Any Alaskan Hunters Use a .22 Magnum Rifle? (Anchorage: live, fence)

[spleenificus]

Just another thought.
One of the really big draws to the .22 mag is the economical nature of the round matched with its capacity to take a variety of game.
I enjoy plinking with standard .22lr and will shoot a few hundred rounds in a single sitting.
The locals here who practice subsistence living do not do this, only firing as many rounds as needed to sight their rifle, usually 2-3.
When you rely upon hunting for a main part of your food and do not have much cash coming in, every penny counts.
The .22 mag is much cheaper than conventional rifle cartridges, even .223, while having the capacity to bring in game available here in the bush.
Likely a prime reason for its use.

There, now I have definitely convinced myself to get one.
(Next time I am in Chefornak I'll have to pick one up.)

[The Grill God]

All guns are good guns. Just match them to what you are hunting for. Plain and simple. Everybody of course has their ideas of perfect rounds, best caliber. The best one is the one you can shoot. It's alright to have a .50 BMG, but if you can't afford to shoot it then it's not much use. The .22 Mag, though I didn't like it myself when I have is a great round and a lot of people love it. It is economical and great for shooting small to large small game as long as you know your limits with it. Bring it up we'll go shooting.

[RayinAK]

I sometimes carry a S&W .22-caliber pistol that has a Red Dot sight, while moose hunting. I use it to kill a grouse or two every now and then. But during moose season I don't really like to shoot the pistol and make noise anymore, so now I carry on my ATV a .22-caliber single-shot Rossi kid's rifle. This thing is very small, and it can be taken apart and stored in a small carry bag within a few seconds. I load .22 Short ammo, and shoot grouse with it occasionally. I mounted a Red Dot sight on it and sighted it for about 20 yards.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by GSherman

How would you hunters like the feel the pain of being killed for fun??? Your time will come.

When you chump on a Big Mac, you didn't shoot the cow it came from. Right? Keep in mind that your time will come too. We all die sooner or later, sometimes painfully, and not.

At least in my case, while I enjoy hunting, it's not the killing that brings pleasure, but the company of friends, camping, talking by the fire at night under the stars and Northern Lights. I mostly eat what I kill, and this includes lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage, and moose. But I not always eat what I kill. For example, the spruce I cut, the grass clippings from the lawn, willow branches, nor cotton wood. So, I do kill trees, and then burn it to stay warm.

[spleenificus]

GSherman,

Look up the term "subsistence".
I am certain that fun does not factor into it.

[TITAN 777]

Not funny.........we encroach upon the animal's land that they are used to getting their food from and then we wonderful humans kill those animals because they are trying to eat to stay alive........how pathetic.....that bear story sucked.....yeah let's all look at the dead animal that lost it's life because ????????...oh yeah it was hungry.......

[mal_flisk]

This is a forum on guns and hunting, not a forum for those who those who can't comprehend subsistance and won't concede that people have to eat to live and that in Alaska, we can't grow the crops that you can Outside. Living animals feed us everywhere in the world. From Florida to Connecticutt to Africa and Asia. Why do you single out Alaska and Alaskans?

You people eat chicken and fish and plants if you don't eat pork and fish. And if you do, then those animals also died to feed you. Hypocritical stances on hunting whilst partaking of animal flesh from domesticated farm animals are the same as protesting a nuclear power plant while living on the grid. And telling us how we should live is another form of repression. The same as censorship. The same as a born-again Christian telling Catholics or Jews or Muslims that we all wrong about our beliefs. It shows a mind that is closed to other ideas, without a willingness to listen. The kill is not the point of the hunt. It is the food on the table and in the freezer. It is a fact that the law does not allow us to indiscriminately kill animals on a hunt. And that the meat of the animal must be harvested for consumption. Those are laws. Not up for interpretation.

I would much rather have meat taken in a hunt that is natural with no preservatives and additives. No hormones. It is why wild salmon is better than farmed. It is what we as a people in Alaska firmly believe in. Even those of us who don't hunt believe in this and in the rights of hunters as delineated by the state.

[fletchman1957]

Well said mal_flisk

[BtwThePipes]

Originally Posted by fairbanks101

ughh in that movie about the kid in the bus, he killed a moose with a .22

What'd he do, cram it down its throat and choke it to death with it?

[Marty Van Diest]

The 22 magnum has its place...right between the 22 lr and the 223. I suppose that you could squeeze a few more in there as well if you really wanted to.

I don't use one myself because most small game can be taken with a 22 and I do have a 223 although its probably a little large for coyote, lynx and fox. Thats where a 22 mag would be good. I had a 22 mag cylinder for my single six but I hardly ever used it and now I can't find it.