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22 br and groundhogs

given a 50 to55 grain bullet at 3600 fps how far can a killing shot be made on a pa. groundhog?my rifle shoots 5 shots in .3 at 100 yards right now.
gary b
 
So far my longest groundhog kill with my 22BR is 515yds. Load data is a 50gr. Vmax,Rem 7 1/2,and 29.6gr. of Benchmark.

I would say it is a 650-700yd. gun.
 
I have to disagree with immortal (no hard feelings . But those light weight. 22s lose a lot of energy out there. It is really good out the gate but the BC has too much drag to keep velocity up and the wind will not be your friend. I'm not saying you won't hit them but I think you will start seeing "crawl always" once you get past 400 yds.
 
No hard feelings Shot placement gets more critical past 400yds,but that's with any gun.The 50's or 55's do start to drift more with the wind,that's why I won't take a 400+yd. shot if I feel it's too windy. Now..if the wind is calm,I have no problem taking a 600 yd. shot. I have seen what a 50gr. bullet does to a hog at 500 yds. so it has more than enough energy at 600 to put a hog down. Again shot placement is key. I have taken hogs out to about 600yds. with my 223AI and they were DRT.
 
IMMORTAL said:
So far my longest groundhog kill with my 22BR is 515yds. Load data is a 50gr. Vmax,Rem 7 1/2,and 29.6gr. of Benchmark.

I would say it is a 650-700yd. gun.

I almost agree. In skilled hands, the 22-250 is a 650/700 yard rifle with 55gr SBKs, but the 22BR developes about 2/3rds the energy of the 22-250... it ain't no 22-250.

For the 22Br, if you use the best of the fragile varmint plastic tipped bullets (55 Blitzkings, or 53 V-Max), or the Speer TNTs, you can kill woodchucks out 500/550-ish... maybe 600 if the moon and stars are aligned.

It ain't easy. You need to do your homework, use a good rangefinder, and have your scope dial-ups dead right on.

Shoot with the wind in your face or at your back.

But here's the thing - if someone has to ask that question (which is not bad) you don't have enough experience in whackin' woodchucks, to be shooting them with ANY rifle at 650/700 yds.
 
I see your points.my farest shot with the br is about 275 yds.i gota new bushnell range finder and a wind meter to use this year.
gary b
 
The 55 berger varmint bullet's BC is .210 and at 3600 fps it has 593 ft-lbs energy at 400 yds. It drops to 319 at 500 yds and 221 at 600 yds. I'm not sure how many ft-lbs energy needed to humanely kill a ghog assuming perfect placement and bullet expansion, but less than 300 ft-lbs is possibly pushing it. The sierra bk at 3600 fps boast a BC of .271 which delivers in excess of 300 ft,-lbs at 600 yds! Consulting a ballistic calculator tells one a lot about drop, drift and energy.
 
potatoe said:
I have to disagree with immortal (no hard feelings . But those light weight. 22s lose a lot of energy out there. It is really good out the gate but the BC has too much drag to keep velocity up and the wind will not be your friend. I'm not saying you won't hit them but I think you will start seeing "crawl always" once you get past 400 yds.

Well the wind will mess up ANY light varmint bullet at long range. When conditions permit, even my 204 Ruger can keep 1/2 MOA at 600 yards with 39gr Sierra BK's (.287 BC)at 4030 fps. Hits good at 700 yards too. Starts to wander at 800 yards, and after 800 it's like throwing darts at a board with a blindfold on :)

So I would assume his 22BR should be capable of 500-600 yard shots easily enough if there is little to no wind and a solid rest with good ammo. But only the paper will tell the truth... ;)
 
I wasn't really just addressing the wind, but the ability to consistently kill ground hogs. Ive yet to see a 65 grain or less bullet/cartridge combo that i would say is a consistent 500+ hog killer. A 3 mph wind misjudgment would blow you off to the hip @ 500yds, and that little bullet just doesn't have it. That's just my opinion though on the range that I would deem acceptable
 
Seems to me, the problem isn't the killing, it's the hitting.

A 40 grain .22LR has somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 — 95 foot pounds of energy at 100 yards. If a woodchuck were hit in the head with a .22 bullet with 80 - 95 foot pounds of energy, he'd be a goner.

A 55 grain bullet fired from a CF rifle at 3600 FPS would have roughly 90 foot pounds of energy at 1000 yards. Wouldn't that be equally lethal?
 
MY LITTLE 22BR JUST LIKE'S TO POINTED IN THE RITE DIRECTION WHEN ONE PASTURE BROWN BEAR IS SPOTTED AND IT DOES IT PART IF I DO MY PART BUT NOT OVER 450-500 YDS W/52GR BULLETS
 
lpreddick said:
The 55 berger varmint bullet's BC is .210 and at 3600 fps it has 593 ft-lbs energy at 400 yds. It drops to 319 at 500 yds and 221 at 600 yds. I'm not sure how many ft-lbs energy needed to humanely kill a ghog assuming perfect placement and bullet expansion, but less than 300 ft-lbs is possibly pushing it. The sierra bk at 3600 fps boast a BC of .271 which delivers in excess of 300 ft,-lbs at 600 yds! Consulting a ballistic calculator tells one a lot about drop, drift and energy.

The Berger 55 Varmint bullet (BC .210-ish) is not the pick of the litter in mid-weight varmint bullets.

Both the 55 SBK and 53 V-Max have BC is the .290-.300 range and that means a lot when you get past 300 yards.

Bullet choice is critical at any range - these little dirt movers are tough. It is not how many foot pounds the bullet has - it is how many foot-pounds is dumped into the innards that count.

When I was startin' out on woodchucks, I watched a large 'chuck get hit with a 52 SMK, going at 3,600 (terminal velocity) at 80 yards.

The bullet slipped right through without expanding - like an ice pick.

The 'chuck didn't even feel it... it just started eating slower and slower, until, maybe a minute later, it lie down and took a long nappie. :( :( :(

Bullet design and construction is critical.
 
I have kills on chucks to 700 with 55 grain NBT and Vmax at 3600 muzzle velocity, and they seldom crawl. Now, I do not expect to HIT them all, but it can be done. I just shot some tonight (see Old Yeller post) with a 22PPC and 50 grain bullets, at 3500. The 415 yard shot was cake. I would not hesitate to run out to 5 or 525.

All that said, I do like the OOOMPH of the 6BR and 70 grainers at that distance!
 

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