Bullet choice for... Squirrels.

[Vern400]

38 and 40 gr high velocity HP give near instant knockdown with a solid shot. They do open up. You will usually end squirrels with some insides on the outside.
The super fast cartridges don't shoot as accurately out of my rifle. It's a heavy barrel bolt action. Doesn't matter if they're freaking fast if you don't hit.
I've had the best accuracy from CCI mini mags, Aguila super extra hollow points. Federal 36 Grain hollow point has been hit or miss based on the lot number. Some are excellent, some not so much. I consider a 0.5 or 0.6 in group of 10 very good in a 22 LR. 50 YD .
I've tried virtually every brand of high velocity hollow points. Shoot 10 shot groups and look for flyers. Flyers that aren't your fault are probably bad ammunition. Eventually you'll find something that's almost match accuracy in a hollow point.
I'm pretty confident about recent production CCI mini mags and aquila. On federal, winchester, Remington I have not tested them recently.

I have one box remaining of 1997 Federal 36 grain hollow points that shoot better than anything I've ever had. Kind of sad because they came in boxes of 500, and they were $9.99 at Walmart. I've burned through about 20 boxes of those and only have one left. They still shoot just as good as they did in '97.

 

[KenLee]

I guess the goal of my post was to discuss .22 ammo specifically (sorry I know I wasn't clear). I'm just wondering if I can get faster kills with a different bullet choice.

CCI "Stingers"

 

[Steve300xcw]

Hp's for squirrels, grouse and what ever else needs killing with a 22

22 really is a pathetic round compared to an HMR though..........

 

[Kevinjs1]

Love using my .17HMR

 

[mattm94]

Bulk Winchester Xpert 36gr hollow points. It’s a nice plain lead flat nose hollow point. Used to come in a silver box. Last ones were a white box with red lettering. Way less expensive than stingers or the like, accurate, cycle in a 10/22, and expand into a nice mushroom with quick humane kills on squirrels. My kids killed lots of squirrels with them when they were young. If they hit a front or hind quarter, it wasn’t edible.

 

[ozyclint]

My .22lr is most accurate with SK pistol match special. It's a LRN ammo. For hunting I turn them into hollow points with a 'waltz' die that I made on a lathe. It swages a hollow point cavity in the bullet while simultaneously expanding the bullet to .225"

Accuracy doesn't suffer and I'm free to turn any LRN ammo into hollow points. It also improves the uniformity of some standard HP ammo.

 

[2ski]

I noticed the same about 15 years ago when I shot a cottontail that then hopped into its lair and then what?

I switched to hollowpoints but have no info past that but I'm taking this whole thread in as well.

I did shoot a cottontail with my carry 9, which I had forgot to switch the mag of hollowpoints to the fmj mag. Needless to say I felt bad for shooting a rabbit I could not keep at that point.

 

[menhaden_man]

The Anguilla subs shoot great, even from a 10/22. Here’s a ten shot group - so I don’t get chastised - at 35 yards with a can. We shoot 95% of our squirrels at this distance or in, eat all of em.

 

[mattm94]

I can’t get past the smell of the Aguila ammo. I don’t know if it’s the powder or priming compound.

That stuff just doesn’t smell good. At all. I’d rather lick a 9V battery than smell it… LOL.

 

[yeti12]

Years back cci had stingers or something like that with segmented bullets. There was a substantial difference in ability to dispatch game. Not sure if they are still made though.

 

[Jpsmith1]

For pest control the CCI segmented rounds work very well. They have "Segmented Quiet", which are really slow, but they are quiet and hit hard. They also have "Segmented Subsonic", which are very accurate in my tikka. They do a lot of damage and kill quickly. For pest control these would be my choice. Quiet without a suppressor and subsonic with a suppressor if you care about disturbing the peace.

I think these grew out of the Triton segmented ammo back in the early-mid 90s.

That stuff almost left a smoking hole when it hit things.

 

[Castmaster]

I have used all sorts of 22lr on squirrels but I have come to like just standard lead roundnose for best accuracy and minimal meat damage. I usually get a couple different types of match ammo from Eley, Lapua, SK and hunt with whatever groups the best, good shot placement with an accurate lead round nose is a whole lot better than bad shot placement with a high velocity hollow point.


5 shots 50 yds with SK rifle match with a Bergara BMR Carbon and a Leupold Vx Freedom 2-7 Rimfire