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Well, all depends on what you hunt with a .22. For example, hunting grouse or ptarmigan with a .22LR or SR rifle, or a .22LR pistol is very common in the interior of Alaska. I use both a kid's rifle and a pistol to hunt grouse, since I can pick an individual or two and leave the rest alone to prosper and provide more grouse in the future.
The kid's rifle allows for me to use .22SR during moose season while keeping the noise down, while the pistol is handier for the rest of the season.
Can you hunt small game, upland birds, and waterfowl with a 22 pistol, or any long arm in 22 caliber? I was contemplating getting a shotgun combo because it will hunt every type of game except fish. But realized, the gun itself is cheap, but reloading is expensive. So now I think, how about an SKS with 762x39, and then just use something 22 for the smaller critters.
If you are wanting small game and birds; a shotgun will do ya better than a .22 IMO.
I love my 410 I got when I was 12, still have it and use it yearly.
But if you are asking if it's possible, yeah; but so is hunting a rabbit with a .557 T-rex!
Can you hunt small game, upland birds, and waterfowl with a 22 pistol, or any long arm in 22 caliber? I was contemplating getting a shotgun combo because it will hunt every type of game except fish. But realized, the gun itself is cheap, but reloading is expensive. So now I think, how about an SKS with 762x39, and then just use something 22 for the smaller critters.
With no intent on being insulting. It appears you have no experience with any firearms at all.
You may want to look into hunting clubs or asking a good local sporting goods store if there is any groups you may join to gain some experience.
With no intent on being insulting. It appears you have no experience with any firearms at all.
You may want to look into hunting clubs or asking a good local sporting goods store if there is any groups you may join to gain some experience.
I would also suggest he find his state's Game and Parks or Department of Natural Resources web pages. In Nebraska for a person to go hunting, they require a hunter's safety course. They may not require it for people over a certain age, but it's still an excellent thing to do. Besides safety, the instructor for the class I took gave a lot of good tips on hunting, and firearm usage.
Maybe a gunsmith can chime in on this but I believe the "power" is already spent once the bullet leaves the case. This is why auto loaders are softer recoiling, the spent gases are used to cycle the action. In other firearms the shooter absorbs the recoil.
In other words I don't belive there is a noticeable difference in velocity.
Well that's close. It is true that an autoloading firearm does use some of the available energy from the burning powder to work the action, so that energy does not go to the bullet. However this is a very small amount of energy. There is more variation between individual gats than this. Only gas operated autos actually kick less, and this is because some energy is used to drive the bolt in the opposite direction from the bullet. A muzzle "brake" can reduce recoil a lot more, because not only the bullet but the spent powder gases go forward out the muzzle and create that "equal and opposite reaction".
A revolver will lose some gas energy to the cylinder gap. So a 6" revolver may or may not shoot harder than a 6" autoloader - without getting into the fact that the revolver's barrel is measured from the front of the cylinder, while the autoloader's includes the chamber.
In general a longer barreled revolver (within common sense limits, say max 8 3/8" bbl length) will give higher velocity with the same ammo than a shorter barrel, but not always. A 4" revolver with a tight barrel and particularly a tight cylinder gap can give higher velocity than a looser 6" wheelgun in the same caliber.
None of this is of much practical significance.
Getting back to the original question - in most places you can hunt small game with a .22 rifle, but as noted know your backstop. A .22 pistol or revolver can work in places where the regs allow, provided you can shoot it that well. You need to prove to yourself that you can hit a smaller target than the vital area of the game you are going after at the ranges you will shoot at. Just hitting "the brown part" of the animal is not good enough, not good enough at all.
Also as noted waterfowl is shotgun only in the US at the federal level. Not to mention that shooting ducks and geese on the ground or on the water with a rifle is not very sporting.
FWIW, the grouse in Alaska are spruce grouse, the grouse that can be hunted in the lower 48, in the East, are ruffed grouse generally. Spruce grouse will stand still for a while and are easy to shoot (which is why their tiny population in northeastern Vermont was decimated early on, too easy). Ruffed grouse easily spook and flush out. I've only had a few of them come in close enough while sitting hunting deer or such to get them with a .22. I doubt you'll get many when they flush out with a .22.
FWIW, the grouse in Alaska are spruce grouse, the grouse that can be hunted in the lower 48, in the East, are ruffed grouse generally. Spruce grouse will stand still for a while and are easy to shoot (which is why their tiny population in northeastern Vermont was decimated early on, too easy). Ruffed grouse easily spook and flush out. I've only had a few of them come in close enough while sitting hunting deer or such to get them with a .22. I doubt you'll get many when they flush out with a .22.
We have several types of grouse in the interior of Alaska. During moose season I usually pick one every now and then (I only kill one or two from a flock of birds), and only ruffed grouse. Don't like the taste of spruce grouse, nor ptarmigan, but some people love it. To me ptarmigan and spruce grouse taste like liver. Caribou is another animal I don't hunt because it tastes too gamy. But again, most people love the taste; I just don't.
I do love the taste of moose and wild Alaska bison.
Under federal law, you actually can't hunt waterfowl with a rifle or a pistol, so a .22 would be a no-go.
From 50 CFR Part 20:
"§ 20.21 What hunting methods are illegal?
Migratory birds on which open seasons are prescribed in this part may be taken by any method except those prohibited in this section. No persons shall take migratory game birds:
(a) With a trap, snare, net, rifle, pistol, swivel gun, shotgun larger than 10 gauge, punt gun, battery gun, machinegun, fish hook, poison, drug, explosive, or stupefying substance;..."
In addition to the federal stuff, most STATE laws have requirements or minimums for cartridges/bullet diameter for hunting. Probably not a good idea to ignore that...
Read and follow all the fish and game laws in your state.
Bravo. Can't believe anything came after that, it is so obvious.
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