I own 3 .22 rifles, and 4 .22 pistols and they all digest the bulk packs pretty well. My hunting ammo generally runs me about 5.00 dollars for 100 rounds; cheaper if I can find a good price on it in bulk.

The .22 wmr, and .17 are going to cost you a bit more pricewise to shoot. However, .17 has come down in price a lot. And you're not really going to see an advantage of the .22 wmr over the .17. Plus I personally think that the .17 damages the meat a little too much.

I really think that the advantages that the .22wmr and .17 have are in distance shots. Out of a rifle I consider the .22 to be a 75 yard round. Some types of ammo shoot very well out to one hundred yards or so, and a lot of others are good inside of 50 yards. So if you split the difference you've got 75 yards. You'll do a little better with the .17 and wmr. But it'll also cost you more to shoot.

As far as a rifle goes. You can get a marlin model 60 for about 100.00 dollars. Or a ruger 10/22 for about 150.00 dollars. I own neither but they both have good reputations. And they won't break the bank if you find that hunting isn't your game. In addition your rifle can really get knocked around and beaten when hunting.


Hope it helps
Jerry

I'm starting to consider this with even the .22 mag. The added velocity will have an impact on how much meat is left. How much of an impact, I'm not sure.

What leads me toward the mag is it's use in deterring coyotes or larger mammals. For a while, this will be my only rifle and I'd like it to be as versatile as possible...without going overboard.

Thanks for the input so far. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

(I hate to re-use a reply, but this comment was also brought up in my thread on Rat Chat and I'm anxious to continue discussion on this point) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Head shots. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

The .22 mag will be a better round for farther distances and/or larger game such as coyotes etc.... Both the .17, .22lr, and .22 wmr will dispatch larger game such as deer if you do your part right. However, with some of the newer .22lr loads such as the velociter you're really getting an awesome round that falls somewhere in between a varmit round and a small game round.


Personally I try for head shots all the time. Firstly, it's more humane for the animal and it put them down quickly. Secondly, it doesn't damage the meat.


Peace
Jerry

I can hunt all year round ,I mean to and ejoy the meat and we have amazing fish and game walking distance from my house but I still don't do it. I want to but I
have a hard time getting around to it. I don't own my own 22 but I do have a
nice oldschool Parker Hale built enfield in 303 for deer ,elk ,moose, bear(yech)
and even buffalo on private land. If I had a 22 I could hunt these awesome prarie chickens which are evrywhere in summer and even better than chicken. Saskatchawan is actually 2 thirds covered with water and has some of the worlds best freshwater fish. We had nice fried perch last week but we bought it from a supplier.

Unsub - sounds cooool! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I just checked out the springfield pilots rifle that is a single shot 22/410
that looks nearly perfect and it folds up.

I've got one. I found it several months ago at a local gun shop, I got it out of lay-away last month. It's a pretty sweet shooting gun. The .22 is accurate enough. However, I haven't had the chance to try the .410 gauge yet.

There's a reason that professional hunters take enough gun and take a heart/lung shot when presented. More humane, given the larger size of lethal target area. Greater odds of putting the creature down. The amount of meat you lose on a good shot is really minimal.

Here's a link about it that might be of interest if you haven't seen it: Springfield Armory M6 .22 and .410 survival rifle

neat combo..
ok which is true?

Is it..
you can fire .45 Colt out of a .410 barrel ?

or

you can fire .410 shotshell out of .45 Colt barrel ?

i forget..

You can fire a .45LC in a .410, but with no rifling it won’t be very accurate. A .410 in a .45LC can damage the rifling if I remember correctly..45/.410 pistols usually have maybe an inch of rifling, then the rest is smooth barrel. A complete smoothbore pistol would be illegal unless you pay the $200 NFA tax on it, so the inch of rifling is for legal reasons. I’ve always wanted to get some of those Leinad .45/.410 kits to built. They’re like $40 each or less in kit form! Then you just need to make the breech face and frame and weld it. A couple other neat .45/.410 pistols are the Thunder Five and the Bond Arms Derringer.

Here's my rim fire game getter's. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> From the top Win. 9422 mag, Remington 550 takes S, L, LR, "first rifle", and a Saboti 22LR, oh yeah, and a Ruger 22/45.
When I'm small game hunting I like to use a shot gun, usually 20ga. and I bring the 22/45. I do prefer to eat the birds over the fur usually but it depends on the day and if the dog is with me.


I love my 22mag, and I'm pretty confident and competent with it out to 75 yards, there is no doubt in my mind that I could take med. sized game with it if it where legal, but it's not so I don't know, but it sure smacks the crap out of crows, raccoons, porcupines, rabbits and a occasional chipmunk or squirrel.
And as a side note porcupines are one tough animal, head shot needed.
All and all LR ammo is much cheaper and doesn't have all the kinetic shock of the Mag so if it where only one, I'd go LR, = less meat damage.
I haven't shot the .17 but I have a few buddies that are pretty impressed by it, and they are old school gun guys, but I would still look to the LR.

Helle

My marlin 22 bolt gun is a tackdriver and I love it. That being said I hardly ever take it squirrel hunting because it makes so much noise. The squirrels seem to start moving after the shot much faster with a less powerful round. I prefer to take the quietest .22 that is accurate with that load. I only take head shots (or try to) on squirrels so power and hollowpoints don't matter. For an all around rifle though a Marlin .22 mag is hard to beat.

recently got my son a .22LR Chipmunk single-shot bolt-action.. he loves that thing!
Now gotta work on getting Myself a decent bolt .22

oh the fun days of .22 plinking.. Great days!

I want a nice 22 myself, something accurate enough to get those nasty little ground hogs.

I use ground hogs, possums, and occasional armadillos for target practice with my 9mm. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

I try to use bow & arrow when I was living in the country(back to nature days), the pheasants seems always faster than me, I also like to use my old Gamo air rifle and it can actually do a good job for close range pest-control. Both my trusty ruger 10/22 and MK II are very accurate out to 50 yards on pests and smaller games. I really prefer bow and arrow, you feel like being in the old old days again!

The problem with running .45LC out of a .410 barrel is that a .410 barrel is usually full choke because of the limited number of pellets. So you may have an obstruction issue.

As far as running a .410 out of a .45LC goes, the pellets need to be soft lead. If you run soft lead you won't damage the rifling of the barrel. You may foul the rifling and it'll need to be claened throughly, but you won't damage it as the lead is softer than the metal of the barrel.

Unfortunatly pistols are not really an option here in canada. The gun laws used to annoy me until I saw how bad they were in England. They are not even allowed locking folders or fixed blades or replicas. They even raided a guys house because he had a klingon Bat-leth on his wall. It will only be a matter of a few years until all pistols and semi autos are banned and it won't make a bit of difference to crime. The US government can't stop BC pot coming across the border and they put a lot of effort into it so there is no way the canadian border is going to stop guns coming from the US.

I'm a big fan of plain jane .22 lr. For small game its all you really need and there is a amazing variety of ammunition to choose from. If I was a serious varmint hunter then I'd look at the .17s but otherwise you probably want to preserve as much meat as possible on a rabbit or squirrel.

My fav sporting .22 is the Ruger 10/22. Very accurate and very reliable right out of the box plus it can be customized with a huge selection of aftermarket products. If your tastes lean toward the high-end the Kimber bolt actions are IMO opinion some of the most beautiful and accurate .22s made.

Finally, an accurate rifle really deserves some decent optics, even if its "only" a .22. If your .22 is capable of shooting 1/2" groups at 50 yards you simply can't take full advantage of that level of accuracy without a scope.

I have a neat skeleton survival rifle in .22 Magnum that a friend who was moving to Alaska gave to me. It's compact, accurate and the .22 Mag has a good amount of punch.