Favorite 22lr ammo for grouse?

Suther

Suther

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Went hunting this past week. Grabbed the wrong ammo for my 22lr, opened my ammo can and all I had in there was CCI quiets (710fps I think, round nose bullet). Taking the old adage of Run whatcha brung to heart I zerod the rifle with this ammo and proceeded to shoot a grouse in the head.

Well the little bastard just flew away! Flabbergasted and thinking maybe I missed or hit low or something, I tried again on another bird. Same thing! Crack! Thwack! Off it flies...

So I'll never use this ammo again on game. Now I'm left wondering what I should be using - or more specifically, what others have been using. I was planning to bring CCI standard, worked fine on a bird last year, but after this experience now I'm wondering if I should step it up from that.

So, what do you like to use on grouse with your 22lr?
 
I think a standard velocity solid would be good. Last year I used hollow point and ended up with fragments in the breast.

No offense but I find it hard to believe that if you did in fact hit a bird in the head with a CCI quiet that it would just shrug it off and fly away. Are you sure you didn't miss?
 
AB.boy said:
I think a standard velocity solid would be good. Last year I used hollow point and ended up with fragments in the breast.

No offense but I find it hard to believe that if you did in fact hit a bird in the head with a CCI quiet that it would just shrug it off and fly away. Are you sure you didn't miss?
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Im positive. This wasn't a one-off experience, one of the birds crashed into a tree when it took off. I went to go find it assuming it was dead but it flushed when I almost stepped on it. It was squawking as it flew away (never seen that before) and I'm pretty sure I could see red in its mouth, but I couldn't find it after that despite 40 minutes of searching.

Like you, at first I doubted that I hit. But I'm certain I got that second bird. I too found it hard to believe, but when I got the same results multiple times I could only draw one conclusion...
 
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During moose hunt I lean towards cci quiets you’re referring to as it gives me something to do without making a ton of noise between morning and evening hunts. When sound is less an issue. Anything standard velocity and up is preferred, but more for trajectory than anything. Solids will kill a grouse without issue. It’s harder with quiets obviously but I’ve bever failed to kill with them as long as I connect. What sort of distance you dhooting them at?

I have a red stick of Winchester that shoots around 1300fps that I really like for hunting.
 
I use CCI Quiets for my meat rabbits, I prefer that to a pipe. I can tell you that you had to have missed. My rabbits were about 8lbs, one got away and was 15 or so yards away when I used the old Cooey and popped him in the head, down for the count and a lot tougher that a grouse.

I have used 22LR for culling our goats too, never a second shot.

You missed those grouse.
 
Distance was 10 to 50yds. You could hear the thwack of it hitting, they seemed like good hits. There was a very clear difference between the sound of a hit and a miss.

Fox said:
I use CCI Quiets for my meat rabbits, I prefer that to a pipe. I can tell you that you had to have missed. My rabbits were about 8lbs, one got away and was 15 or so yards away when I used the old Cooey and popped him in the head, down for the count and a lot tougher that a grouse.

I have used 22LR for culling our goats too, never a second shot.

You missed those grouse.
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I really don't think that I did, particularly by how the second one crashed into a tree when flying away, then didn't flush until I was a foot away. I am aware that 22lr has been used to dispatch far larger things than a grouse, that's part of why I'm so dumbfounded by this whole experience.

I know my shooting skills, and I have no doubt that I hit them. I wish they were misses, then I wouldn't be frustrated about wounding birds, but here I am...
 
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Cci quiets are all I use, headshots only of course. They work well if you do in fact by them in the head, .177 pellet guns do the trick, quiets work well. You did not hit the skull
 
The last box of CCI quiets i bought. 1/4 of the rounds barely had enough energy to leave the barrel. Another 1/4 were all over the place. the remaing 1/2 box shot fine. I thought i just had a bad box, but maybe its more common(?)
 
Tungsten316 said:
Were you shooting it out of a semi auto? I’m thinking it would have less energy than out of a bolt gun but I could be wrong .
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Savage Mk II, with a 3-9x32mm rimfire scope.

Power Pill said:
The last box of CCI quiets i bought. 1/4 of the rounds barely had enough energy to leave the barrel. Another 1/4 were all over the place. the remaing 1/2 box shot fine. I thought i just had a bad box, but maybe its more common(?)
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Maybe. I'm going to save the rest of the box and run them over my Chronograph. These results reminded me of shooting crows with a 22cal 495fps pellet gun as a teenager, which was similarly non lethal most of the time...
 
Typically use whatever shoots most consistently - usually LRN, around 40gr. Lots of Winchester T22, some RWS target. They do the job on grouse/rabbit.

Found the High Velocity rounds usually dont shoot as well at distance, so I save the CCI Stingers for pigs (domestic hogs @ point blank).

'Seen' a few grouse taken with a .177 air pistol. Well under 700fps. Don't recall any flying, but shots were generally within 15yd or so.

I'm sorry you lost the birds, sounds like you are too - I'd be looking to change things up too though if I found myself in your position.

I'm thinking it's a shot placement issue and two in a row is just bad luck. If switching back to a standard velocity round results in more confidence, do so by all means.

Is it possible the impact you heard was the bullet hitting something in your background?
 
Did you try shootin the chickens in the crop?
Should go right through and blow out the back between the wings .
Buddy shot some in Hope one year (head shots) collected them and tossed them in the trunk as it was getting late and by the time the fire was going to Whiskey was flowing and dinner was another Whiskey.
Next morning upon opening the trunk three Spruce grouse flew away.
True story.
Rob
 
Yeah pretty much anything directly to theirs little bird heads does the trick. It’s easy to pass the bullet through their feathers. Maybe you shot it lower in the neck feathers?

Either way best ammo is the most accurate you can find. Also a person has to be very careful about distance and point of impact. Height of the optic will really mess with POI at very short distances.

Realistically the target is the size of a dime. You need a quality rifle, good ammo, and be very dialed in.Human error is huge and it’s super easy to miss.

I remember years ago I made a thread asking about what barrel I should get for my 10/22 in order to increase accuracy. I realized factory Rugers aren’t accurate enough to hunt chickens with. A few people responded with “learn how to shoot better”. Now I know how ridiculous that is.

Don’t feel bad. It’s very easy to botch chicken headshots. I’d almost guarantee you didn’t hit it square. More powerful ammunition or HP will definitely help but accuracy and POI is the main factor.
 
FLHTCUI said:
Did you try shootin the chickens in the crop?
Should go right through and blow out the back between the wings .
Buddy shot some in Hope one year (head shots) collected them and tossed them in the trunk as it was getting late and by the time the fire was going to Whiskey was flowing and dinner was another Whiskey.
Next morning upon opening the trunk three Spruce grouse flew away.
True story.
Rob
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Well I'm glad I'm not the only one at least. Thanks for sharing that.

coleman1495 said:
Don’t feel bad. It’s very easy to botch chicken headshots. I’d almost guarantee you didn’t hit it square. More powerful ammunition or HP will definitely help but accuracy and POI is the main factor.
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I was actually surprised at how well the quiets shot - I put 3 bullets into 1/4" at 50yds shooting prone of my pack when I sighted it in. If I did hit low it should have put it right through the neck, but judging by the sound it hit something with some resistance.
 
i switched to cci stingers and head shots. although stingers are not the most accurate out of the rifle when shooting groups at 50 meters most of my shots while hunting are under 10 meters so accuracy is good enough.
 
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