Fired at a 45 degree angle like a cannon for extreme range the box is right, though the warning on the old boxes used to say one mile. That little bullet will travel for a long ways.

If your question is what is the effective range for small game then what your really asking is how far can you reliably kill small game. Most folks that hunt ground squirrels and crows limit that kind of range to well under a hundred yards. From my perspective 50 to 75 yards is about as far as I'll shoot ground squirrels and kill them. Further than that I tend to get crawl offs that make it to their burrows.

For target shooting you can shoot as far as you like, but as you've notices those little lead 22 bullets will blow around in any wind. I regularly shoot my CZ bolt gun at the range at a hundred yards, but won't if the wind is blowing.

 

Like Bob said, 50-75 yards with standard 22 LR ammo. I use the CCI Stinger and Aguilla hyper-velocity 22 LR ammo to extend that range. Standard 22 LR ammo is around 1200 fps but Stinger and Aguilla is around 1600-1700 fps. I regularly knock crows out of trees at 100 yards or more with the hyper-velocity ammo. I just can't get the Aguilla to group as well as the CCI Stinger. I have one Ruger 10-22 sighted in with standard speed ammo and another sighted in with the CCI Stinger ammo.

 

Do you find the CCI stingers hard on the rifle? Does the extra velocity take its toll on the gun? I ask only because i used to shoot only stingers in my 10/22 but at 70.00 bucks per box i switched to federal standard velocity ( 17.00 per box).

I mean if stingers are worth it, then yeah..i'll keep running them through the gun at the extra costs..but i just dont see it.

 

effective range

The other posters have dealt with the meaning of "effective range", ie: how well do you shoot?
I had the privilege of shooting next to a fellow from the US Naval Academy at a prone .22 rifle match a couple of years ago out in Muhlenberg, PA. One sequence of that match is shot at 100yds. This young man, when we pulled the targets, had put 10 shots into the X-ring in about a one-half inch group. The other 10 shots of the 20 shot course opened up a bit and he only had 9 x's. It was a fairly calm day with slight breeze from the right and rear of the shooting line.
This was done without benefit of a scope.
.22 prone matches are regularly won with perfect point scores and very high x-counts.
Lots of good shooters out there.
About the "dangerous at one mile" warning - dangerous doesn't mean accurate; it means that you wouldn't want to get hit with one. Always be sure of your backstop.
Pete

 

I agree with the others that 50 to 75 yards is about all a 22lr will do under most circumstances for small critters. A good rifle with a good shooter behind it might extend that for vermin (mice or similar) if so inclined? The bullet just runs out of "reliable poop" at near 100 yards and any wind at all is a problem.

Cheezywan

 

For small game it is not so much the "poop" as it is trajectory. I can remember doing some target shooting with a friend and some 22 match rifles at 200 yards and subsonic ammo over 30 years ago. On a still day it was surprising accurate but you really had to dope bullet drop a lot at that range. 10 or 15 yards closer or farther from target put you outside the "zone"

 

I'm with Jodum on this. Although I don't use different rifles.
I shot Small-bore competition for 7 years in my teens. It was not uncommon to see very high scores. In all those years I shot 1 perfect 5 bull target. Most small-bore open Match (iron sight) shooting is a 50ft range.

75 yards w/ standard ammo, 100 yards w/ hyper velocity. I still use my Dads old HC Higgins single shot bolt. Great 100 yard rifle w/ irons.

 

OK here's some info you can use. I can hit a propane cylinder, an empty one, at a lasered 143 yards. Not grouping, just listening for the 'ting'.

I shot at a target that was lasered 400 yards away. While I never hit the gong, I got dust flying all around it. I think I can hit an oil drum at 400 yards on a calm day when my eyes aren't fuzzy. I suspect the bullet might bounce off at that range, but don't know for sure yet...

Grizz

 

Yup, Griz, most of us that shoot a 22 have done something like that. I've shot old car bodies at 500-600 yards lobbing the rounds into them almost like shooting a mortar. It can be fun and your not trying to kill anything so it works. You can hear the bullets hit the metal when you hit it. Guessing windage and elevation is the fun part.

 

I don't find the Stingers tough on my rifles but like you say they are a bit pricey. I have probably put 5 or 6 thousand rounds of Stingers thru my stainless 10-22 and I don't detect any wear and tear. My 10-22 that I shoot regular stuff out of tends to lead up pretty quick though. It started shooting off target a while back and when I checked the barrel, I could barely see the rifling. After a good scrubbing, it now shoots straight again. More than I can say for myself.

 

To be honest, i'm not sure that "wear" applies to the .22lr.
I've heard it estimated that the professionals rifles have seen something like 250,000 rounds through them... not sure how they got there, but 1000 rounds per week is
52,000 per year, for 5 years....

_Kar.

 

Way more 22 rimfire barrels are worn out from using a cleaning rod without a rod guide than ever are from shooting.

 

I'm personally getting a feel for how significant the degree of effect wind will take on a .22's POI when I'm practicing for IR 50/50... even if I'm shooting at 50 yards (40 gr. match ammunition), a 5 mph gust at the 40 or 35 yard mark with the rest of the range still will push the bullet about 1/2" off target.

I don't think shooting in a steady breeze is very different from shooting in dead calm conditions, as long as the wind is very consistent. It's gusty and shifty wind that will mess everything up. After shooting over wind flags, it amazes me how slight gusts on a bullet that you would never notice without the flags will have a surprising affect on the bullet.

It would be pretty difficult learning how to read wind without flags but I suppose it can be done, and of course high-velocity rounds will do much better in wind than the 1000 fps. match rounds, but it is something to consider.

 

Technically, you can roughly judge the strength of the wind using the Beaufort Wind Scale.
If you've got grass, trees around, it'll work. If you're on a huge, empty concrete plaza, it wont. But whoever built said plaza should probably go to the trouble of putting flags up

_Kar.

 

Exactly... it would just take a whole lot of practice and patience.