Need a good .22 HP

[buckeye .45]

Now, notice this is in General Firearms and not "Defensive Ammo" I am not switching from my 1911 to a .22 for carry.

However over the past year while I was at school some varmints and pests have inhabited around the barn and fields (getting into feed in the barn, making holes that can be treacherous to the horses, stuff like that) of a family friend, and I got designated to help convince them to leave.

So, anyone have any good suggestions on this? All of the pests are small animals (like groundhogs, possums, some rats that aren't so small, stuff like that), and a .22 seems to be doing fine putting them down humanely and quickly, just thought I would see if there was any round that people know to be superior to others in this category.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Pete]

CCI MiniMags.

People will say they aren't cheap but I don't care, they work great.

[buckeye .45]

I was looking at the CCI display while at Bass Pro trying to find ammo, unfortunately they were out of pretty much all the .22 rounds CCI made. I thought the Velocitor looked good, but alas, they were out.

I did get a box of Remington Yellow jackets, which are .22 hyper velocity 33 gr HP's. They seemed to do a pretty decent job today.

[SonofASniper]

Love mini mags. My 10/22 just loves to eat them up.

The remington hornets are great too. For what you are doing, any of the hyper velocies will be fine. Stay away from the "super cool ultra special target loads", as I have found that they tend to be over priced and underpowered.

Just my opinion.

Of course, I have also found that a good old brick of peters works too.

[Andy W.]

As far as accuracy goes, I know of about six 22 rifles that group the best with Super X hollow points. Personally I like a 22-250 for groundhogs.

[SIXTO]

CCI minimags would be my choice, Stingers a distant second. The Stingers are great if your shooting fairly close, but loose accuracy after about 25yds or so.

[simon]

Yea...I use mini mags....good choice

[Cupcake]

CCI mini mags. +1 on what sixto said about stingers and all them "hypervelocity" rounds being less accurate.

[buckeye .45]

I guess I'll try to find some mini-mags after the Yellow Jackets run out, since they seem to be a favorite. I'm sure a .22-250 might do a little better, but I'm not gonna buy a new rifle for this venture.

Of course I could pull out the .223, but that might be a little bit of overkill.

[Cupcake]

I guess I'll try to find some mini-mags after the Yellow Jackets run out, since they seem to be a favorite. I'm sure a .22-250 might do a little better, but I'm not gonna buy a new rifle for this venture.

Of course I could pull out the .223, but that might be a little bit of overkill.

No such thing as "too dead." Bonus, when a friend of mine shot a rabbit that was doing and/or about to do damage to crops on his parents farm with a .223, it was practically field dressed for him.

[levi333]

Depends on the gun and how much you want to spend. CCI Minimags will work in the majority of guns, and work well.
For cheap ammo your gun may be finnicky towards soms MFGs. I usually have the best luck with the Federal 550 packs.

[nn]

All the advice given is good; however, I would try cb shorts to see if they would work for you. If so, then there would be less of a chance of collateral damage.

[buckeye .45]

Collateral damage isn't too much of an issue with the .22, it would be with the .223 though. The fields most of the varmints are in meet in the middle at a creek, which forms a little valley, so I'm always shooting downhill into the other field/creek.

All the horses are in the pastures instead of barn until I'm done, so I don't need to worry about shooting them. And the barn walls are cinder block, not gonna go through those with a .22 HP.

Basically I have good fields of fire for all the shots I take as long as I plan carefully and wait.

[Sig 210]

Put me down for Mini-Mags.

[What the?]

My favorite gun I own is a Savage Arms .17 HMR bolt action rifle. You can take out a field mouse at 100 yards if properly sighted.

Just another option you may want to consider.