Thread: 22 wmr vs goats

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