Thread: 22 wmr vs goats

A Hornady 30gn V-max 22Mag round will take a possum out of a tree faster than any .22lr round .
It will also not ricochet like lead 22 projectiles are prone to do .

I’ve found those 30grn V-Max are too dirty in my semi .22WMR. I use the 42 grn

I use the 30s in my bolt action though.

so the cynic in me says...why not just use CCI stingers in the 22lr???? if going to use 30grn in magnum.....

I was thinking 45 or 50 gr jhp for goats ...

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

so the cynic in me says...why not just use CCI stingers in the 22lr???? if going to use 30grn in magnum.....

ive yet to own a rifle that will shoot stingers accurately

A .22 mag was the first rifle I got after I got my firearms license as a teenager. The sheep and beef farm where I worked weekends had huge mobs of goats on it at times. I chose the cartridge because a packet of 50 was only $18-20 at the local sporting goods store at the time. Like you I wanted a rifle that could be used for possums, rabbits and goats. It makes a great “jack of all trades” cartridge providing you usually hunt private land and have a reasonable knowledge of animal anatomy. As many have already mentioned it is adequate for goats providing you are not shooting too far. Something awesome about the .22 mag that hasn’t been mentioned yet is that a couple of 50 round boxes easily fit in your pocket and weigh practically nothing. This is useful if you are cleaning out large numbers of goats in steep hill country. As I rarely shoot on private land anymore I now find the .357/ 38 special more versatile, not to mention more effective on the larger critters. I know it’s not what you want to hear but have you considered using your .357 for both the small game and goats? If you reload you can cook up some fairly quiet yet effective small game rounds.

sold my 22wmr when its favorite flavor of bullets got hard to find and expensive. now they are available again and cheaper.
Hornady 30gr, great on bunnies and possums, only shot 1 goat, bullet blew up on a rib but scrapenal made it to the spine.
loved rem 33gr spbt great accurate all round bullet.
RWS 40gr 1950fps soft point is available here again and is still one of the hottest rim fire loads available. (has been slowed up a little).
Z

Absolutely , that is why I got it originally then my daughter claimed it and now I'm not allowed near it.....
Kids eh , gotta love em...or so I've been told.....
I did think about a cheap Rossi 357 and chop it around a bit for a suppressor but the top ejection makes scope mounting problematic , mind you at the ranges we shoot goats a scope is not necessary but would make life easier on possums and such.

Originally Posted by northdude

ive yet to own a rifle that will shoot stingers accurately

Yea, the CCI marketing dept got it all wrong with that ammo - they dropped the "r" - they were supposed to be called "Stringers"

And how could you refuse these 2 up and coming happy hunters and the 2 purloined lever guns....30/30 and 357
Makes it all worthwhile....

You would definitely want a scope with a ballistic or mil dot reticle if you were running two different loads in the 357. The difference in trajectory is huge! Or it is in my rifle anyway. I use a leupold vx hog on mine, the reticle works pretty good for the two loads I run in mine. You could also run a standard scope in quick detach rings, open sights for goats with the hot load and then put the scope on when your in small game mode. You can get a get a scout mount for the rossi, but your scope choice is then limited to scout scopes or a red dot. However it sounds like you just a .22mag. Just get it if that's what you want, life is too short.

Originally Posted by Calikiwi

You would definitely want a scope with a ballistic or mil dot reticle if you were running two different loads in the 357. The difference in trajectory is huge! Or it is in my rifle anyway. I use a leupold vx hog on mine, the reticle works pretty good for the two loads I run in mine. You could also run a standard scope in quick detach rings, open sights for goats with the hot load and then put the scope on when your in small game mode. You can get a get a scout mount for the rossi, but your scope choice is then limited to scout scopes or a red dot. However it sounds like you just a .22mag. Just get it if that's what you want, life is too short.

Set it up the same way we used to do it in the 'good old days', back when we had the freedom to shoot centrefire semi's - run double optics.
Glass on top for the long shots, and a little red dot on the 45deg for the close stuff.

the 357 runs a graduated vortex. center dot is 357 at 50 and second hash mark is 38 at 25mtrs . seems to work ok . It is the scope that came off my bad gun and used to do the same with that . Center 223 at 100mtrs and second hash 22 at 25mtrs or there abouts...

I’ll put it here as well @Ftx325.....just buy the bloody magnum. Stop fluffing around....


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yep , on private land Phil . We have a couple of private forest blocks we hunt but surrounded by farmland and we go in every month or so and chase goats and clean out possums and rabbits but do it all on foot , with the odd pig seen also . Have yet to see any deer in there although there is the odd sign which is why not to concerned on carrying a deer rifle myself and between the rest of the family got that covered anyway . Any doc shooting we obviously are limited to centerfire for the goats and usually let the kids nail those on the way out . Generally hunt doc targeting deer which is where the 308 comes in . And of course you can't spotlight possum on doc land anyway .