amunition for rabbits

[tony2]

i need help in which make of hollow point to use for rabbits i understand that cci have brought out a segmented hollow point in .22lr are they any good? i thought about getting a .17 but i have been told they do a lot of damage to the meat and i always eat the rabbits i shoot.

i brought a cz 452 .22lr with a sak moderator with a hawke map pro scope. i used to use a 410 huspower with 3" magnum cartridges which did the job but i had sit close to the warrens and ambush them.

i have also used an aa s410 which was great up to 30 yards very accurate with aa fields pellets sorry about the waffle .

cheers tony

[Sussexboy]

Hi Tony,

Can't comment on the .17 as I have never used one. I use Winchester subsonics in my CZ varmint and get good results. I have never found the CCI easy to chamber. You need to try a few different types to see which suits your rifle best.

 

Good shooting

 

Paul.

[Dead-Eyed Duck]

Use Eley subsonic hollowpoints. Should give you at worst 0.5" groups at 50 yards which is good enough for a headshot rabbit.

 

Use a bipod - if you do you can stretch the headshot range to 75 yards, allowing for bullet drop.

 

Don

[Fleabag]

i need help in which make of hollow point to use for rabbits i understand that cci have brought out a segmented hollow point in .22lr are they any good? i thought about getting a .17 but i have been told they do a lot of damage to the meat and i always eat the rabbits i shoot.

i brought a cz 452 .22lr with a sak moderator with a hawke map pro scope. i used to use a 410 huspower with 3" magnum cartridges which did the job but i had sit close to the warrens and ambush them.

i have also used an aa s410 which was great up to 30 yards very accurate with aa fields pellets sorry about the waffle .

cheers tony

If you head shoot a rabbit with the hmr it makes no difference, will kill a lot cleaner and more accurately with the hmr also fill your pot easier to.

[JohnGalway]

I use Eley subs (half inch at 60 yards, just under an inch at 100 - on targets), I've used Winchester subs but found them louder and less accurate in my rifle. Don is correct about the Bipod. Fleabag is also right in that if you headshot a bunny with a HMR then no problems, makes the bunnies simpler to shoot but it's a lot louder than the .22lr.

 

Best advice that anyone can give you will be this. Buy one box of each type of subsonic ammo you can get and try them at whatever distance you zero your rifle, whether it be 50 yards or 60 yards. That will tell you better than anyone here can what will suit your rifle best. Do make sure to get both Eley and Winchester subs though, as I would say they're the two most commonly used.

[Rick O'Shea]

I have the .17hmr CZ American and .22lr CZ Style and find the .22 better for lamping being subsonic, eley or remington suit my CZ Style. The .17hmr this time of year zeroed at 100 yards with cci 20 grain. Downside to .17hmr is price and noise. Doesnt make any difference to the type of moderator fitted. If this isnt an issue for you then the .17hmr is the one to go for. I have harris bipods on both to ensure head shots as I eat mine or sell to butcher or friends.

 

If you're still not sure then get both assuming you have them on your ticket.

[DaveK]

In my experience, eley are more accurate but winchesters kill better, just my 2p.

 

always found cci very inconsistent so never used them much

 

 

 

I found that eleys tended to overpenetrate (I had the older ones that Kranks sell/sold as their own value range). I changed to winnies and haven't looked back.

 

CCI's gave me cycling problems in my 10/22.

[Pip]

I have always used Winchester in my CZ 22 ,can't fault them , when they aren't available I use RWS that are OK but don't kill quite as well

[casts_by_fly]

my gun likes remy subs and CCI greentags. greentags shoot a little better, but the remys are hollowpoint. Both shoot MOA or better to 100 yd. I'm sighted at 62 yd which puts me +/- 1" between 10 and 75. Beyond that I normally don't take the shot or if I expect to be shooting farther than that anyway I'll grab the HMR or 223.

 

Yes the HMR will do meat damage, but you can be a lot more precise with shot placement. Of the dozen plus hares I've gotten this spring with it, I've only lost one front leg and that was because the hare was quartering towards me and I didn't realize it. All other shots have been head/neck shots out to 150 yd.

 

Thanks,

Rick

[Dunkield]

In my experience, eley are more accurate but winchesters kill better, just my 2p.

Yup.

and CCI's are complete and utter pooh (IMHO)

[tony2]

thanks for the help i have tried eley plus subs and winchester super x i found in my rifle the eleys to be more accurate but the winchesters had more stopping power . i tested the rounds on two large swedes (vegatables) before i went out in the field .

i used two soaking wet telephone directorys to catch the bullets with a large earthbank behind as a stop.

i found that when i retrived the bullets from the telephone directorys the eley bullet was fairly whole with the tip expanding but with the main part body of the bullet staying whole.

when i retrieved the winchester bullet it was totaly deformed and just looked like a mangled piece of lead.

i know its not very scientific but i just wanted to see how they preformed . i use both rounds in the field and i would recomend both of them.

cheers tony

[bob300w]

I use Eley subs (half inch at 60 yards, just under an inch at 100 - on targets), I've used Winchester subs but found them louder and less accurate in my rifle. Don is correct about the Bipod. Fleabag is also right in that if you headshot a bunny with a HMR then no problems, makes the bunnies simpler to shoot but it's a lot louder than the .22lr.

 

Best advice that anyone can give you will be this. Buy one box of each type of subsonic ammo you can get and try them at whatever distance you zero your rifle, whether it be 50 yards or 60 yards. That will tell you better than anyone here can what will suit your rifle best. Do make sure to get both Eley and Winchester subs though, as I would say they're the two most commonly used.

John pretty well sums it up, you have to try them all, as accuracy is what matters most. Bullet point shape is not worth worrying about as most 22's go straight through rabbits.

[THEINVISIBLESCARECROW]

I found most are accurate enough but tend to mostly use Eley at the moment.

No matter what is recomended you will end up trying for yourself anyway.

[garyb]

I use the Winchester Subs in my .22lr, no complaints..

 

The Eley extra's are a good bunny round too

[Wookie]

Winny subs here, but I'll be changing to RWS after this brick is gone. The groups are visibly tighter.

[PAULT]

anyone know where i can get eley subsonics in south wales my anschutz loves them

[*NickH*]

Eley subs all the way, my CZ452 is on a strict Eley only diet and cant get enough of them, tried every other round I could get hold of and Eley Subs were definitely the best performer

[Evilv]

I use Eley subs (half inch at 60 yards, just under an inch at 100 - on targets), I've used Winchester subs but found them louder and less accurate in my rifle. Don is correct about the Bipod. Fleabag is also right in that if you headshot a bunny with a HMR then no problems, makes the bunnies simpler to shoot but it's a lot louder than the .22lr.

 

Best advice that anyone can give you will be this. Buy one box of each type of subsonic ammo you can get and try them at whatever distance you zero your rifle, whether it be 50 yards or 60 yards. That will tell you better than anyone here can what will suit your rifle best. Do make sure to get both Eley and Winchester subs though, as I would say they're the two most commonly used.

John pretty well sums it up, you have to try them all, as accuracy is what matters most. Bullet point shape is not worth worrying about as most 22's go straight through rabbits.

 

I've been shooting eley subs almost exclusively in my long barreled CZ452. The above advice is exactly what I found. Half inch groups at 60 yards and stone dead rabbits almost every time. The only exceptions I have had to that were caused by wind drifted bullets. The eley round has been completely accurate with over a thousand rounds and no barrel cleaning at all. The round is silently deadly in the CZ.

 

I bought a hundred CCI stingers just for a lark last Friday and so far have found them VERY loud. They also shoot bigger groups, but are much flatter so I have been able to extend the range I would normally shoot at without big hold over problems. The Stinger shoot a full two inches higher than the eley sub at 55 - 60 yards. The damage done to the carcasses is also much greater. It really smashes them causing massive exit wounds at 8o yards. I am not sure about the accuracy yet though and know for sure that the groups sizes are about twice as large at 60yards. It could be my fault, but I'll try another hundred before I decide. With a moderator the sub is almost silent. This can be a great asset if there are many rabbits. I have often shot five and six sitting within a few yards of one another and they barely seemed to notice their mates keeling over and twitching. The stingers are loud, but the rabbits don't twitch at all. Unfortunately, their mates tend to run off as if I'd fired a shell at them.

 

The eley subs and stingers always go straight through the rabbit. Terminal energy at 60 yards for the eley sub is about 75 ft pounds. The stinger's is about 120 ft pounds. Both are well over what you need. I killed hundreds of rabbits with an 11ft pound air rifle.

Edited June 16, 2008 by Evilv

[stuey]

Put Wichester subs through my custom 10/22 with no cycling issues. Not used the rifle much other than an initial zeriong session, where i was getting just over 1 inch at 60yds. Hoping once I get a few through it will tighten a bit. The few rabbits i have taken haven't even twitched.

 

Also got a few cci stingers myself, but haven't tried them yet, but based on Evilv's comments, will stick with the hmr when i need to extend the range.

 

regards

 

stu

Edited June 16, 2008 by stuey

[Glynn]

Hi

 

i use winchester sub sonics in 22 lr

i also use 17 hmr 20 grn hollow point dont damage the meat when you shoot them in the head!

just got to make sure you got aood back drop as they go straight through.

[Evilv]

Put Wichester subs through my custom 10/22 with no cycling issues. Not used the rifle much other than an initial zeriong session, where i was getting just over 1 inch at 60yds. Hoping once I get a few through it will tighten a bit. The few rabbits i have taken haven't even twitched.

 

Also got a few cci stingers myself, but haven't tried them yet, but based on Evilv's comments, will stick with the hmr when i need to extend the range.

 

regards

 

stu

 

Don't let me put you off them. Try them since you've already bought them. 1640 fps is nothing like an HMR, but it is usefully flat when you are struggling to judge the distance of a bunny in the mid summer twilight. I've sighted the rifle at 72 yards and between about 35 and 85 yards I just put the cross on the ******'s head and squeeze. I have a picture here of the results. Don't look if you are squeamish. These two boyos were shot last night at about 8o yards. These are exit holes - or craters.

 

80 yard stinger exit holes

Edited June 16, 2008 by Evilv

[stuey]

Seems like they do the job!!

 

Do you find the stingers ricochet as i find the winchesters quite bad for it?

 

regards

 

stu

[Evilv]

Seems like they do the job!!

 

Do you find the stingers ricochet as i find the winchesters quite bad for it?

 

regards

 

stu

 

Badly.

 

I was sighting the rifle yesterday on quite hard ground on one of my shoots. I had the target at 72 yards and there was a large embankment behind. The ground is hard and dry. A by pass is being built through this farm and the embankment is pretty huge and going upwards at about 30 degrees. the bank began about forty yards behind the target. Shot after shot went whining away into the distance. I feel they must have gone up and over the bank. Fortunately there is a five hundred foot rising hill behind and there is no stock around because they are empty hay fields. The round does ricochet and is worse for it than the eley subs. I fired a good few of them in the exact same circumstances and only got one whiner.

Edited June 16, 2008 by Evilv

[stuey]

pity they couldn't bring out a ballistic tipped, HV round for the 22LR similar to the ones available for the 22 WMR.

 

stu

[Evilv]

pity they couldn't bring out a ballistic tipped, HV round for the 22LR similar to the ones available for the 22 WMR.

 

stu

 

I had a lovely little Winchester under lever rifle in .22 wmr back in the early 1980s. It was a little beauty. I favoured the RWS rounds for that, but I remember they cost a damned fortune. They were hollow points. I don't think there were any ballistic tipped ones for the round then. They could literally turn a rabbit inside out at about 80 yards. If you wanted to eat them, head was the only target and only if it was sideways on other wise the whole body was pulped and full of excrement.

 

That rifle made a real bang like the old .303 I had at the same time, though maybe not quite that loud, but it made a satisfying crack anyway.

 

Edited June 16, 2008 by Evilv