Rimfire in South Carolina 22 WMR

Small game hunters may possess or use shotguns with shot no larger than No. 2 or .22 or smaller rimfire rifles/handguns or primitive muzzle-loading rifles/muskets of .40 caliber or smaller. Small game hunters may not possess or use buckshot, slugs or shot larger than No. 2. Blow guns, dart guns, drugged arrows or arrows with exploding tips are not permitted. Small game hunters using archery equipment must use small game tips on the arrows (judo points, bludgeon points, etc.).

SC required the use of small game weapons to hunt hogs except during deer season on WMA's. I don't have a 40 cal muzzleloader, and I think that would be the best option. Second best I think would be a 22 WMR with a fast twist barrel and some heavy cast boolits. Hence, I'm here asking for advice. I've done a little reloading not a lot. It's time consuming and I have other hobbies. I can do it if I have to, but the easier the better. I have seen a guy on youtube pulling bullets from 22 WMR and seating with a different bullet and crimping. Seems to be having good result. I will post it here if any one is interested.

I know handloading 22 WMR for a custom twist gun is over the top complicated, but it don't get why. All the 22 WMR ammo I see is lightweight hollowpoints. Which makes sense, great for squirrels and snakes, what most people use them for, but it would be awesome if someone offered an option with better penetration. Buffalo bore sells 25ACP ammo, I can't imagine 22 WMR would be that much different.

Thanks for your time.

CCI makes a 50 grain soft point, and I think a 40 gr FMJ. I think one of them is called SGB (small game bullet).

Shoot them in the neck-spine or brain on broadside shots. But even a 22lr would work fine for that. The 22LR SGB from CCI is a flat nose and it penetrates well. The Interceptors are more powerful, have harder lead, and also have a flat nose.

Check out youtube - there are lots of videos of people hunting hogs with 22 LR and 22 Mag. There are a few I have seen where they shoot them in the lungs with 22lr and recover them within 100 yards.

The 22 Mag would have the advantage of the hard jacket so you could break some bones, but the 22lr Aguila Interceptor 40 gr has harder lead than usual and a flat nose and it is super deadly. It smokes coyotes at 100 yards - busts both shoulders and passes through.

The Interceptor also is available in HP and it is way better than the Mini-Mags in penetration. Mini-Mags expand to 36 caliber and barely penetrate 11" of jelly while the Interceptor HP (with its harder lead and smaller HP cavity) only expands to 30-31 caliber and penetrates 14". The Interceptor solid can penetrate up to 30" jelly, but more often penetrates around 20" with slight yawing. 40 gr round nose are softer lead and they consistently tumble, which makes them only penetrate about 14", same as the Interceptor HP. A rsoft round nose is more likely to glance off of a round bone than the harder flat nose which will bite into the bone and penetrate.

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Originally Posted by mnewcomb59

CCI makes a 50 grain soft point, and I think a 40 gr FMJ. I think one of them is called SGB (small game bullet).

Shoot them in the neck-spine or brain on broadside shots. But even a 22lr would work fine for that. The 22LR SGB from CCI is a flat nose and it penetrates well. The Interceptors are more powerful, have harder lead, and also have a flat nose.

Check out youtube - there are lots of videos of people hunting hogs with 22 LR and 22 Mag. There are a few I have seen where they shoot them in the lungs with 22lr and recover them within 100 yards.

The 22 Mag would have the advantage of the hard jacket so you could break some bones, but the 22lr Aguila Interceptor 40 gr has harder lead than usual and a flat nose and it is super deadly. It smokes coyotes at 100 yards - busts both shoulders and passes through.

The Interceptor also is available in HP and it is way better than the Mini-Mags in penetration. Mini-Mags expand to 36 caliber and barely penetrate 11" of jelly while the Interceptor HP (with its harder lead and smaller HP cavity) only expands to 30-31 caliber and penetrates 14". The Interceptor solid can penetrate up to 30" jelly, but more often penetrates around 20" with slight yawing. 40 gr round nose are softer lead and they consistently tumble, which makes them only penetrate about 14", same as the Interceptor HP. A rsoft round nose is more likely to glance off of a round bone than the harder flat nose which will bite into the bone and penetrate.

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I think I like the look of the CCI 40g FMJ Maxi Mag for 22 WMR the
https://miwallcorp.com/cci-ammunitio...ds-brass-case/

For 22lr I think these look cool. Expensive, but not like I would be using many of them.
https://www.ariaballisticengineering...long-rifle-elr

I think 55gr in the 22 WMR would be better than 40gr. It would also slow the speed down to 1600 maybe less? Which would help with penetration, I think.
https://www.rcbs.com/bullet-casting/...06/355261.html

It’s expensive, but number two tungsten shot (18 gram per cc) is another option. The consensus is it performs like shot 4-5 sizes larger, so it won’t be quite to #4 buckshot effective, but there will be way more pellets than a lead buckshot load.

Are there .357-358 sabots for the 40 caliber muzzleloader? A 35 Remington boolet wouldn’t leave anything on the table.

If you do pull and load 22 magnum, I’d look into the 40 or 45 grain Barnes triple shock.

Test everything on wet pack or plastic water jugs.

On the farm I use 40 grain 22LR for dispatching domestic hogs. I usually go for a straight on brain shot. Make an X between the eyes and ears. That’s where the bullet goes. A raking shot on a big hog WILL graze off instead of penetrate the skull. Do not shoot between the eyes. It’s sinus cavity there, not the brain.
An ear hole shot is effective but domestic hogs don’t like to present broadside shots. And there is likely another hog behind or beside the one destined to the dinner table.
Sometimes an Interceptor will exit the throat on a 50lb or smaller pig. They are the stoutest 22 in my opinion!

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Originally Posted by Barry54

It’s expensive, but number two tungsten shot (18 gram per cc) is another option. The consensus is it performs like shot 4-5 sizes larger, so it won’t be quite to #4 buckshot effective, but there will be way more pellets than a lead buckshot load.

Are there .357-358 sabots for the 40 caliber muzzleloader? A 35 Remington boolet wouldn’t leave anything on the table.

If you do pull and load 22 magnum, I’d look into the 40 or 45 grain Barnes triple shock.

Test everything on wet pack or plastic water jugs.

On the farm I use 40 grain 22LR for dispatching domestic hogs. I usually go for a brain shot. Make an X between the eyes and ears. That’s where the bullet goes. A raking shot on a big hog WILL graze off instead of penetrate the skull. Do not shoot between the eyes. It’s sinus cavity there, not the brain.
An ear hole shot is effective but domestic hogs don’t like to present broadside shots. And there is likely another hog behind or beside the one destined to the dinner table.
Sometimes an Interceptor will exit the throat on a 50lb or smaller pig. They are the stoutest 22 in my opinion!

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I don't think I would be comfortable with #2 tungsten on a pig. Dead coyote in "T" shot would be my minimum. But that's not legal.

Knight Peregrine 40cal is supposedly capable of 3000ft/s with a better-than-average BC pill.

Which begs the question, what is the purpose of the law? Is it to make small game hunting safer by limiting the distance a bullet can travel? Or is it trying to prevent "honest" guys from poaching deer out of season? Because the Knight Peregrine can kill someone from 5 miles away and reliably drop any SC buck within 400 yards.

IF you can pick your shots 22mag 40 grain solids will kill any game(under 1000 lbs) on this earth.Again If you can be surgical in your shots, CNS shots only. Other wise use a big gun, and still pick your shots.

My favorite 22wmr ammo is Hornady 30 grain vmax 2200 fps loads. It's destructive!!! I would think on hogs the cci bulk fmj 40 grain 125 count milk jug Caron ammo or 50 grain soft point ammo. The 30 grain vmax blows up pretty easy so on big hogs I would guess shallow pentration. I watched some guys on YouTube kill small hogs with brain shots using a 1650 fps 177 cal air rifle and PBA platinum pellets. Wonder how Many got shot and wandered off before the ones they videoed that fell at the shot.

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Originally Posted by Earl54

IF you can pick your shots 22mag 40 grain solids will kill any game(under 1000 lbs) on this earth.Again If you can be surgical in your shots, CNS shots only. Other wise use a big gun, and still pick your shots.

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Yeah that's what I was thinking.

I think it would be cool if someone started producing a 22 WSM. If it was a fast twist it could stabilize heavier bullets. Call it the 22 Blackout. 70-90gr at 1000-1400 would be perfect for hogs and suppressed would be even better.

On public lands, a surprising number are killed here (SC) with shotgun and turkey loads. Generally close range work of course.
Note: the regulations posted are for WMA game management lands (public). Most of the pig blasting seems to be done on private lands, often at night. Wider options on methods on private vs public.

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Originally Posted by Bluefink4895

On public lands, a surprising number are killed here (SC) with shotgun and turkey loads. Generally close range work of course.
Note: the regulations posted are for WMA game management lands (public). Most of the pig blasting seems to be done on private lands, often at night. Wider options on methods on private vs public.

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I wouldn't want to use turkey loads on a hog personally.

I would love to hunt private, but right now all I have access to is public.

We've killed a train load of stuff with the CCI 40gr JHP. Perfectly capable for everything from a squirrel to a feral pig just make sure you place the bullet properly.

CCI makes a 40 gr gamepoint that works well on hogs in 22wmr.

Eureka!

BPI sells unslit wads. They say the wad must be sufficiently slit by the hand loader, or the shot won’t release, acting like a slug...

If law enforcement cut open your ammunition, it would be loaded with a legal size, complying with the law.

The question becomes, can you get it to consistently act like a slug?

What about some watered down Elmers school glue mixed in with shot buffer?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaser_Safety_Slug

Food for thought...

Pushing the limits, load the wad backwards. Put #2 shot in the shot cup. Put light nitro cards in the wad opening, creating a pseudo badminton birdie.

why do they consider feral hogs as small game?
And confusion seems to be the way reg's are designed
I have read it 2-3 times and still can't figure it out

FWIW Federal makes a 50gr HP 22WMR load that is known in MI as "the deer poacher's load". Good penetration, I guess. Michigan whitetails aren't small ones. No hogs to speak of here. At least not yet. (Thank God!) So no experience on those.

John

While shooting small bore silhouette for 45 years, I did a fair amount of testing with ammo of all makes and configurations for accuracy, penetration and terminal energy on targets at 100 yards. Did include some hand loaded .224 bullets turned down to .222 and .223. These comparative tests did not include any rimfire magnum rounds.

However I did run seperate tests on the magnum rounds alone, using cow skulls at a later date. Those 22 Rimfire Magnum tests demonstrated how ineffective the HP magnum rounds are. They just blew up on dried cow skull or cow horn, with little to no penetration. A leg bone was a joke, like shooting a piece of rail road track. The general Rimfire Magnum 40 gr HP bullets are not designed for any real penetration. I have shot rabbits with a 22 Mag and they blow half the rabbit into little pieces, way too explosive. Shot a cow skull, with a HP, it just blew up on the surface.

Anything but a solid 22 for hogs is a waste of time as there is too much loss of mass in the HP configuration. The flat point is very near as bad, as the BC is adversely effected by the flat nose, plus the bullet becomes unstable at the change from super sonic to sub sonic in the trajectory curve. So is effective only at short range.

The big suprise was the Aguila SSS 22 LR round, which is very effective, but only with a 1-9 twist barrel. The SSS Subsonic Super Sniper uses a 60 grain solid RN bullet in Eley brass with Eley powder and is rated to penetrate (according to company data) 18" in pine boards. During my control testing with a custom built 10" single shot handgun, with a 1-10 twist barrel, the SSS took 10x10 Field Pistol aka Hunter Pistol, steel rams off the rail at 100 yards with hits at any point on the ram, by intentional selection, off a bench. These rams weigh 7 pounds each and are 1/3 the size of a big bore ram. The SSS is surprisingly accurate in a fast twist custom gun. Making it possible to use that 22 LR 60 grain ammo in a sanctioned mid bore match.
If I had to use 22 Rimfire for hogs, I would be looking at a decent action with a rebarrel to at least a 1-9 twist and a 50-60 grain bullet. The standard twist in a 22 RF barrel is 1-16 and is a .222 barrel. Shaw did or does make a 9 twist barrel for a 10/22 by the way, but Ruger stopped making the 10/22 magnum rifles with the heavy bolts and heavy springs. If you did buy one of the steel 10/22 custom actions, which several companies do make, and the standard 10/22 parts, you could build yourself a serious 22 RF hog rifle.Just a consideration, if you build yourself, as there are 1001 parts for the 10/22 on the market.

I have seen, examined and shot the US Olympic team, custom built, Running Boar 10/22 rifles with their double reticle and double adjustment knobs scope by Leupold and Precision Reticle, and the rifles are no joke.

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Originally Posted by white eagle

why do they consider feral hogs as small game?
And confusion seems to be the way reg's are designed
I have read it 2-3 times and still can't figure it out

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My guess is they don’t want people out there with “big game” capable equipment outside of deer season. Logic and reasoning aren’t important. These are lawmakers we are talking about...

I would buy a 40 cal muzzle loader and not try making a 22 do a job that it was never intended to do. Muzzle loaders tend to be cheap too. People always talk about how a too small cartridge will do the job with proper bullet placement. That holds true up to a point but gets impractical beyond that. Game animals aren't livestock, and they tend to constantly be on the move. I want some safety factor for shooting game.

Alabama has a similar rule for hogs in WMAs, during small game season. Most people around here who take advantage of that season, use 40 grain FMJ in .22 WMR.
For a couple of years the WMAs allowed centerfire handguns for small game season. But they decided that was giving up too much power and control, so they went back to no CF even in handguns.

Yet, they're always talking about the "problem" of feral hogs and their preferred solution of spreading warfarin through the forests to poison them.