I hunted squirrels with a 22 Rem. single shot when I started hunting 65 years ago and when the Nylon 66 came out
I used it shooting running rabbits that I jumped out of the cotton and soybean fields in west TN.

Mac

 

I hunted squirrels with a 22 Rem. single shot when I started hunting 65 years ago and when the Nylon 66 came out
I used it shooting running rabbits that I jumped out of the cotton and soybean fields in west TN.

Mac

While it was never my primary .22, I won a Nylon 66 at a county fair shooting booth many years ago and it rode around in the back of my vehicle for years just in case. My primary .22 rifle was, and still is, the first gun I ever bought for myself - a Marlin 39 A.

Today, I use a stainless Ruger Mark III with an Aimpoint for rabbits and squirrels most of the time. I have hunted with guys using shotguns and beagles in a drive line, and often brought more running rabbits down than they did. I started using Aimpoints the first year they were on the market and loved them. I like the Ruger. I would love it if it wasn't such a pain in the a$$ to put back together after cleaning. That likely explains why I also use other .22 handguns instead of full time on the Ruger.

 

We use em in Texas to bark squirrels with. No meat damage at all.

 

My 2 sons and I when they were young used to have a "Annual 5 shot" squirrel hunt. We drew straws to pick which portions of our little 10 acre woods each would hunt. Had a time limit, only 5- .22 cartridges allowed, scopes allowed, scored by # of either grey or fox squirrels taken by each hunter, extra points for head shots, minus points for additional holes in body other than head. We all shot bolt action Remingtons that were tack drivers and we all learned to hunt out little woods with .22 short hollow points so the noise didn't rile up and make the squirrels jumpy. The "HUNT" was fashioned after reading about the Annual 1 shot antelope hunt out in Wyoming for the gun writers.l I believe if young hunters learned to be good squirrel hunters with rimfires they would become good all-a-round good hunters.

 

Years ago, I replaced a metal roof with shingles. Pretty standard stuff, BUT, the metal roof had 5 bullet holes in it!! Mostly 22 size, but one was a larger caliber.
Remember, when you shoot in the air, the bullet comes down. In the city, or country (not much country anymore) more than birdshit falls out of the sky.
?......merlyn

 

Years ago, I replaced a metal roof with shingles. Pretty standard stuff, BUT, the metal roof had 5 bullet holes in it!! Mostly 22 size, but one was a larger caliber.
Remember, when you shoot in the air, the bullet comes down. In the city, or country (not much country anymore) more than birdshit falls out of the sky.
?......merlyn

Here's a question. Were the holes from coming down or going up? We shot a lot of pigeons in the top of our barn with .22s. My father just made us climb up and crawl out to replace the shingles with bullet holes. I think he thought that would teach us a lesson but he was wrong. We liked winter shooting in the barn and we like having permission to be on the barn roof replacing shingles when it got warmer.

 

Yes, I still use .22's for most small critters that run around on the farm, started with them many years ago and will end with them

 

When I started hunting, my Dad informed me that shotguns were for pheasants, and the rifle (.22) was for rabbits and squirrels.

Now, if you were out hunting pheasants and a rabbit got up in front of you, it was okay to pop him in the head once he stopped. But don't be shooting his a** as my Dad didn't want to be eating any BBs.

So it was natural thing for me to use my .22 rifle for the bunnies and the squirrels. Or risk the wrath of Dad.........lol

Later on, I did switch over to my Ruger pistol for those varmints. And like Chance, I hated to clean it because I just wasn't sure I'd get it back together...........:biggrinlove:

Hauxfan!

 

Always used 22 for rabbits and squirrels, every head shot gets you 25 cents from every hunter in group, any thing but head shot costs one dollar to every hunter. Just added to the fun and made us better shots.Ron

 

I use 22 pistols for the small game, 22 rifles are so good now there hard to miss with, and scopes, it seems to be more fun for me.

 

A good .22 bolt gun, a crisp fall morning, and a small hardwoods full of oaks and hickories... doesn't get much better than that!

 

I used to hunt squirrels with an open sight, bolt Savage 4c. It was my Dad's first gun he ever purchased. Most accurate .22 I ever shot. Of course back then my eyes were perfect, and I could see the squirrels head up in the tallest oaks, and the sights at the same time. Can't see either now without correction. I would bet that a scope on that gun would make it that much better, but just takes away from the nostalgia.

 

I use a 22mag to shoot porcupines in my yard at 100yds. Very effective.

 

Used to do a lot of hunting with various .22's, but the ammo shortage and high cost has curtailed most of that. The only rifle shooting I've done is with those guns of mine that have barrels threaded for suppressors, used with subsonic ammo. Also use suppressed .22 handguns, but in their case almost any .22 ammo works, since the barrel are short enough to keep most .22 ammo from going supersonic.

The 17 HMR kills varmints vastly better than any 22 LR, and is precise enough for head shots out to 100 yards.

I don't set out to shoot anything larger than varmints or small game with rimfires, though I won't pass up a shot should I come across a coyote. But I don't actively hunt them with a rimfire.

 

I don't set out to shoot anything larger than varmints or small game with rimfires, though I won't pass up a shot should I come across a coyote. But I don't actively hunt them with a rimfire.

I have used .22WRM on mountain lions as well as a number of bobcats with very good effect. I also have some exotic (black box) .22 LR ammo that will take down a coyote with a single shot out of my Marlin 39 A at 50 yards. Of course the inside looks like a blender got lose in there, and I have to use the ammo sparingly since it is no longer manufactured. (Apparently it is legal to own but not manufacture.)

 

anybody have one of these Ruger chargers... 10/22 action in pistol form...

 

anybody have one of these Ruger chargers... 10/22 action in pistol form... View attachment 364489

Tempted, but I've been pretty happy with my Browning Buckmarks.

What about CCW?

I carried my SR22 for a while until my lady adopted it as hers. At first I was apprehensive at carrying such a small caliber but after researching the topic, I found many were doing so. Reason for is that accuracy is top notch and should the situation require a follow-up shot, it is easily placed on target. I'd rather not pull the trigger at all but should I be placed into the situation, I want to know I can easily put 5 rounds into my attacker within the time it takes to re-acquire my target for a second follow-up shot.

.22 for concealed carry? Like... this?

Walther PPK-L .22 LR made in 1964. I've carried it when anything larger could not be carried. Would prefer a stainless .380 PPK but never got around to getting one.

 

I loved hunting Rabbits & Squirrels with a .22LR when I was younger. The only thing that keeps me from doing it today is I shoot a lot of Ducks & Pheasants and the freezer is at my legal limit and I have enough wild game to eat & I also Big Game hunt.
I do believe anybody that wants to become a better Big Game hunter should hunt small game with a .22LR and learn to drift like smoke when you walk through the woods.
Rifle I have is Marlin 39A with William's FP Peep Sight.

 

What about CCW?

I carried my SR22 for a while until my lady adopted it as hers. At first I was apprehensive at carrying such a small caliber but after researching the topic, I found many were doing so. Reason for is that accuracy is top notch and should the situation require a follow-up shot, it is easily placed on target. I'd rather not pull the trigger at all but should I be placed into the situation, I want to know I can easily put 5 rounds into my attacker within the time it takes to re-acquire my target for a second follow-up shot.

 

Mossad used Beretta M70s and our clandestine service used High Standards.

 

I think a lot of us grew up using a single shot, we learned to make the first and usually only one needed count.
There was a time I was, along with a whole lot of other folks pretty darn good with a 22.
I'm sure I could not get all the animals I harvested with a 22 in the back of a pickup truck.
Sold rabbits and squirrels back in the 60's for a dollar when they were in season.
You could do a whole lot with a dollar back then, miss those days.

 

Nothing better than sitting in a good squirrel woods after the first frost with a good 22 or 17hmr.

 

I have one of the Ruger Chargers, it is a nice pistol and very accurate.

 

I haven't hunted rabbits in a long time. When I did, my 22 of choice was a contender pistol.

 

Use an Anschutz 164m 22 mag for all my small game. I have always been a 22 mag fan for hunting and the gun is a tack driver for sure.

 

Two things:

1. Obviously I love using .22s for certain types of hunting;
2. While I am not an expert trapshooter (I'm learning) I am considered an expert in close quarters combat with handguns and have been a LEO instructor in specialize areas of training.

All of that said, my reactions to some folks here extolling the virtues of the .22 as a primary defense weapon bother me, especially when they are using a small semi automatic pistol as the delivery vehicle. Since this is not the place to go into all of the reasons why - this is a trapshooting forum and a hunting thread- I will pretty much leave it at that.

(In full disclosure, I carry a North American Arms revolver as a 4th carry piece. That means however, I have three other handguns I would choose to use before the .22.)

 

I still use my Winchester 62A pump 22LR on the varmits around the house.

 

Used to spend my summers at my maternal grandparents' farm. Grandpa and I hunted wild pigeons with .22s. Mine was a Belgian Browning take-down semi-auto and his was a Winchester 52 sporter. What memories.

 

I shot a lot of pigeons on our farm growing up with my Marlin 39 A. Our nearest neighbors were Dutch and loved to eat them. They paid me a $1.00 per bird and were always asking for more. Given it only took one shot, and given the price of .22 shells in those days, I was a very happy boy! As I recall I used shorts which were even cheaper than long and long rifles in those days.

Thanks for bringing up a very good series of memories.

 

I got to try one of those Ruger Chargers out recently on ground squirrels and really liked it. This really is a rig that works best set up on the hood of a truck and you use your off hand in a fist under the grip to make minor elevation corrections. Very good in this application and will shoot with its full size 10/22 counterpart all day long. The 15 round mag is nice too. Best part is they are priced around $250 which I consider a real bargain. I plan on getting one and also putting the upgraded Ruger trigger in it.

The .22 LR ammo situation is not exactly desperate - you can still get it in decent quantities its just going to be twice or thrice as expensive as it was a decade ago. Still a bargain IMO.

 

Hunting small-game with a rimfire is truly one of life's greatest joys. I enjoy taking cottontails with an Anschutz 1710- not many squirrels in my neck of the woods.