.22 LR HV and .22 on varmits/pests ammo failures in general

[sore shoulder]

This past winter I had to dispatch a couple pests on my property, one was a feral cat, the other was a pack rat the size of a cat. On the feral cat I used a scoped bolt .22 and Velociters which use a 40gr HP at 1435 fps. As far as I've been able to find anywhere in decades of shooting .22, that is absolutely the most powerful .22 LR available. If I'm wrong please correct me.

The feral cat was shot from about 20 feet, bullet went in the eye. What really bothered me was how long the cat took to expire, and it wasn't pretty. Even after a second shot from closer to the head.

The pack rat was in my shed and I didn't want to fill it or my things full of holes so I used a Aguila .22 Super Colibri. These are quieter than a pellet rifle but smack a rock pretty hard. I have shot mice inside my basement with them and other things from inside the house out the open front door etc and they seemed up to the task. However once again, a clean head shot with apparently good penetration, 3 times, from about 15 feet, still required finishing with a shovel once removed from the shed.

What I'm wondering is why these shots, in my opinion, failed. One thing I've never liked is suffering. I don't shoot animals for fun or take any joy in it, ever. Wild indigenous animals on my property are unmolested until they break the rules. I don't have one animal rack/trophy. I leave them at the kill. I don't condemn people who do, it's just not me.

I've read instances of people supposedly using the Velociter on coyotes. I am highly skeptical that it would do much but wound it.

I've shot a large dog point blank with 45 acp ball several times, including two head shots that followed several apparently ineffective shots to the chest, before it went down.

I put down a dog with a shot to the eye from 4-5 inches with a 16ga game load and it dropped instantly, thankfully.

I shot a couple porcupines several times with 45acp ball and they took a couple head shots to stop moving.

We talk about CNS shots and animals dropping like a sack, but except a few deer and elk shot with high powered rifles and the one dog with a shotgun, I've had poor results.

There's many, many other instances, but you get the idea.

Is this "normal" and just the way it is, or are there other options to getting quick clean kills? Am I doing it wrong?

I know there's a lot of people here with a lot more experience than I and I'm just looking for options.

[mikld]

As far as the 22 ammo, I'm not a fan of 36 gr. ultra velocity hollow points as I believe the light hollow point doesn't penetrate much. For my vermin ammo I like .22 lr 40 gr. standard velocity that has been run through a Paco Kelly's Acurzr cup point.

Mebbe next time try an autopsy (can't remember what an animal autopsy is called) on those animals difficult to dispatch...

[Blaine]

About the biggest "game" I've shot with a .22 is groundhogs....I didn't shoot too many because they always ran off after a good shot....I did recover a couple, but they needed a couple followup shots...
On the other hand, dozens of squills have been DRT.

[Malamute]

I've had fairly good results with regular high velocity 22 hollow points on various things. They usually kill jack rabbits OK with chest or head shots. I've had decent killing power on body shots with them on marmots. I shot two marmots with 45 Colt swc loads and had them run off. 30-30 works great on them, and turns skunks inside out.

I've had universally so-so to pathetic results on game with 45 auto ball. Underwhelmed is the best term. They work OK on cottontails, but not so great on jacks (had them get up and run off after body hits with 45 auto ball, and RN loads in 45 Colt and 44 spl), and on one coyote I shot with it as a finishing shot.

Remember, eyes on most animals arent a direct route into the brain like they are on people. The brain case is pretty narrow.

I've shot pack rats with 22 CB's and had decent results, but its usually at very close distance and a head or chest shot. I shot one pack rat in somebody elses barn with 9mm ball. it was generic body shots and took 4 hits before it finally fell. In general, round nose or full jacket ammo is a poor performer on live stuff.

If you can find 22 short hollow points, they kill better than other quiet ammo. They are hard to find though.

[Blaine]

Decades ago, some gun magazine had a story of a FamousGunWriter hunting desert jacks with a Benjamin pump-up .22 pellet. This fella deemed the back of the head as the place to aim for.
A few months ago I drilled a problem coon on the back porch with a BB into the head. Good penetration.

[gamekeeper]

One brand I've never had a cripple with is CCI segmented sub sonics, admittedly so far I have only used them on squirrels but I have found them very reliable one shot killers.
Blaine, I once shot a fox in the back of the head with a .177 air rifle it was DRT.

[Malamute]

Yes, EXACTLY where you hit them has a definite bearing on performance on less than ideal rounds/loads. I knew a working cowboy in Az that commented that a 223 kills cattle very well when you hit them in the back of the head. He'd shot and seen shot several that were acting crazy or causing trouble. He said shooting them in the back/side of the head right after they ran by dumped them on the spot, DRT. I think his prefered shot was behind the ear angling into the brain pan.

[jnyork]

I don't think much of the .22LR for hunting or killing animals. I have seen guys shooting prairie dogs with a .22 and they almost always run off down their holes to die a slow death. I had to put down a dog many years ago, six shots to the head and he was still kicking. Never again.

[Merle]

It's not rare for animals to flop around after a brain shot - nerves take a while to quit working.

[Malamute]

I don't think much of the .22LR for hunting or killing animals. I have seen guys shooting prairie dogs with a .22 and they almost always run off down their holes to die a slow death. I had to put down a dog many years ago, six shots to the head and he was still kicking. Never again.

I think the load used makes a big difference. Just saying "used a 22" doesnt convey any load info, do you know the loads used in each instance? Hollow points seem to work fairly well on prairie dogs, I've shot maybe a couple hundred of them with 22's. Solids are miserable on small game unless perfect hits, especially head shots are made.

On larger animals, a solid will probably work far better for head shots. Hollow points lose penetraion quickly over solids. I knew a guy that was shot in the chest when a kid by a 22 hollow point shot from a pistol (kids horsing around being stupid). It went exactly at his heart, but broke up and pieces skidded around the actual heart muscle. They left most of them in place. He said he got weird looks and comments from doctors later on in life when he got xrays.

[Tycer]

IME, cats expire wildly unless they are sick, dying of natural causes, or drugged.

[gundownunder]

Feral cats are a very tough animal. Many years ago I shot one on the Nullarbor Plains, He was the size of one of those big British breeds, probably up near 20 lb. It was a good shot, right between the eyes from 25yds with a Win Powerpoint. At the time the cat was sitting in a crows nest in a tree. At the shot he bolted about 12 ft further up the tree and around to the other side. I thought "what the...", then went round the other side and put one in his chest which knocked him out of the tree. Even when he hit the ground the nerves were still active. When I checked him over I confirmed the brain shot. The whole skull was shattered and the head was all mushy inside the skin. He was killed instantly with the first shot, he just didn't know it.

I've also used the same bullet to put down a German Shepherd dog. I just held his head in my hand and put the bullet in the brain. He dropped in my lap just as he would if a vet had administered the green dream.

It's only a .22 bullet, small, low velocity, low energy. Shot placement will always be critical, but if you do your part it will do what it needs to do.

[BrentD]

I've never had any of the problems you guys seem to have and I've killed countless animals of many species with a .22. I generally prefer subsonic hollow points. Even a near-market sized hog goes down for the count immediately with a head shot from a .22 rf. I've done this many times.

I wonder if some of you are equating post mortem twitching and convulsions with being undead? But there certainly are some strange experiences here, whatever the cause.

[Merle]

I've never had any of the problems you guys seem to have and I've killed countless animals of many species with a .22. I generally prefer subsonic hollow points. Even a near-market sized hog goes down for the count immediately with a head shot from a .22 rf. I've done this many times.

I wonder if some of you are equating post mortem twitching and convulsions with being undead? But there certainly are some strange experiences here, whatever the cause.

That's what I was thinking.....

[EdinCT]

I've shot many feral cats in the barn yard that folks see fit to drop off over the years and while they seem to kick longer than most animals they were DRT. Also hundreds of woodchucks and a half dozen Foxes no problems.
Not to mention 300 lb hogs and 200 or so lambs, two old dogs all DRT. You must hit them right though. I do believe a rear shot works better than a frontal.
I also like the CCI segmented subsonic for woodchucks and cats now. I don't have the funds to donate to the shelter to take drop offs so this is the most human\economical way.
Twice I have seen the 22 LR really come through, once one a large German Shepard was killing a calf, my neighbor shot him in the chest and he made maybe 25 yards and died and once I had a year old lamb get lose and couldn't get it back in the pen. One CCI Velocitor just above the heart and a 30 yard run and down and dead in seconds. That passed through a lamb as big has a yearling deer( the skin isn't has thick though).

[BigSky56]

+1 on what Brent said, I shoot predators and varmints with 22RF's its shot placement. I havent found a hog or steer yet that a RF wont drop and big cats and canines fold right up with a head or H&L shot from a 22 mag. A trapper I know uses the CB long for dispatching wolves and coyotes. danny

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[AJMD429]

With feral cats, raccoons, and dogs, I've found that 'brain' shots into the cranium result in lots of thrashing about, even though the consciousness should be absolutely instantly destroyed. This is probably from spinal reflexes mostly and maybe some cerebellar component. (Like someone said above about thrashing not meaning 'still alive').

Brainstem shots cause instant flaccidity. That's what I've tried to use whenever possible.

I had to euthanize one of our dear canine friends that way - while my wife held the dog's paws - and was so nervous that my effort to spare the 'blood and guts' that I would ordinarily risk in exchange for sure sudden peace (by using a 12 gauge to the skull) might result in the prolonged thrashing that is so disturbing (which was not what my already-tearful wife needed to see at that point), and the brainstem shot with a 22 WMR was just instant. Sad but at least not gruesome.

I might note that neurologically a brainstem shot might leave the animal in a briefly conscious state albeit without enough essential functions to live long. However, if one angles the shot right, I think it can hit brainstem then go into cranium and I doubt any animal would maintain consciousness with that happening.

[J35]

This past winter I had to dispatch a couple pests on my property, one was a feral cat, the other was a pack rat the size of a cat. On the feral cat I used a scoped bolt .22 and Velociters which use a 40gr HP at 1435 fps. As far as I've been able to find anywhere in decades of shooting .22, that is absolutely the most powerful .22 LR available. If I'm wrong please correct me.

The feral cat was shot from about 20 feet, bullet went in the eye. What really bothered me was how long the cat took to expire, and it wasn't pretty. Even after a second shot from closer to the head.

The pack rat was in my shed and I didn't want to fill it or my things full of holes so I used a Aguila .22 Super Colibri. These are quieter than a pellet rifle but smack a rock pretty hard. I have shot mice inside my basement with them and other things from inside the house out the open front door etc and they seemed up to the task. However once again, a clean head shot with apparently good penetration, 3 times, from about 15 feet, still required finishing with a shovel once removed from the shed.

What I'm wondering is why these shots, in my opinion, failed. One thing I've never liked is suffering. I don't shoot animals for fun or take any joy in it, ever. Wild indigenous animals on my property are unmolested until they break the rules. I don't have one animal rack/trophy. I leave them at the kill. I don't condemn people who do, it's just not me.

I've read instances of people supposedly using the Velociter on coyotes. I am highly skeptical that it would do much but wound it.

I've shot a large dog point blank with 45 acp ball several times, including two head shots that followed several apparently ineffective shots to the chest, before it went down.

I put down a dog with a shot to the eye from 4-5 inches with a 16ga game load and it dropped instantly, thankfully.

I shot a couple porcupines several times with 45acp ball and they took a couple head shots to stop moving.

We talk about CNS shots and animals dropping like a sack, but except a few deer and elk shot with high powered rifles and the one dog with a shotgun, I've had poor results.

There's many, many other instances, but you get the idea.

Is this "normal" and just the way it is, or are there other options to getting quick clean kills? Am I doing it wrong?

I know there's a lot of people here with a lot more experience than I and I'm just looking for options.

Shooting downward on a animal with a 22 the eye is a poor choice,chances are high your bullet will track below the brain. Same for a between the eyes shot. Shoot higher into the head and it will be lights out.

-----J

[sore shoulder]

I always told myself the thrashing about was just nerves, but thanks for confirming it.

The cat was actually in a tree hunting J35, and I was about eye level or just below on the hillside. But I see what you're saying.

[horsesoldier03]

I got to keep my glasses on more often. I thought the post was titled .22 LR HV and .22 on varmints/PETS.

[Jaguarundi]

I used to use 22LR for Opossums in the wee hours of the morning. All headshots. Subsonics lacked penetration and Hyper velocitys worked when well placed. But shot placement is critical for DRT on a moving Opossum. I now use 22magnum 33gr Accutip-V with excellent results under 20 yards.

[sore shoulder]

I got to keep my glasses on more often. I thought the post was titled .22 LR HV and .22 on varmints/PETS.

Too bad you caught it before posting. Could have really livened things up.

[Blaine]

I got to keep my glasses on more often. I thought the post was titled .22 LR HV and .22 on varmints/PETS.

Too bad you caught it before posting. Could have really livened things up.

FWiedner could have gives us a treatise on shooting cats.....

[hayabusa]

Like you fellows I have shot all manner of pests. I live out in the country. Have shot possums, coons, rats while plowing the field, feral cats and dogs, snakes, fox, coyote, squirrels, skunks, one bobcat, several full grown cows and probably some pests that I have forgotten. Having said that, until you kill the lowly chicken you have not seen thrashing around by an animal that you know is dead, even if the animal does not let on that it knows that it is dead!
When I was from a child's age up til I was in my forties my mommas favorite way of killing chickens to cook was by wringing their heads off. Some time she would chop the head off while I held the chicken on top of the chop block, but the same results, dead Olympic game class jumping-thrashing-flopping- and yes running. Some of you fellas may not have heard of this method. She takes the chicken by the head in one hand and winds it up like a sling shot as in David & Goliath from the Bible sling shot style.
You know the chicken is dead (you just removed its head) but by watching the chicken, it obviously does not know that it is dead. That sucker will thrash more than any animal you have ever shot. It can jump to heights that you can not imagine! They will usually find (blindly) the side of your house or out building. You have to see to appreciate the amount of blood they put out and how long that they can go before all is quite with the beast! Other animals are novices on how long they thrash compared to the lowly Chicken.

I compare their reactions to that of a deer that you just shot broad side thru the heart/lung area. Shot felt good but the animal ran like you missed, maybe a hundred yards or more. When found & cut open the heart is exploded & the lungs mush/jello, yet they ran like a complete miss. They were dead at moment of the shot but did not know it, only they do not usually thrash like the others.
Moral of story? Most pest were dead but their reactions say otherwise I believe.
I hope that my rambling of my experiences are understandable.

hayabusa
I do not have remorse from the thrashings of dead animals/pests.

[BrentD]

Muscle memory and reflexes are amazing things.

Here is a doe that I shot at 200 yds with a muzzleloader. Broadside with a 475 gr pure lead bullet and 100+ grs of powder, yet it ran a huge arc through a beanfield, into the timber and finally stopped after crashing into a small tree. I think it was much like hayabusa's mom's chickens.

But I do feel remorse when I see things flopping. I don't like it but I do understand it.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jessie/P ... 20hole.jpg

[hayabusa]

Fellers, I forgot to mention armadillos. They are not as bad as a chicken, but they can jump straight up into the air with the best of varmints when shot with a 22. They can run pretty good after being shot also.

hayabusa

[tman]

DRT, One shot stops, stopping power, are creations of advertising agencies, "custom ammo makers" and gun writers selling the latest supermagnum topped with a moon scope, with a lot of junk hanging on a tactical rail. An elk shot with a 243 or a 300 MAG might run as far or drop right there, depending on how well you hit it, and if the particular Elk wanted to die or not. Shoot enough things with enough different guns and you might agree. .22 rimfire has successfully poached 10 train loads of deer, dropped some of the biggest brown bears, dropped countless men, big and small, good and bad. That's just the way it is.

[sore shoulder]

tman, before I was old enough to take hunters safety and be educated that it was illegal to spotlight deer from a logging road, I had witnessed dozens shot with, and shot several myself, with a .22. Wish I still had that Remington single shot bolt action. Of course those coastal black tails are dog sized and this was an accepted way of feeding the family during slow winter months. Very rarely did we have to go far to find one. It seems head shot deer go down nicely, much better than the other critters I've shot with .22. I have never had to trail an elk shot with the .300 mag. The 200gr Sierra game kings have done a good job. In the same vein the .270 always dropped the deer neatly. Maybe I've been fortunate but I have never had to track either one, they always went down close or at where they were shot.

Thanks for all the replies, it has been very helpful with my ethical dilemma and clarifying what is happening, that the animals are merely in reflexive death throws and not suffering.

It's also been interesting to hear people having the same results with 45acp ball and/or dogs. Dogs seem to be one of the toughest animals. I once cleared out a pack of very mean feral dogs we had around here after a few of them chased my then 10 year old daughter up on the porch. A 223 at 200-300 yrds put them down better than the 45acp at point blank range.

[tman]

tman, before I was old enough to take hunters safety and be educated that it was illegal to spotlight deer from a logging road, I had witnessed dozens shot with, and shot several myself, with a .22. Wish I still had that Remington single shot bolt action. Of course those coastal black tails are dog sized and this was an accepted way of feeding the family during slow winter months. Very rarely did we have to go far to find one. It seems head shot deer go down nicely, much better than the other critters I've shot with .22. I have never had to trail an elk shot with the .300 mag. The 200gr Sierra game kings have done a good job. In the same vein the .270 always dropped the deer neatly. Maybe I've been fortunate but I have never had to track either one, they always went down close or at where they were shot.

Thanks for all the replies, it has been very helpful with my ethical dilemma and clarifying what is happening, that the animals are merely in reflexive death throws and not suffering.

It's also been interesting to hear people having the same results with 45acp ball and/or dogs. Dogs seem to be one of the toughest animals. I once cleared out a pack of very mean feral dogs we had around here after a few of them chased my then 10 year old daughter up on the porch. A 223 at 200-300 yrds put them down better than the 45acp at point blank range.

Like you, I don't want see anything suffer, but when you take a life, there is no guaranteed outcome, even if you don't witness the suffering, doesn't mean that it is not there. I haven't had the luck you have with one shot ,DRT stops on everything that I ever shot. But ,it is what I strive for.

[horsesoldier03]

Fellers, I forgot to mention armadillos. They are not as bad as a chicken, but they can jump straight up into the air with the best of varmints when shot with a 22. They can run pretty good after being shot also.

hayabusa

Armadillos are too much fun to catch. When you see one, run at it fast as you can and then start kicking it and get it rolling on the ground. Keep it rolling until it is dizzy and then you can capture it. WATCH OUT FOR CLAWS!

[J35]

Like you fellows I have shot all manner of pests. I live out in the country. Have shot possums, coons, rats while plowing the field, feral cats and dogs, snakes, fox, coyote, squirrels, skunks, one bobcat, several full grown cows and probably some pests that I have forgotten. Having said that, until you kill the lowly chicken you have not seen thrashing around by an animal that you know is dead, even if the animal does not let on that it knows that it is dead!
When I was from a child's age up til I was in my forties my mommas favorite way of killing chickens to cook was by wringing their heads off. Some time she would chop the head off while I held the chicken on top of the chop block, but the same results, dead Olympic game class jumping-thrashing-flopping- and yes running. Some of you fellas may not have heard of this method. She takes the chicken by the head in one hand and winds it up like a sling shot as in David & Goliath from the Bible sling shot style.
You know the chicken is dead (you just removed its head) but by watching the chicken, it obviously does not know that it is dead. That sucker will thrash more than any animal you have ever shot. It can jump to heights that you can not imagine! They will usually find (blindly) the side of your house or out building. You have to see to appreciate the amount of blood they put out and how long that they can go before all is quite with the beast! Other animals are novices on how long they thrash compared to the lowly Chicken.

I compare their reactions to that of a deer that you just shot broad side thru the heart/lung area. Shot felt good but the animal ran like you missed, maybe a hundred yards or more. When found & cut open the heart is exploded & the lungs mush/jello, yet they ran like a complete miss. They were dead at moment of the shot but did not know it, only they do not usually thrash like the others.
Moral of story? Most pest were dead but their reactions say otherwise I believe.
I hope that my rambling of my experiences are understandable.

hayabusa
I do not have remorse from the thrashings of dead animals/pests.

Your flopping chickens reminded me of something.

You ever hear of Coati Mundi? There are quite a few in S AZ.

My first experience with them was in the 9th grade. A couple friends and myself were hunting cottontails, one friend let his German Shepard tag along, and several Coati's attacked the dog and all but killed it before we drove them off.

In 1980 I was checking my trapline I had pulled to a stop under a couple of Sycamore tree's at the old ghost town of Helvitia--- ( The movie Young guns II where the guy shoots the picture in the newspaper of Pat Garret that was filmed at Helvitia) I was eating my lunch when it started raining Coati's out of the Sycamore tree's and onto my truck maybe 25 or 30 of them they would hit my truck and jump to the ground, they ran across the wash to the mouth of a small canyon, well I decided I was going to shoot a couple with my 22 pistol so I step out and shoot one and they all take off up the canyon so I follow and I find them in a big mumbo jumbo of boulders and shoot another one and as I was taking aim at another one I notice they are all talking to each other and not in flight mode any longer so I flash back to that German Shepard and decide to leave them alone and backed on out of there.

Over the next 10 years or so I trapped quite a few by accident, there fur was worthless so ended up releasing most of them, I had several friends that were into black powder and said they wanted one to make a fur cap so i killed five or six for those fellow's, head shot everyone and guess what everyone flopped just like a chicken for 20 to 30 seconds they are the only mammal I have ever seen do that.

One more Coati story, A good friend had just rebuilt his old Bronco and wanted to take it for a test drive so I said we should take a cruise over Bull springs to Patagonia so we did.

I had a Mod 27 along and about half way we see this lone Coati and my friend says I would like to have him so I said stop and jumped out and sat down with my back against the rear tire and by this time the Coati was making tracks pretty fast finally i shoot and the Coati goes down my friend says you hit it and I say that was the plan, he stepped it off it was 90 some steps. It was a lucky shot but I never told him that. We fought roosters as partner's all over AZ NM and the Mexican side of Nogales and Aqua Prietta, and whether it was around a camp fire or a bar he would bring this story up and embarrass me.

The Mexicans call these loners Soltaro's, they are old Males that get kicked out of the troop every one I have ever shot was all scarred and scabbed up from fighting.

-----J

[765x53]

An eye or between the eye shot is for two legged varmints. On most smaller animals it misses the brain entirely.
Most animals can be put down instantly by placing the bullet midway between the eye and the ear opening.

[hayabusa]

An eye or between the eye shot is for two legged varmints. On most smaller animals it misses the brain entirely.
Most animals can be put down instantly by placing the bullet midway between the eye and the ear opening.

That is where I have tried to shoot animals when armed with my S & W mod 17 8 3/8 inch barrel. works when I am lucky enough to connect.

Also one of my friends & myself ran an armadillo down in our village one time, like you say the can take some running. This was by an auto garage, back and forth end to end. All of us got tired.
Have also popped armadillos in the head with a baseball bat a few times as they were standing still by the house trying to figure if it was safe to move. I shot one once broadside at about 25 yards one afternoon with S & W 500 magnum. he just rolled over. Hide was cracked on both sides end to end like a pane of glass. He did not kick! This was soon after the 500 came out. The first or second one sold in Bossier City, LA.

busa

busa

[vancelw]

I wonder if some of you are equating post mortem twitching and convulsions with being undead? But there certainly are some strange experiences here, whatever the cause.

Hornady has been making z-max bullets for zombies....Are you telling me that V-max were originally for vampire cats?

[MrMurphy]

One of my now dead uncles lived in Hawaii. He was on Oahu, up in Waianai (spelling?) where there were cane fields. Cane fields=mice. Mice=cats. Lots of feral cats.

The locals shot the cats on sight, since there were literally hundreds.

Uncle kept a Benjamin .177 pump air rifle on the back porch with irons just for this.

One day barbecuing he sees a feral cat. Distance, 25-30m (it's been 20 years, but best estimate). He sits down at the picnic table and shoots the cat. Cat doesn't twitch. Since uncle has an excellent, well deserved rep as one hell of a shot, we harassed him about missing.

He fires again. Cat falls over. On inspection, the first pellet hit it in the eye and killed it stone dead, never even twitched. The second knocked it over.

Considering Uncle had by that point, had 8 Coors Lights and was shooting with (crappy non adjustable) irons and a pellet rifle..... not bad shooting.


I had a skunk that was nearly bulletproof. At close range, with visible impacts to the vital regions, it soaked up at least 10 of 14 .22 LRs from a S&W 22A, then two 230 grain .45 ACP Hydra-Shoks and a .30-06 Core-Lokt before expiring.

We'd have left it alone, but it decided to turn and present it's main armarment so we let it have it first.

[sore shoulder]

And people wonder why some of us think a .50 BMG is the minimum for Alaska.

[Hobie]

These two loads have never failed to kill squirrels when put through the chest OR head.

The penny is for scale. 5 shots each of Aguila Colibri and CCI Quiet 22 solids (not the segmented bullet) at 27 feet from standing using a Winchester Model 47 with the issue open sights and with light on the target and behind the shooter. There is one pulled shot but the gun is backyard squirrel-head capable with either load.

I mostly shoot the Colibri and this has deposited some crud at the front of the chamber. It is highly advisable to clean the chamber before shooting ammo with a "regular" bullet in it. For those who might not know, the Colibri bullet looks more like an airgun pellet and it is commensurately short compared to the standard 40-grain RN of the Quiet22. I have never shot the segmented Quiet22.



For standard .22 LR I prefer the Winchester PowerPoint followed by anything with a SGB point or run through Paco's tool. NOT a fan of the Stingers and such but my son-in-law is and that is all he uses with satisfaction. Grandpa used to use whatever was cheapest at the hardware store, Winchester or Remington, on rabbits, squirrels, groundhogs and blackbirds. The .22 LR was behind the kitchen door loaded all the time. All the other guns, both of them, only came out for deer season. The key is location, location, location. Know the anatomy and put the bullet on the switch.

[flatnose]

Use a shotgun for any cat.
Research was carried out in the UK during the 70's using headshot cats to simulate injuries to british soldiers that had been shot in the skull. Cats that were headshot, for the most part, did not die. Depending on the entrance angle, the bullet would travel around the inside of the skull, destroying some of the brain, but not causing death. Very similar to the trauma in the human skull and brain.