Has anyone tried the Hornady ballistic tip in 22 wmr? I have ordered 3 boxes from ammunition to go. Might pay brother coyote a visit!!!

I've used the CCI variation and I like it. A little too explosive for squirrel, that's for sure.

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"It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen". Oliver Wendell Holmes

Yep I agree(Nobody likes squirrel hash with hair in it)

Hahahahaha, that's EXACTLY it too. I shot a squirrel in the head this past Fall. It was quartering to me. The resultant explosion completely removed the head, left a small flap of top scalp, and totally disembowled the squirrel. THAT was from the pressure and shock and explosion. The bullet didn't go into the body proper. Yeah, lots of squirrel hair mush.

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"It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen". Oliver Wendell Holmes

Didn't hunt squirrel this year, but for the past several years I used a .22 mag because it is adequate for fall turkey concurrently in season. Broadside head shots are the way to go, but even if you hit slightly back there is little meat on the front half of a squirrel.

The 22 mag was never a good small game rifle. 22LR is much better. I found a 100th anniversary Marlin Model 980 at a gun show in 22 Mag, thought I might try a little predator calling.
Management areas here in SC only allow rim fire for small game after the deer season closes, January to March or shotgun with small shot. .36 cal muzzel loaders etc.

So I thought the 22 Mag with the right bullet might work on mr coyote, as they are decimating the fawn population.

Funny thing about the 22WMR is that I agree it is too much for small game like wabbits n' tree rats, but is not enough for coyotes at anything more than maybe 50 yards. That means it has a pretty limited range of game for which it is well-suited and those tend to be animals which aren't as numerous or hunted as frequently. Some examples would be fox, bobcat, and maybe raccoons. It's hard to even think up many situations where the WMR power is needed over the LR, while not being too small a cartridge for the bigger game.

This will sound bad, but the 22WMR is the best poaching cartridge ever designed because it will hit something the size of an eyeball at 100 yards, with regularity. Other than that, it's an excellent choice to practice your shooting form with, but is fairly limited in what kind of game for which it might be considered ideal.

Jason

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when I was young, foolish, hungry and uneducated, I put myself thru a couple years of College poaching deer. So this next bit of info may come as a surprise to you but I always used .22 Shorts for deer. The magnum was way too noisy and wasn't needed at 15 feet. And even I, in my mispent youth, had rules I always followed. Never shoot more than once, never cross a fence and never jump a ditch. Kept me out of jail. I finally quit my larcenous ways when a good friend of mine, the local Conservation Officer, told me he knew I was doing it. And he was gonna catch me at it. I believed him ( he was VERY good ). I quit. But, that said, I once killed a nice buck with a .22 Magnum, back in the middle 60's when it was legal. Lucky shot I guess. Went in his ear and rattled around a bit. Mea Culpa

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"It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen". Oliver Wendell Holmes

Someone you might call a "good friend of mine" was very hungry back in the mid 70's and had a family to feed, so he and his buddy would drive the backroads with a car battery, headlight-on-a-stick and a scoped 22WMR rifle. The shots were never as close as 15 feet but rarely as far as 100 yards. At any distance in-between the trajectory of that rifle was flat enough that my friend would just hold dead on target, which was a brightly lit orb. He'd shoot once, then drive around for a bit, looking for Clarence, the CO. If they didn't find him in the general area, they went back to the scene of the cri...harvest, and as quickly and quietly as possible, take care of the necessary processes and then load it in the trunk. Starvation was thus avoided for another few weeks.

I think you could probably kill a coyote at 100 yds with a properly placed shot with these new type bullets. The Hornady ballistic tip has a muzzel velocity of 2200 fps, at 100 yds it is between 15-1600 fps which is about 300 fps more than the best 22LR is at the barrel. Plus you have a jacketed cartridge compared to a lead .
Anyway, when I get over this blasted flu I am going to give it a try and will post the results if anyone is interested.

I would be very interested. I usually take a .243 when I go out after coyotes but if this ammo makes the 22WMR viable, at shorter distances, I'd try it out. Might be just the thing for minimal pelt damage?

A .243 would be the ideal round. I have shot coyotes during deer season here in SC with my 30.06 and kinda messes up the pelt.

We dont have many of the 400 yd shots where I would be hunting . Most shots would be 100 or less. The reason I am interested in the 22wmr is to hunt coyotes AFTER the deer season, which ends Jan1 in SC,

The way our law is Jan- March on management or private land (small game season,coyotes or hogs) you cannot use a rifle other than rimfire. NO centerfire cartridge, so that rules out .243, 25-06,etc. that would be more ideal.

Hope you have a great new year!!!

I've killed a good number of coyotes with the 22 Mag and with good shot placement 100 yds is a dead coyote. I've shot the ballistic tips for accuracy but the Rem or Win 40 gr HP is what I use on coyotes.

""Never shoot more than once,"" from post #8


I believe that was Ragnars motto, also. Ragnar Benson wrote Survival Poaching.

Thanks for the info. I like the idea of a little heavier bullet. I just saw that federal makes a 50gr cartridge that sounds good. I wish the ballistic tip was a little heavier than 30 gr

Yup,i went out twice since i got my .22 mag and have seen no fox or coyotes.However,i will be sure to post ballistic results and pics upon success.I feel confident with the rifle,but the two times i went out,the snow was so frosted and deep that it was down right exausting to walk 200 yds.I did see coyote prints on top of the now frozen snow.We're supposed to get another 3-6 on top of that.Good and bright for low light shooting anyway.