CCI Stingers Safe In Henry 22LR Lever?

Drachenblut

Drachenblut

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Hello,

I have a Henry Frontier (I believe) lever action 22LR rifle, and I plan to pop some of those pesky gophers with it. However, to ensure clean, humane kills I want to use a good, high power hollow point round, and the CCI Stinger has been my go-to. If you know of other makers/types like this round, please let me know here as I am open to try it!

So, my question is, is it safe to shoot these high power rounds in my rifle? Will it cause any kind of internal damage that would break the rifle? I would assume it would be just fine, but assumption is the mother of all muck-ups. So thus I ask you, the rimfiring community. :cool:

Thank you for your time,
Drach
 
Of course they're safe. They're only fast because the bullet is lighter.

In the 22 rimfire world, one will work pretty much like any other on gophers, despite all the hype.
 
Interesting, though I'd think faster-lighter-more expansion would help increase the kill zone in the body by increasing wound and bleeding in the event of a non-lethal first hit? *headscratch*
 
The older semi automatic actions may not be able to withstand the hyper velocity stingers as they were built at a time when the 22LR was 40gr@ 1000fps.
Any bolt, break, or lever gun should be just fine though.

The 32gr stinger does flatten out fast provided it is still traveling at the higher speed. Remember; less gr weight means less kinetic energy and therefore looses velocity faster.
A 40gr HP winchester supperX will preform just as well on groundhogs, trust me.
Also your gun may not shoot the shorter stinger bullets as accurately so the old addage of a 22 in the eye is more deadly than a 30-06 in the toe/bush comes into play.
 
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Something I discovered about CCI Stingers recently, the case is slightly longer than regular 22lr. I found out when I tried to load one into my BSA Martini and it would not chamber fully. I tried a few more before I put the two cartridges side by side for comparison. The BSA was made just before or just after WW2 (the records are a little fuzzy around that era). All my more modern (in the last 40 years) rimfires will chamber the Stingers just fine. You should be fine with them in your Henry.
 
Bexan, .22 rimfire doesn't have a step between the chamber and the rifling. And the bullets are heeled so there isn't a step. So if it's truly a length issue then only of the casing then it's more likely that you just have a crud ring build up in your chamber. It might just need some good cleaning to remove that caked up ring.

Or it may simply be that the Stinger ammo doesn't have as consistent a shape near to the rim. With tight fitting match chambers on a couple of my guns I've run into ammo which wedges tight before it seats. That may be what you have going on with the Stingers in your BSA.

Drachenblut, the same action comes in a version that runs .22WMR. So the action is certainly OK to use any regular LR ammo at any power level as far as safety goes. The real issue might be that the twist rate might not be optimum for the very light 32gn bullets. If so then the group size might suffer. It comes back to the idea that you want to try a little from a bunch of different ammo to see what your gun likes the best for groups. Then whatever that is use it. A good accurate hit is better than a fast bullet that doesn't hit where it should.
 
The stingers have a longer case a with a shorter bullet to maintain the same overall length of a run of the mill .22LR cartridge, this longer case may be what prevents a cartridge from chambering in a tight chamber. They will chamber fine in a sporter chamber which is usually the most common chamber with commercial rifles. However they won't chamber in match chambers as they are smaller than sporter cut chambers as well they are not recommended for use in a Bentz chamber (match chamber for semi-automatic rifles, which is bigger than a match chamber for a bolt action) even though they may fit. So do a little research online to see if your rifle has a sporter chamber and you should be fine to fire them. Or just use regular .22LR ammo as they kill just as well as anything if you do your part.
 
Just use any 22lr hp. I like mini mags personally but anything works good. If you want quick humane kills step it up to a 22wmr, 17hmr or centerfire. Lots run around still when hit with a 22lr. The centerfire varmint rifles are the most fun
 
hometownhero - That's why I pack my 6.5X55 Swede carbine ;)

Thank you CGN'ers for the info, I will have to try a bit of different kinds of ammo, but I have found in general CCI Blazer is the best grouping in all the .22's I've owned. Stingers are fun but I hear mini mags pack a punch.

I'm just wondering what .22LR HP rounds people like most here?
 
CCI velocitors are decent for hunting, retains a lot of its weight with the hollow point. You can also get the stingers in what the call a segmenting hollow point, supposedly breaks into three pieces upon impact making a pretty decent wound channel. Look them up on youtube they seem pretty effective at taking out varmints.
 
TwoTone said:
Of course they're safe. They're only fast because the bullet is lighter.

In the 22 rimfire world, one will work pretty much like any other on gophers, despite all the hype.
Click to expand...

stingers have a longer case compared to a standard high or even hyper velocity rounds (yellow jacket, mini mag, etc)

ruger puts in a warning with their target barreled .22's to not use this type of ammunition.
 
I have the same rifle and have only run one box of stingers through it and the only issue was on a full mag the first round would ftf, accuracy was good but the ammo that performed the best was cci mini mags 36gr hp under an inch @50yards followed by minimags 40gr and blazer 40gr both averaging 1.5 inches my worst performers were remington golden and federal white box. I havent done any testing beyond 50 yards so cannot speak to thier accuracy beyond that as well havent tried any top shelf ammo ie; lapua...
Rifle was scoped and a simple front rest was used, i plan to use sandbags this summer to fully see what this rifle can do.
 
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