.22/And now for something completely different

[frankg]

Well, since we have a definition of long range hunting for centerfire rifle. And since I am, and have been pursuing long range hits with my .22, I would like to establish a working definition of long range .22 long rifle rimfire.Just for fun!
Here is my suggestion,totally open for debate.
Longrange is 75 yards to 150 yards. Ultra long is 150 and beyond.Feel free to chime in,this is suposed to be fun.

frank4570 aka frankg2 [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Elwood]

Sounds good to me...I've heard that a lot of match/tac-style shooters shoot the .22RF a lot, because the ballistics of the .22RF at 200 yards are about equal to those of the .308 at 1000...Neat concept...

Quinn.

[MAX]

Okay w/ me. Popped a raccoon on the fly about 2 months back at 80 yards with CB shorts. That count? One shot BTW.

I don't know about the 200/1000 yard comparison, but I'd guess the .22 is more influenced by wind than the .308, even at that fairly modest range. Still, I've read of near 300 yard kills on Prairie Dogs with .22 RF's. I'd guess there are more than a few that crawl into the hole to die though. Your ranges seem a bit short to me insofar as target work is concerned, pretty good for critters. One of the things that frustrates me about rim fire ammo is it's inconsistancy. Seems that no matter how good or expensive it is, there is always a loose screw somewhere in the box. I shoot several .22's and enjoy them, but when absolute dependability is required they stay in the rack. The .22 Hornet with about 3.0 gr Bullseye is 100% reliable and only slightly exceeds RF velocities. Very accurate in my #1.

[frankg]

Max,
hmmmm,maybe you are right about my distances being too short. I even kind of thought the same thing myself after writing it. I was thinking along those lines because I was thinking rabbits and squirrels. They are pretty small. I have never shot a coon with anything let alone a rimfire.But they are a bit bigger than a rabbit. I was also thinking about what I believe average hunters are capable of hitting with their rimfire.
So...maybe 100yds for long range and 200yds for ultra?
I have made hits out to 400 on things as small as golfballs but never consistently.
I have hade consistent success at 200 under the best of conditions,but even when the wind seems dead calm it blows the bullets around.
Maybe 100yds and 250yds? I don't know.Somebody else make a suggestion.I think we need more opinions to get a better idea of what other peoples experiences have been.

[Kevin]

I have shot my fair share of gophers (smaller than PD's) with .22 and have established a good understanding of the effectivness based on range (for me and my . These numbers are base on a wind speed of sub 3 mph off a bipod and using American Eagle ammo.

100-125 yards... Average shells per gopher is 1.3.

150-175 yards... Average shells per gopher is 2.3.

At 200-225 yards. Average shells per gopher goes up to 4.

The farthest I ever shot a gopher was 304 yards but that took 8 shots.

Alot depends on the ammo, I have found CCI to be significantly faster and better at long range but I would rather just shoot the cheep stuff and save money for the centerfires.

So my answer to your question is that if someone tells me that they shot a gopher at 125 yards I would consider it long range. If more than 200 I would say Ultra long range. It seems that it gets exponentially harder to hit them with .22 as range increases. I usually pass them up if over 175 and use a bigger gun [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[frankg]

MTBA,It sounds like you have a lot of experience in this area.How about 125 for long range,200 for ultra.
By the way, what kind of gun are you shooting?

[Kevin]

I would like to but, I just can't bring myself to build a custom .22, so the one for which the data was given is just a marlin tube feed, that currently has well over 10000 rounds through it. For what it is, it did shoot very well, unfortunatly just last year it started not shooting as well as it used to. But luckily I just inherited a very nice Browning that I just went and shot a 1.25 inch 100 yard group with. I am excited to start using it, gopher season is just getting into gear around here.