Is a .22 enough for gophers?

[2ski]

I'm planning on shooting gophers this spring and want to know if I'm good with my .22LR or if I should buy a .300 RUM for them.

 

[2ski]

 

[Dos XX]

If you use a match bb, you can use a bb gun. It is more about shot placement and bb design.

 

[mt100gr.]

Are we talking ground squirrels or actual gophers? Sometimes those ground squirrels take a little more killing!!

 

[Grassymike]

Compound bow with arrows tipped with judo points. Best off season practice out there.

 

[Rob5589]

I suggest you read this thread,

.223 for bear, deer, elk and moose.

DON'T HAVE TIME TO READ 176 PAGES? HERE'S THE CHEAT SHEET. “Bullets matter more than headstamps.” “Spent primers offer the supreme tutorial”. I’ve read it here and elsewhere online. It got my attention. I started digging and asking questions and listened. The 77gr TMK delivered by a .223...

rokslide.com

 

[Grassymike]

6mm Remington also worked pretty well.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Are you planning to keep shots under 50 yards or is this going to derail into a long range ethics discussion?

 

[*zap*]

What gophers?

 

[GSPHUNTER]

50 Cal. if you want to be certain.

 

[ozyclint]

Compound bow with arrows tipped with judo points. Best off season practice out there.

You could possibly get away with judo points but personally I prefer a stout 3:1 single bevel broadhead and an arrow above Ashby's 650gr bone breaching threshold.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I deal with ground hogs here in PA. Bigger animals than gophers by about 2-3x per weight. they tended to soak up 22s that did hit brain, which off hand, at distances of +25 yards was tough, especially since they don’t exactly present a clean target - moving around with lots of fur and neck. I went for body shots and usually they would run off and I expect a lot them died horribly in their dens, but it wasn’t the desired result. I zapped one with a 308 and it was a mess all over the yard. Rigged up a 223 and it is the godilocks round. A decent hit to the head or body will stone them and they die in place and I don’t have to worry about them crawling somewhere and stinking to high hell for a week Under my shed.

 

[goathunter]

If you use a match bb, you can use a bb gun. It is more about shot placement and bb design.

BBs matter.

You need the appropriate terminal velocity as well. Too much recoil for me to shoot accurately though.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

.22 segmented ammo to the ear hole works fine on ground hogs here out to 100 yds. Past 100yds I use a 223 with 55grain varmet loads.

 

[Billy Goat]

I find I get too much meat damage if I go above .22 cal.

17hmr seems to be the balance of wound channel, range, and meat savings.

 

[ORJoe]

You've actually seen a gopher up where you could shoot it?
I would need to narrow down which mounds look freshest and drop mortars until it looks like Paaschendale.

 

[NB7]

Use a 9mm.
I've heard that round will blow the lungs out of a body,
The gophers won't stand a chance

 

[stonewall]

 

[jayhawk]

This is just how I dealt with my gopher problem

 

[Billy Goat]