While new Savage o/u's aren't cheap I suspect they're less pricey than the Krieghoff. If you handload, then the 22 Hornet makes an excellant small game round. I have a 24V Hornet/20 guage that I bought back in '84 and since I worked up a good load for it, my .22's sit home. It's both accurate and more powerful than the 22's but does less damage and makes less noise than a 22 Mag. The load consists of 4.2 grs of Unique/Speer 46 gr flatpoints(designed to be used in the Marlin 218 Bee)/ Rem 6 1/2 primers. Velocity is around 1500 fps(slightly more) and when sighted in, is on at 25 and 50 yds; 2 inches low at 100 yds. Shoots tiny groups at the lesser ranges, at 100 yds the groups measure a bit less than an inch. Rifle still has a lousy trigger pull after all these years, but at least now I don't have to yank on a lanyard to fire the thing. The load pretty much duplicates the old 22 WRF load(not 22 WRM), and when I was growing up, the 22 WRF was considered a durn good small game load. But expensive. They're making the 22 WRF again, but seems they've lowered the velocity some. That 46 gr flatpoint delivers a lot of energy and expands, without exploding, at those velocities. Taken Lord knows how many squirrel, turkey, rabbits etc with the thing. A couple of days ago I went out and shot a hen turkey and six squirrels with it
without ever using the shotgun barrel. Sounds strange, but the one thing I like about the gun is it's fairly heavy. Makes it steady as a rock when I'm sighting, and being full grown, I don't find carrying 9 pounds all that much when hunting these mountains. I"ve modified it some by slimming the forend and removing both the pistol grip and the monte carlo "thing". Added an Uncle Mike's barrel band and back sling swivel and use a light, nylon carrying strap. Best, most used, weapon I own.
