Thread: 22 wmr vs goats

Select your ammo carefully for the task at hand, keep to realistic distances, place your shot correctly and you will do fine.

When I first bought my WMR for rabbit shooting, I tested all the ammo available at the time and selected the most accurate (Winchester Jacketed HP) and bought 2,000 rounds. Recently I came to the end of that batch of ammo so I retested what was available in the market and the CCI TNT came out best on accuracy. I decided to compare penetration between the JHP and the TNT with a water jug (milk bottle) test.
The Winchester would fully penetrate 4 of 2L bottles label face on with the projectile in the 5th bottle. The TNT's never made it through the first bottle, and I tried several times. All the energy was fully dissipated in less than 4"!!

Based on the water jug test I was looking forward to some explosive performance on rabbits with the TNT's. I was disappointed. Do the kill rabbits? Hell yes. Do they pop like they do with the .223 or .22-250? Hell no, the bullet doesn't fully penetrate so no exit wound for visual effect.

Would I use TNT's on goats? NO.
Would I use Winchester JHP? Absolutely.


Than Volquartsen is whispering to you isn't it .......??

Originally Posted by hotbarrels

Than Volquartsen is whispering to you isn't it .......??

busted .....lol you know me to well already @hotbarrels

Hi There!
I just posted on another thread about my experience with 22lr and 22 mag. I have lots of goats on the property so regularly undertake culls for them as well as rabbits. Whilst my 22 mag is more powerful I find that I simply cannot get it to group well over 50 meters. I have a Brno bolt action as well as a beautiful Winchester lever action. Despite having tried virtually all brands and configurations of ammo I cannot get reliable groups. On the other hand my older 10/22 shooting CCI sub sonics with a suppressor is deadly accurate out to 100 - 110 meters. 2 weeks ago I head shot a hare at 112 meters according to my brother who was spotting for me with the Leica rangefinder. When culling the goats I always use the 10/22 and am comfortable to shoot them out to 80 meters and they always drop straight down. I shot 2 this morning - 1 at 75m and the other at 62m. I love the 10/22 because I can nail 5 or 6 in a mob and they have no idea where the shots are coming from, and being suppressed you can imagine it is very quiet. The point I am making is that it is all very well having greater knock down and retained velocity. As SiB said, shot placement with small rimfire is absolutely critical.

Originally Posted by Attila

Hi There!
I just posted on another thread about my experience with 22lr and 22 mag. I have lots of goats on the property so regularly undertake culls for them as well as rabbits. Whilst my 22 mag is more powerful I find that I simply cannot get it to group well over 50 meters. I have a Brno bolt action as well as a beautiful Winchester lever action. Despite having tried virtually all brands and configurations of ammo I cannot get reliable groups. On the other hand my older 10/22 shooting CCI sub sonics with a suppressor is deadly accurate out to 100 - 110 meters. 2 weeks ago I head shot a hare at 112 meters according to my brother who was spotting for me with the Leica rangefinder. When culling the goats I always use the 10/22 and am comfortable to shoot them out to 80 meters and they always drop straight down. I shot 2 this morning - 1 at 75m and the other at 62m. I love the 10/22 because I can nail 5 or 6 in a mob and they have no idea where the shots are coming from, and being suppressed you can imagine it is very quiet. The point I am making is that it is all very well having greater knock down and retained velocity. As SiB said, shot placement with small rimfire is absolutely critical.

Have you tried the hornady 30gr v-max? This appears to be the most consistent 22mag ammo available and shoots MOA in my marlin. I haven’t found them hugely explosive on small game (unusual for a v max!) so they might hold together just enough to be effective on smaller goats with chest shots, but 40-50gr would be better

Originally Posted by 7.62

Have you tried the hornady 30gr v-max? This appears to be the most consistent 22mag ammo available and shoots MOA in my marlin. I haven’t found them hugely explosive on small game (unusual for a v max!) so they might hold together just enough to be effective on smaller goats with chest shots, but 40-50gr would be better

I agree with @7.62 with regards to 30gr V-Max ammo. My Ruger 77/22 shoot these sub MOA all day long if I do my part. They are also readily available, if a bit pricey. Used it on rabbit and similar results re "explosive" effect. Might give a good expansion/penetration ratio for head and neck shots on goat.

as mentioned in a different thread the owners manual for the volquartsen specifically mentions hornady critical defence ammo and NOT to use in this rifle.
I almost bought a box before I read the manual but got the winchester instead thankfully.
I wonder why that ammo type is mentioned as not to use...?
It is specifically made for handguns but wouldn't have thought that would make any difference. Also appears to use nickle coated cases so had wondered if that was something to do with it...