.22 mag for hunting

[bjones]

I just bought my first .22 mag handgun. Its a stainless Single-six with 6 1/2" barrel. After looking at some ballistics tables hyper velocity .22lr ammo is pretty close in performance to the magnums. Anybody have experience hunting with these? Is there enough difference to justify the price tag on the mag ammo?

[mcwoodduck]

Shoot two full soda cans.  you'll see the difference.  Try the Remington 33gr. Ballistic tip Vs any of the hyper velocity stuff.  Apples to apples in bullet weight. 
Also try the 40 grain mag stuff vs.40 grain target ammo.
OK go get a 24 pack of crappy soda and a box of what ever the store has in both mag and Long rifle, to test bullet performance.  Yes, I know small game does not act like a soda but you can see the power when the can just pops open or rips open and is flat at the end.
If you use empty cans fill them with water.
Actually the hyper velocity stuff tears up small game.  If your planning on eating it I would go with standard round nosed .22 lr on small game (Rabbits and squirrels).   With the rifle you can take the head clean off but a handgun your headed for the boiler room on most squirrels.  If you talking about a coyote more speed/ power is better with heavier bullets too. Federal makes a 50 grain JHP for the Mag.  Big slow stable bullet for general purpose.
Oh yea congratulations on your purchase.
You may find that one load is more accurate than the others be it mag or Long rifle, that is the one I would go with.  Bullet performance only counts when the bullet hits.

[Old Griz]

I could never justify the price of .22 mag ammo. Where I'm at, it's about the same price as .38s, so I just went with a Model 10. It will do a nice number on a soda can (or squirrel), too.

[SHOOTALL]

the mag. is a larger dia bullet , has a normal profile not a heal type bullet , in most cases it is heavier .
it has a longer range and yes it cost more ! a 22LR will kill ground hogs at 50 yards but at 100 it can be ify the mag is dependable at 100 yards and a bit more !
so decide you game and select what will get it done !

[Jerry Lester]

If you're planning on killing small game with a revolver, then just stick with what ever 22 long rifle ammo shoots best in it. Yes, on small game like squirrels, rabbits, and such the magnums will thump'em a good bit harder, but there's no point as long rifles kill'em dead in their tracks too.

If on the other hand, you're going after bigger game like coons, foxes, possums, and such, the hyper velocity magnums(CCI TNT's are my favorite) will get the job done, but just barely. I've killed quite a few groundhogs, foxes, and coons with a Single Six loaded with various magnum ammo. By far the CCI TNT's have proven the hardest hitting, quickest killing out of all the others. The Winchester 34g Supremes, and Federal 30g HP's are also decent, but no where close to the TNT's performance when fired from a revolver.

With all that said, unless I just simply had no other options, I'd avoid hunting anything bigger than small game with "any" magnum ammo when using a revolver. Before we hear about all the "dead in their tracks" kills on everything from coons to coyotes, let me explain. Yes, I too have dropped coons, groundhogs(very tough critters!), foxes, and such in their tracks with my trusty Single Six loaded with magnum's. On the flip side, I've busted all of the above dead through the vitals only to have them run off as if I made a bad shot only to finally fall sometimes waaaaay off. Most instances fall somewhere in between these two extremes with the majority leaning heavily towards the second scenario. As far as intentionally hunting something like bobcats, or coyotes with a 22 magnum revolver, it's plain out bad judgement in my opinion.

Now before I get slammed, I'm not offering this info blindly from reading it, or hearing it. This is my opinion formed from shooting dozens of animals at varying ranges, and under varying conditions. Yes, the magnums will occasionally drop a bigger critter where he stands, but in most cases the outcome is far from that. If you're going after coon+ sized game with a revolver, I'd suggest you follow Old Griz's advice, and buy a 38 special. Or, you can do what I did when I got sick of 22 magnum performance from My Single Six, and buy a 32 magnum Single Six. Now "this" caliber is practically custom made for critters ranging from coons to coyotes.

[bjones]

Thanks for the info guys. That's what i needed, some first hand experience with these loads. I have only took it hunting once so far and didn't bag a thing yet.

[mcwoodduck]

Good luck.

[bscman]

Out of a handgun?
I think you'd be just as well off using some high or hyper velocity 22lr's.

Reason being...out of a short barrel you aren't going to be able to take advantage of a lot of that "extra power" of the .22mag--you'll just get a lot of extra noise.

Out of a rifle...you'd LOVE the extra power of the 22mag, as well as the selection of QUALITY hunting rounds available. MMMmmm v-max.
Out of a rifle, a 29gr Hyper velocity 22lr is traveling around 1,700fps.
Out of a 22mag, a 33gr is traveling 2,200fps. That's a lot bigger of a difference than it sounds.

[SHOOTALL]

out of a handgun i think you would like more power and better bullet ! at least i do ! its noticeable !

[deerhunter]

I have a Ruger single Six and the 22.lr is ok with it.  Mabey 2.5 inch groups at 25 yards.  I plink at football sized rocks at 100 yards with it.

However, the Federal .22 Mag 50 grain load will group 3/4 inch to 1 inch with mine off sandbags.  Way more accurate than anything else it shoots.  I like to keep this stuff on hand...................but so far other than poking holes in paper, I always use the .22lr cylinder for most of my plinking and hunting.  I cant see wasting the money on the more expensive magnum rounds.

So try some maggies to see how they group, but the long rife is good enough.

[kennisondan]

my single six is on the way, but : my contender ten inch mag is squirrel and rabbit thumper supreme ... all one shot kills.. .handles the raccoon and possums that happen alon and need killing... it does it much further out, too.
I use the cci maxi mags in it and in the semi auto mag ruger..
one thing that I did read long ago was that the ruger semi auto and the single shots got a lot more of the power from any shell compared to a single six or other revolver..
and that some slower mag ammo in a revolver was quite close to the speed of hyper velocity LR in a closed breech gun...
I expect the LR will still be just OK and the mag will be measurably better..
if I am just shooting cans and sticks and rocks, then LR all the way and lots of them .. if iI am shooting game I will undoubtedly use the best bulllet and most velocity for the job; cause it does a better job at everything in this particular caliber... at least in the mentioned firearms.
dk