I've always thought my "bug out" plans were pretty good if I had to get out of Dodge for a few weeks. Depending upon the time of the year, I have pheasant, rabbit, turkey, ducks, geese, and fish in pretty good numbers and, excluding the fish, I can hit them all with my 22. But I've been toying with different bulk ammos to get the best match and, in testing them out, I've gotten to be a pretty good shot in comparison to others here in my neck of the woods.
So I decided to play "Clint Eastwood" and set up a beer can at 120 yards with the plan being to see how long I could keep that tin can flying without missing with my 18 round Model 60 with 3x9 scope. So I start knocking it around as fast as I can and it rolled bottom end towards me and I hit it again and - ???! - it's not there! The beer can is gone! I walk out there and I can't even find it. Where did it go? Go back to the car and get another target and, in setting that one up, I spot the beer can. And it really did go flying. Curious to see what I had done to it, I picked it up. The last shot had hit the base of the can right on the edge of the bulge. It punched a deep dent in it without penetrating and so transferred 100% of its energy into the can and it certainly did fly. That aside though, I was surprised the bullet, a 38 grain HP at 1280 FPS, had failed to penetrate a frigging beer can at 120 yards! Granted, it hit the strongest point of the can (The other bullets went through both sides of the can.) but a .22 at 900 FPS is enough to penerate a human skull and these bullets are rated to still be at 1100 FPS at 100 yards. I was shooting just 20 yards past that. It ought to still be doing 1000 FPS.
Curious, I sighted in on a squirrel and shot him in the head at 50 yards with the same ammo. He was dead as a doornail but the bullet failed to exit the other side of his head. I had been thinking I could use my Model 60 on small game but now have my doubts unless Miller cans are super strong and squirrels have incredibly thick skulls.
I have decided to take it rabbit hunting to see what happens (something I haven't done), using four different brands of ammo. So far, I have visions of wounded rabbits running around all over the place. This might be a few weeks away but I will post what happens. I also plan to try out a velocitor on a coyote (Ours get pretty big out here.).
I'm not into animal cruelty so if the rabbits don't go down the coyote test goes off the list.
Sam Ruger thanks for the "heads" up (no pun intended) I will be interested in hearing your report on the rabbit hunt, but that was a wild shot, to hit that can where you did...
__________________ 12-21-2012: Party like theres no tomorrow!!!
A lot of folks put too much stock in the .22 LR cartridge. The way to really find out what it does is to do exactly what you are doing; shoot them and test them.
People that actually go out and SHOOT, know what the limitations of each cartridge are. Lot's of "armchair commandos" just spout what they read in a magazine or the internet.
Congratulations on being more intelligent and thoughtful than those who shoot bull rather than shoot bullets.
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I surprised myself last trip to the range. I was shooting my 6" Ruger MK I pistol at the 50 yard mark (rested of course) and to make things interesting I went for the 100 yard mark, but the bullets wouldn't make it! Bullet drop had me compensating quite a bit, and I was sure velocity had gone far subsonic by then.
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I take my coffee how I take my women: bitter and overbearing.
I do know that in my rifle(s) if I am sited dead on at 20 yards, the bullets will hit about 6'' low at 100 yards. I shoot at cans that far, but I've never shot past 50 yards at a animal with a .22...except for one occasion. I shot a squirrel at a little over 100 yards, the bullet hit it in the head and exited...that was a luck shot, I'm not saying I could ever replicate that shot again, I'm just saying that Rem Golden Bullets HPs from 8 years ago will go through a squirrel's skull (at least that once it did) from over 100 yards. LOL at that distance the front bead was waaaay bigger then the whole squirrel.
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Only 120yds and just knocking that can around every shot?I always start out about 250yds and by the time I get the can out of sight I have run out of sh**,mostly bull sh**. ,,,sam.
I'll tell ya honest that the rabbits will drop easily to a .22lr at under 100 yards...especially with headshots
But Coyote...under 75 yards for sure with a .22lr, and you better be dead on target.
Honestly, I'd not use a .22lr on a 'yote unless I had NOTHING else at hand. Same for Dog.
Although, if you have a Calico...100 rounds per mag will work wonders
.22WMR is pretty darn good on 'yotes at up to 150...haven't really tried it any farther...even sighted in at 125...the drop after 150 gets a little intense with the 50-grain Game-Shok loads
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I would have to say that the beer can was hit by a marginal shot, maybe half of the bullet hit the dirt first and that is why the can flew so far and penetration was minimal. The .22 l.r. has more than enough power to take out small game within 100 yards. The non exiting bullet in the squirrel is exactly what you want, no ricochet and no worries where that bullet is going once it hits its quarry... just a dead squirrel..
The problem you are having is because you were using a Marlin Model 60. It's a good rifle but it's not "Supremely Viable" like the Ruger 10/22. JUST KIDDING.....
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Quote:
Originally Posted by samuel
Only 120yds and just knocking that can around every shot?I always start out about 250yds and by the time I get the can out of sight I have run out of sh**,mostly bull sh**. ,,,sam.
me too.....
__________________ "I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."
I agree with rimfirenut on the theory that you didn't squarely hit the can. I would think it was a ricochet as the bullet should have little trouble with penetrating through the bottom of the can.
I have good results with the Remington yellow jackets out of my 10/22 on big ole jack rabbits. Seldom will they penetrate completely through the rabbit but they make a mess of the internal organs and seldom have I had to shoot more than once. I have shot a few close to 100yds and they dropped with the single shot.
I've seen an Xbox case deflect .40 S&W and .45 ACP and that was about 15 degrees of perpendicular to the path of the bullet. Sometimes the target gets lucky. It didn't survive the 12 gauge though.
Rude surprise with my .22 LR 
