.22 magnum for grouse?
- Thread starter Cteve
- Start date
We have killed thousands of grouse with slingshots, pelletguns, .22 LR, .22 WMR, .17 HM2 and HMR, .22 Hornet and other downloaded centefire rifles from .223 to .45/70.... regardless of what you are shooting, your target is always the head.
Iron Glove
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Hope and Tulameen
Gave my Son a single shot 17HMR last year and he packed it along on a deer hunt we took.
He hadn't had time to fully sight it in, saw a grouse and shot it.
Was a bit lower than a headshot, quite the mess.
He hadn't had time to fully sight it in, saw a grouse and shot it.
Was a bit lower than a headshot, quite the mess.
22lr is better. 22mag will take them a part if you are close. Yes, for head shot it makes no difference what you have but if you want to get them sometime you don't have that chance and do head shot at 50 or 70 yards is dream with out a good rest.
The last 2 grouse I shot was with a 458 wm and a 25/06. 22 mag is not over kill.
I prefered load is 22 Lr cci quiet. Head or thru the wing joints. No damage but sometimes coming home from a morning hear baiting all I have is my center fire cals
I prefered load is 22 Lr cci quiet. Head or thru the wing joints. No damage but sometimes coming home from a morning hear baiting all I have is my center fire cals
nowarningshot
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Last time i checked the 22 WMR was in the order of 5-7X the price of 22lr. If you are happy shooting a 22WMR, and good for accuracy and the cost, go for it. Headshots as everyone else is saying. Common saying about the 22 WMR is twice a 22lr and half a Hornet. Extends the range of the 22lr, making your effective range being the range that you can consistently headshoot the grouse.
By reloading my 410, i beat the cost of 22WMR, so i go 410. Actually more often than not i dont want to shoot a grouse and spook large game, so i leave grouse for the youngsters.
By reloading my 410, i beat the cost of 22WMR, so i go 410. Actually more often than not i dont want to shoot a grouse and spook large game, so i leave grouse for the youngsters.
I would stick with 22lr with CCI quiet for grouse. Unless you can set yourself up to be shooting off a rest with a WMR, a grouse head is an awful small target to be trying for offhand. I've shot a couple grouse with the CCI quiet through the body and they were a clean through and through shots.
Agree .22 WMR is a little pricey to shoot grouse, .22lr of any kind works great. Like CCI Quiets or Rem Subsonic. 410 works great too but if you don't reload it's costly, but hey you never miss.
I use my 12 ga' double barrel when I go out for grouse. I rarely see them before they take off so a .22 doesn't do much good. I use plain 7# shot. 9$ for 25 bullets. I rarely even find where the tiny bbs went through so damage has never been an issue
I use 3" magnum 12-gauge duck loads on grouse. If I miss their head, at least the steel shot goes straight through them and won't deform. Holy crap my gf shot one in the chest with a .22 LR lead-head. I'm no ballistics expert, but I think you could probably kill a person but good with a .22. The damage was spectacular for a close range, tiny-calibre shot.
Cannon
Cannon
