22LR for rabbit too small?

[Good Old Outdoors]

I have a ruger 10/22 and went to shoot a broadside rabbit last year, fired and I know i drilled it because i saw a puff of fur, in my mind it should have dropped! But the little buggar bolted, i gave it a couple minutes then went to look for it, after 10 minutes and searching a large area, no dice. Saw another later on broadside again, so i double tapped it in the chest, it ran but not far. I have that 22 dialed, there was no issue with shot placement as Im sure some of you are thinking. Head shots work, if you can get withing 30 yards.
Also i was wondering has anyone here used a 17HMR on rabbits? Does it destroy them? Head shots are key Im assuming.

Thanks
GOO

[CanuckShooter]

What ammo are you using? A 22lr shooting a quality hollow point should dispatch them quite effectively.

[Steeleco]

I also use my 10-22 on bunnies, I use CCI Mini bag and have never had one get away that I actually hit. Damn things are physic, they always seem to run just as I'm raising the gun LOL

[Good Old Outdoors]

i have the solid federal ones. Those rabbits are tough SOBs, i will try hollow points though

[Good Old Outdoors]

I couldnt believe that one ran with 2 holes in its chest! Bad a$$ bunnies

[coach]

I couldnt believe that one ran with 2 holes in its chest! Bad a$$ bunnies

I know exactly what you're talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmu5sRIizdw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Good Old Outdoors]

I know exactly what you're talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmu5sRIizdw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Haha! I love that movie!
Bring up the holy hand grenade!

[spreerider]

i have taken many bunnies with my 22, a few have run after being shot but i go for head shots or neck shots, chest shots sometimes do not kill htem fast enough and they make it into a burrow or under something and you never find them, my advice is bring a dog.

[ROEBUCK]

i have the solid federal ones. Those rabbits are tough sobs, i will try hollow points though

there lies your answer right there !
Use hp,s and your problems will end
i have shot coyotes with good .22 hp,s

[Don_Abbate]

use a shotgun, those *******s wont budge.

[Good Old Outdoors]

always nice to bite down on some buckshot lol

[spreerider]

and with a 22 you can shoot them from a lot farther than you can with a 12ga

[jtred]

I use solids in my 22(thy're the only thing my old Lakefield 64 semi likes) and don't have any problem with killing them, it's finding them that is giving me grief. And believe me when I say don't use a 3inch #5 turkey load with the flite control wad, it does stop them but it isn't pretty.

[Don_Abbate]

i usually use the 12 gauge and when i clean the rabbits i do a very good job checking for shot sometimes you miss a couple but no big deal. i also have a 17 hmr that i would use. i have not brought it out for rabbits yet so i don't know what damage it will do. i use the hornady v max bullets which are hollow points with a tip on em so i imagine they will put quite a hole in the bunny's. head and neck shots are key

[Good Old Outdoors]

I guess the bunnies i shot at must have been nibbling on a grow op or something, they are all jacked up lol I have shot rabbit when i was younger with no problems, Must be my old rattling bones lol Im coming to the old gentle days of 24 this year, better start taking 'er easy. But i did just buy a 17HMR so by next season i will have it dialed. I have a decent run of money now, so im buying all the toys now because my job made me miss the whole 2011 season, sometimes i hate my job. And the money isnt from the grow op that i mentioned earlier, drugs are bad m'kay.

[springpin]

I only use my 12g on bunnies..Head shot only.

[Good Old Outdoors]

I like to snipe the bunnies and grouse with my 22, I hit grouse at 100 yards easy, I wonder how far i can get a rabbit with my new 17 HMR?

[buck nash]

Yet another application for the new king. 300 gr going 2600fps he's not running after that.

But if you don't have one of these than a 22lr will do it just fine. When I was a kid my brother and I killed dozens of rabbits and hundreds of squirrells with a .177 cheap chinese made pellet gun

[Good Old Outdoors]

yeah they must have been jacked on something lol last year was the only time i had an issue with bunnies not going down.

[fowlweather]

and with a 22 you can shoot them from a lot farther than you can with a 12ga

not unless you use 12 ga slugs or flechette rounds, they pack a good punch from 70 yards, they are DOI

[Don_Abbate]

yah when i use the 12 gauge on the bunnies i always aim at the top of there head, usually turns the head to mush and the body has minimal to no damage

[Good Old Outdoors]

a used to be a good friend of mine who never hunted before and I went looking for bucks during the 2010 season. Found an area just crawling with bunnies, I said aim for his head, "yeah yeah i got it" goes all gunfighter on it at 15 feet with a 12 gauge #5 shot, center of mass, what a mess! Pi$$ed me off so much! He just wanted to kill stuff! That was the last time we went hunting! Pretty sure he is borderline psycho! I need more mature buddies to go with, he is no longer a friend to a lot of guys now. Guess in the end the a$$holes finish last afterall lol.

[coach]

last year was the only time i had an issue with bunnies not going down.

The bunnies around Big White go down very easily. Maybe you need to upgrade your pick up lines, change your scent or try a different mountain. :mrgreen:

[Gumsehwah]

:twisted:Sounds like you need one of THESE to take care of those "wascally wabbits."

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Shooting/Centerfire-Rifles/Bolt-Action%7C/pc/104792580/c/105522480/sc/105523380/Bushmaster-50-BMG-Bolt-Action-Rifles/708194.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fshoot ing-centerfire-rifles-bolt-action%2F_%2FN-1102332%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_105523380%3FWTz_l%3DUnknown%253Bcat10 4792580%253Bcat105522480&WTz_l=Unknown%3Bcat104792580%3Bcat105522480%3Bcat1 05523380

[Good Old Outdoors]

if i spent $5000 on a rifle the Mrs would be my only worry lol
Im just gonna try hollow points and see what happens... now if the vernon doped up bunnies still run, i will use the 17 hmr

And coach, we are talking about rabbits right? lol Cuz the other bunnies go down easy and starfish haha

[835]

It could be considered unethical to use a .17 cal on rabbits..... .22lr is sufficent. :)

I have trouble thinking a rabbit with a well placed .22lr round in the chest would make it that far. But then i dont hunt them much. And when i did it wa with my Daina 34 .177 call pellet rifle that did 995fps. Chest shots with that thing at 20-30 yds laid out rabbits like the hammer of Thor... bang flop.

[eastkoot]

If a .22 can bounce off a turkey, maybe wabbitts too!!!

[wunderboy]

I have shot lots of hare up around Vernon and no problems. They tend to bolt for a couple yards and try to hide. My dog always finds them before I do. Maybe its the finding them part thats going wrong. I know when I shoot gophers for my father in law they often bolt after a "tummy" shot. Critters can go pretty far if not hit in the vitals.

Time to open a new debate, Since spring time is coming we need to start talking about anchoring rabbits versus vitals shot. I find a shot through the shoulder keeps em down. Last thing you want to do is track a bunny in thick cover.

[bandit]

Depending on the terrain you hunt a 17HMR could give you a lot more flexibility for those 75-125 yard shots. Anyone who tells you they can reliably shoot rabbits with a 22LR at 100 yards is talking **** IMO. The range estimation needs to be spot on to dial in the correct holdover - which you just cant do with rabbits that dont sit still long enough. A lot of my rabbit hunting buddies in the UK have swapped their silenced 22LRs for unsilenced 17HMRs for that very reason.

Having said that an HMR really needs to be used for a head shot, can make a lot more of a mess on a body shot and render a fair amount of meat unusable.

[Ronforca]

The 22 is plenty big enough for Rabbits.I know of several Mulies that were shot with the 22 and they died without going very far.

[Brew]

I would use the game points in the 17hmr if your going to use it. the v-max will destroy a large whole in a bunny.

[Good Old Outdoors]

If i were to use a 17 hmr it would be headshots, especially if they are true to the 1" MOA at 100 yards. Like i said before I have taken rabbits with a 22LR but all under 25 yards. The terrain i see them the most in isjust off the road in sparcly treed areas, purely by chance driving to my area where i get out and hike. or just before dark when im heading back to the truck, but then i only have my rem 700 and for $45 a box im not shooting that at a rabbit lol. As for my shot placement, its always the same, head/neck or the vitals, but i wont be using the solid 22 rounds for bunnies anymore, hollow point only

[David Heitsman]

I know of several Mulies that were shot with the 22 and they died without going very far.

Cringe at that thought.

[91Jason91]

I thought my 300RUM was to small for them...... FML lol
No I have killed alot of rabbits with the 22

[warnniklz]

22-250? too small for mule deer??

Rabbits can pack a lot of lead, I'd up and go 25-25 stevens. ah ha I think the 22 is just fine. Maybe check out getting a Savage Model 42. Then you'd have a shotty and 22

[KevinB]

Your average snowshoe hare weighs about three pounds, and you're shooting it with a 40 grain .22LR bullet.

Then assume your average deer is about 200 pounds. The equivalent would be shooting it with a 2,650 grain bullet. :shock:

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about bullet construction, and I probably wouldn't bother looking for something that hits a little harder. :wink:


Now, after all this dorky math, I'm wondering if somehow I've missed the joke, or are you guys seriously saying you're having trouble putting down bunnies with a 22? really? :confused:

Maybe you're confusing the headless chicken imitation with running?

Not that you shouldn't go buy a 17HMR, they do seem pretty cool.

[Good Old Outdoors]

haha one day i had an issue with putting bunnies down. I used to do center of mass shots, now just head shots or double taps at a distance. My guess is the bunnies ate up a grow op lol, but i will be using hollow points now.

[Mulehahn]

My question is are you sure you hit them? I usually hunt rabbit in the LML with my bow and small game points for practice. (gotta love hobby farms and retired people who are really protective of there carrots). A few times now I would swear my arrows goes through the rabbit but it runs off. When I recover my arrow the head has a huge clump of fur and that is it. No blood nothing. The actual body of a rabbit is a lot smaller than I keep thinking. Especially when shooting in close (5-10 feet) on a downward angle. Have to aim for the spine.

[warnniklz]

their fur tends to make them look a lot larger than they really are

[GrandA]

I've been shooting rabbits at my lady friends farm for a few years now. Nailed atleat 20 with LR federal cheapie bullets from 20-40M away, worked for me. I have a 10.22 ruger semi.

[Grantmac]

An airgun is a great bunny stopper, provided you shoot one of the heavier pellets and its doing at least 750FPS. I like headshots, putting a round right behind the eye and below the ear drops them in place.
My personal favorite was a regulated HPA powered one in .177 that would throw 10.5gr pellets at 1000fps all day long, had no issue taking 40-50yd headshots. It would drop them with a good center-mass hit as well, but not on the spot.
I wouldn't shoot a rabbit with anything larger than .22lr, no real point. 75-125yd shots are totally inside the realm of possiblity if you're shooting rabbits in a field. I just pre-ranged objects in the field while there was decent light then sat and waited for them to come out around sundown.

If the brush is thick I like my bow and some G5 small-game points or an old broadhead, it keeps them from running off.

-Grant

[etk]

a 22 LR is just fine for rabbit. If you are working with dogs a shotgun is better. I use a 16 ga, but many use 20ga or .410.

[Singleshotneeded]

I use a shotgun usually, but on occasion I'll hunt them with my .17 HMR. The key with the .17HMR is to use the 20 grain
XTP, a quick expanding hunting type bullet and not the high frangible 17 grain V-Max that blows up on contact.

[Walking Buffalo]

Center mass on a rabbit is Guts.

I'm guessing this is why the bunnies are getting away.

Shoot no farther back than the shoulders.

I prefer head shots. Any rabbot hit with a 22lr in the head is DRT.