Best .22lr round for Gophers? Stingers?

J

JRodko

Regular
Rating - 100%
9   0   0
Location
Regina, SK
Hey folks,

It's getting to be that time of year again so I figure I'd find out what other people are using to take down our furry friends.

I've been using the Remington Game Loads (which I find stop them very quickly) but I've always heard that I could be doing much better (CCI's)? I tried CCI's (I think possibly the blazers) and I found they weren't nearly as effective as I wanted them to be. I found that when I did get hits they zipped right through and the gophers just sprawled off into their holes.

Is there a better CCI round for them that I've missed? I've seen that places sell the CCI Stingers which I think are the hollow points opposed to the Blazer round nose, are the Stingers really all that great?

Cheers
 
I discovered the CCI Quik-Shok a few years ago and continue to use them. All the speed of a Stinger with the added benefit of a segmented bullet. It is the most effective 22LR bullet I have ever used! I think they were a bit more expensive but I could always see the results.
 
Getting that time again? Yesterday it was minus -36 with wind and there is still tons of snow around. I am hoping for gopher season soon but from a fellow Saskatchewanian...it may be a couple more weeks :D

Also I just use Federal Bulk Pack copper plated hollowpoint. $23 for 525 and more than 1500 gophers last year met there end with that ammo
 
My goto gopher pills are Win 555 bulk. Cheap here in Regina at Wally or CT. Try to keep my shots under 80 yrds or so. Better chance of proper bullet placement than just a hit. Stretching out too far is like lawn dart accuracy with a .22. Only my opinion, but I see no reason to shoot farther as the gophers don't move too far. I just move to the next area and set up my rotating portable bench. A gopher whistle is a handy accessory.
 
We were grinding them up last year with Winchester 555's (same as 333's) out to 100+ yds with Savage BTVS and Sako Quad's.

The 555's are 36gr HP's and fast at 1280fps. Well placed shots produce spectacular results!

My 22 lr ammo selection criteria is accuracy only. If you pick the ammo your gun likes the best, you'll have more piling up!

I have had great results with CCI Mini Mags too - worth a try. There are two flavours of 22lr Mini Mag: 36gr HP and 40gr RN.

CCI has a new segmented 22 that breaks into 3 pieces upon impact. I haven't seen them yet and look forward to trying them!

Good luck, SD
 
Last edited:
Being honest it depends on what your gun likes to shoot. Yes some bullets are better at dispatching gophers. However, if you can hit anything past 25 yrds because your grouping is to big, you might be better off with a different bullet. The same model gun might differ on what it like to shoot also. I've had two 715T and one liked AE and hated dynapoint, the other shot/grouped dynapoint just fine.
 
Well went and checked out some of the Stingers today. They look like mean little rounds! I don't think I can justify the $65 ish bucks per brick! I Think I'll stick to my Remington Game Loads or maybe look into the Winchester 525's. Any of those other Remington loads work well? Like the Yellow Jackets or Vipers etc, so many options!
 
I've been using Stingers as my favorite gopher round for about 25+ years now. My second choice is CCI Min-Mags, but I admit that I haven't tried some of the newer rounds on the market like Velocitors. My gopher 22 is a 10/22, and I find that it doesn't feed truncated cone bullets such as Yellowjackets all that well. The truth is any high velocity hollow point is usually a good choice as long as your rifle shoots them OK. I find that more gophers get back down their holes with solid bullets than they do with hollow points, but I guess that is a given.
 
Has anyone seen any of the new / old Winchester Expeditor ammo around? I think it was one of the first "hyper velocity" 22 LR ammo available, but they stopped making it for years. I remember buying it in the early 80s, and I see now that they have it again on the market. It's bascially similar to CCI Stingers with a 32 gr. bullet, but if I recall correctly, it originally had a 29 gr HP bullet.
 
i use only hollow point Winchester 333/555 ammo in all my guns. It can be bought in bulk by the 5000 cases . Never had a problem with it at all, and used over 15,000 rounds in last 3 years. My avatar shows only 15 minutes of shooting. and a few can attest to the actual numbers we have taken.
 
Do any of these CCI's price comparatively to the Remington Game Loads ($26 for 400)? Or even the Win 525 hollow points at $26 /500. Have any of you guys used the Game loads and can compare? Cause they mash em up pretty good and the "thump" is pretty audible compared to some others. Looking for some good, hard evidence!

edit: Does anyone have some good sources on some nice bulk deals? I'm a Geology student so any chance I get to save some money and split an order with friends is a good day.

Cheers!
 
I use 555's. Last year I paid $19.97 at Walmart. Yesterday I paid $21.64.
Several thousand per year. Shoot well from all of my .22's. Gophers out to 125yds without a problem after the first week of shooting each season.

The proof is in the pudding, as they say...

This one was 80 yds, lying flat on the ground looking straight at me, slightly higher than where I was sitting, but almost level with the rifle.
IMG_0084.jpg

Thought I had missed it until my son and I decided to move from the area and took a walk around.

This was 120yds last year in March. Granted, they may not be instant at that range, but they don't get too far.
Tedsdeadgopher.jpg

 
Last edited:
Stingers and Velociters are great, but too expensive for a long shooting gophers. I have found Yellow Jackets to be dynamic on small varmints at a fraction of the.price.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom