Gopher Ammo

[Sluice]

What do you folks consider to be the best 22 lr ammo for gophers. The shots would be from 5 to 50 yards and because I will be shooting thousands of rounds price is a factor.

Richard

[KN]

I would suggest buying an assortment of high velocity hollow points and see which ones your gun shoots best. Then go with those.   KN

[S.S.]

Stinger, Yellow Jacket... All of my guns shoot these well..
A Stinger is a formidable rimfire round...
Also a less expensive choice is made by Winchester
It is a high velocity HP simply designated the X22LRH.
It is very accurate and packs a decent whollop.

[lil_hunter12]

i have a .22 rifle that i can knock the caps off of bottles with at 67 yards easily shooting federal bulk 36 grain hollow points. also great for squirrels

[aulrich]

My two favorites are Remington yellow jackets and CCI Mini-mags, for the rifles I have they have the best mix of accuracy, killing power and price. I like federal bulk for plinking but found them lacking in killing power they just don't expand enough so I have had way too many crawl offs and multiple shot kill. To date I have not found a bulk 22 round the was accurate enough or expanded enough.  I have never personally liked the higher end 22 stuff like stingers and now with the 17m2 out it make less sense though lots of guys swear by them.

[Savage .250]

 Let me approach the question from another angle.
   Back in the day (1940`s) when i was a young kid. I could go to the local hardware store and for about .47 cents buy some 22`s. Probably Remington. Take my trusty Remington bolt action out to a farm owned by a class mates family and shoot "chucks" all day long or at least it seemed that way.
   Point is, back then it was buy some shells ( nothing fancy.......just shells) and shoot chucks.
   Now, it would appear, you need special shells, a special rifle just to do what us old timers did many moons ago.
  Just goes to show how times have changed. 

[oldandslow]

We must be about the same age Savage .250 cause I did the same thing. The only difference was I was after rabbits and p-dogs. I think the only choice for shell was Remington or Winchester. I always bought the cheapest and couldn't tell any difference.

[Predator]

The best combination of performance on game, accuracy, and moderate price has been the Winchester Power Points.

They are amazingly accurate in almost all of the rifles that I have tried them in and cost approx $2.50 for a box of 50.  I picked up a case of 5000 last year and will likely have to do the same again soon.

They are devastating on gopher / Columbian ground squirrel size animals.  You always get a loud smack when you get a good hit with these.

The Winchester X-pert have a similar profile bullet but are not as accurate or reliable in my rifles.  If you are shooting close range (50 Metres) they would be ok.

Good luck.

[Huntsman1]

I really like the Federal Classic Game Shok,  31gr CPHP. 1430fps at the muzzle and still over 1000 fps @100yds.
I found that these ones drop the gopher in his tracks not allowing him to run down his hole after being hit, which is what I found with the cheap bulk packs...ya get what ya pay for

[bscman]

Probably a little late to this thread...but CCI velocitors are a Great choice...although abit spendy. Most powerful 40gr round on the market.

My personal choice would be Aquila's Super Maximum Hyper Velocity rounds in HP form.
However, in some rifles they pattern more like a shotgun than a rifle. If you're lucky they'll shoot well. They have a higher velocity than stingers and pack quite a whallop. Price runs about $2 per 50, or $18 per 500.

I have a norinco jw-15 and a remington 511 that both handle the aguila's VERY well. It has the higher velocity of any other .22lr round on the market. You'll think you're shooting a .22mag.
All my other .22's refuse to group well with these rounds...

Just my thoughts!