Thread: Bullet Choice on Hares

You gotta shoot them in the eye

Yeah with the one i recovered he had a shot to the back of the head, but that may have been the final shot.

Which power point? Is the old stuff the good stuff?

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Originally Posted by Rn-85

Yeah with the one i recovered he had a shot to the back of the head, but that may have been the final shot.

Which power point? Is the old stuff the good stuff?

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Go the orange box PowerPoint.

I know my accuracy was a bit off as im trying something different with my scope setup. However, i would have though 3 rounds in a hare would stop it, even if they were poor shots.

Adding a bit of speed and weight will help, as would the accuracy.

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Originally Posted by Rn-85

I know my accuracy was a bit off as im trying something different with my scope setup. However, i would have though 3 rounds in a hare would stop it, even if they were poor shots.

Adding a bit of speed and weight will help, as would the accuracy.

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I use orange box PowerPoint and rarely (can’t remember last time) ever needed a second shot into a hare, I keep my hare shooting range to under 75 yards.

I always used the old orange packet 30 years ago and they worked pretty good on hares and possums within 50m.

Older orange packet is much better than the newer harder stuff

I got one of the 22lr Resizing/Hollow Pointing Tools from SixtyTen, and applied to the new 42gn Winchester powerpoint projectiles. Accuracy improved, as did the stopping power. Projectiles now mushroom out significantly.
You can even hear the difference when they hit an animal.
If you don't reload, then it's not an avenue to explore. It also takes a while to process a brick of ammo.


Pulled from a rabbit shot at 70m

270 loaded with 110 grain - knocks them dead every time - and phenomenally accurate out at 3-400 yards - you can never have to much gun.

I've always found hares to be fairly fragile - subsonic .22lr works just fine.
As ever, accuracy is the most important thing.

Leave the hares alone ya vandals.

They are the most fascinating creatures. If they aren't causing any trouble I leave them in peace.

When I was young and reckless that orange pkt Winchester worked a treat. If I was to shoot them now I would use my 17HMR.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Leave the hares alone ya vandals.

They are the most fascinating creatures. If they aren't causing any trouble I leave them in peace.

When I was young and reckless that orange pkt Winchester worked a treat. If I was to shoot them now I would use my 17HMR.

Yeah, I'm always amazed at hares. Stunning creatures. Coolest animals. Cunning & smart. Probably one of my favorite animals. Hard to think they are related to rabbits apart from the obvious.

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Originally Posted by Tahr

Leave the hares alone ya vandals.

They are the most fascinating creatures. If they aren't causing any trouble I leave them in peace.

When I was young and reckless that orange pkt Winchester worked a treat. If I was to shoot them now I would use my 17HMR.

But they taste so good!

Originally Posted by Tahr

Leave the hares alone ya vandals.

They are the most fascinating creatures. If they aren't causing any trouble I leave them in peace.

When I was young and reckless that orange pkt Winchester worked a treat. If I was to shoot them now I would use my 17HMR.

@Tahr the difference here is you perhaps have never seen hares take out 1000 newly planted tree seedlings in a single night! The appeal of the animal wears off quickly when you're out replanting trees you've grown through the farm nursery and looked after everyday for 8 months.


As for bullet choice on hares, I find 22lr a little light in general but one solution is to practice using a semi auto and always pulling the trigger twice very quickly. I use this technique on hares and the bullets usually end up very closely spaced and it seems more than twice as effective as a single projectile. Two 22lr rds cost less than a single round of any other calibre I know of so it is not a waste of money. When you experience hares wrecking multiple thousands of dollars worth of tree planting in a single night the second round seems very cheap... although this is also a good excuse for those people who want to hit them with big calibres too... anyone shot one with a 50bmg?

I like the idea of opening up the front of the projectile, but doesnt that reduct the weight of it?

With the moving to centrefire, nothing can be too dead, but it does up the cost of some fun spotlighting.



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