Any Alaskan Hunters Use a .22 Magnum Rifle? (Point Hope, Hope: house, live in)

[Rance]

My first rifle was a 22. Got it for my 8th birthday. Bagged 6 snowshoe hares a week later. It was easy. October...no snow...all the rabbits were white. Easy to spot and easy to shoot. Mom cooked them up for dinner. I was proud as can be. I've never eaten rabbit since!

[teach1234]

I don't see the need for lead-free bullets, but in Alaska many of the watercourses have been hunted for millenia. Since the advent of shotguns, this has lead to lead buildup to the point of becoming potentially hazardous (or at least it will eventually become that way). Since almost all these water fowl are grubbing for salmon eggs, they also will likely vacuum up lead pellets. I support steel shot for shotguns, but would have to see serious proof that non-lead bullets can function as safely and humanely as the ones I currently use.

[blueflames50]

Originally Posted by Dusty Rhodes

Hummmmm, just thinking, this year I fed six families (including mine) with my hunting, years ago I bought my wife a Remington 20ga pump shotgun and a Ruger Single Six 22Mag handgun, we practice about every two weeks, my hunting rifles I shoot every month, it is not like riding a bicycle, proficiency demands practice and since the object is a clean kill shot we go through a bit of ammunition. I feel safer knowing that my wife is proficient with the handguns, she even uses my 41. mag from time to time. If an intruder gets past the two german shepherds, they still have a pump 20 ga loaded with #4 Buck and the handguns to out maneuver, and, at 25 yards, she is down right accurate.

yikes...fed six families???!!! hubby and I will be down for a little game please!!! what's two more mouths???!! when ya mov'n to AK...wanna go hunting with you!!

[epthorn]

I've had a .22 Magnum rifle as my only rifle for years, though I wouldn't want to use if for anything bigger than a coyote. For those few people who are down on the round, seeing it as a squirrel-only device... you need to check out what a .22 *magnum* hollow point will do to anything. I was shocked the first time I fired it. The only problem is that it's not as inexpensive as a regular .22 and is loud as hell... not as easy to find someplace to shoot if you live in an area with even rural neighbors.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Whether a given weapon is "right" really depends on your circumstances. If you don't live where moose in the garden or bears in the garbage is common, and you're not specifically trying to hunt these large animals, then a .22 (LR or mag) would probably be fine for most of the smaller critters. But if you have big critters in your immediate area frequently, and you're specifically going out hunting for large game, having something a bit bigger is definitely common sense.

Sure, you can kill just about anything with just about any weapon... but you have to figure the odds of a clean kill and not just pissing off the animal so it ends up killing YOU. I liken this to attempting to butcher a cow with one of those keychain-sized penknifes... sure you can do it, but it certainly isn't efficient or easy.

My .22LR is perfect for the grouse, hares and porcupines; but if a moose or bear shows up I reach for a different weapon! It's all about using the right tool for the job. That's why we have more than one rifle in graduating power and range from close-in "plinker" to long-range "slammer"... plus shotguns and handguns. I'm not good with the big guns, I've accepted this and focus most of my efforts on being proficient with the smaller ones, leaving DH to the larger rifles that he's more comfortable with. It's more important to be good with whatever weapon you can handle comfortably and confidently.

I had this "discussion" with a slightly misled shooter at my gun range... he was convinced that his hand cannon was the better gun and my little 9mm was pretty useless. So I challenged him to a test... I put every single round in the kill zone; he put 1 in the kill zone, 4 in the extremities, and the rest were wild. All-in-all, both targets would be dead, but my accuracy means that even if my first kill shot didn't drop the target then the second shot would... my opponent would have been SOL, especially considering his only kill shot was almost at the end!

Gun control means hitting your target!!

[Dusty Rhodes]

Originally Posted by blueflames50

yikes...fed six families???!!! hubby and I will be down for a little game please!!! what's two more mouths???!! when ya mov'n to AK...wanna go hunting with you!!

Dang,....wasn't as hard as it sounds, N.C. is infested with odocoileous Virginianus (white-tail deer) the insurance companies, tired of paying for repairs for all the cars that hit deer at night, lobbied the daylights out of the state legislature and the limit, 2 deer/day,for every hunter with a legal license, since we can not hunt on Sunday (by N.C. law, all animals are Baptists, and you can not shoot a baptist on sunday) soooooo......six days a week for a couple of months came out to about 86 deer/hunter/season, last year. no one I know came close to shooting that many. I hunted with four other guys, we all got deer, several, what we couldn't eat or store, I gave to a number of Hispanic families who could always put good food to use. They have small children and the extra protein was a welcome part of their diet.

[NorthWord]

Originally Posted by Marty Van Diest

Just about everyone in Alaska outside of Anchortown has guns in their home. I show houses all the time and you would be surprised at the amount of guns in peoples homes.
Sometimes people from out of state are surprised when they see a gun in the corner of the master bedroom. I'm not, its normal.

I was showing my house this week, and totally forgot to put some of the guns away. A wall-mounted 12ga. by the front door, another in the master closet, and my edc handgun on the shelf above the fridge. Not ONE single person, out of 7, even raised an eyebrow.
That's just the way things are here.

As for the .22 Mag, I have no experience with it. There was a local trapper touting the benefits of the 5.7 round on the radio Friday though. Made good sense, a solid performing rifle round, that can also be loaded in a handgun (FN's FiveSeven). Too bad the gun grabbers will probably ban it like the Black Talon.

[blueflames50]

Originally Posted by Dusty Rhodes

Dang,....wasn't as hard as it sounds, N.C. is infested with odocoileous Virginianus (white-tail deer) the insurance companies, tired of paying for repairs for all the cars that hit deer at night, lobbied the daylights out of the state legislature and the limit, 2 deer/day,for every hunter with a legal license, since we can not hunt on Sunday (by N.C. law, all animals are Baptists, and you can not shoot a baptist on sunday) soooooo......six days a week for a couple of months came out to about 86 deer/hunter/season, last year. no one I know came close to shooting that many. I hunted with four other guys, we all got deer, several, what we couldn't eat or store, I gave to a number of Hispanic families who could always put good food to use. They have small children and the extra protein was a welcome part of their diet.

waahoo for you hunters in N.C.! 2 deer a day now that great!! Guess your suppose to just fish on Sundays!!
Rep'd ya and bless ya for being so generous and sharing your good fortune with others!!!

[libertyfirst]

In my home state,The 22 mag. is legal for deer. I'm pretty old and pretty calm when shooting at game so I decided to use the win.40 gr. hp out of my Winchester 61 m on whitetail. All of my shots have been from a tree stand and none have been further than 40 paces. To date I've shot six deer with this combo and five of the six shots have given complete penetration. All shots have been carefully placed in the chest cavity from broadside. None of these deer have gone any distance at all. I'm impressed with this particular cartridge, but wouldn't recommend it for anyone but a patient and careful hunter.

[JMadison]

Originally Posted by arctichomesteader

The .22 is the preferred gun of poachers in Vermont, probably elsewhere too because it's quiet. Usually deer, but moose too...it's all about aim. Though I would never use one myself on big game, I prefer a quick, humane kill...

I've also heard that pelt hunter/poachers use it because it destroys less hide.