.22 Hornet for –?
Question:
> This leads me to vocalize a belief that’s been percolating > through my brain (a slow process, BTW) in regard to the > killing power of firearms: somewhere around 75% of a > bullet’s performance depends on the confidence of the > shooter. If the nimrod believes he’s got a Kevorkian > Death Ray in his hands, the bullet’s effectiveness correlates > to the strength of the shooter’s faith.
Its an interesting thought, but having observed the process, I have a different conclusion. Ya see, my father is one of those people. If you listen to his stories, you hear about how effective his .25-20 Winchester is, and how he doesn’t get much advantage out of his .30-’06, though it to is the embodyment of the reaper’s scythe. But … I was there when the deer and bear, etc, got killed. Most of those .25-20′ed deer had 3-4 holes in ‘em and were flopping madly when they got their throats cut. The bear was a damned lucky fluke. When you consider that his ‘06 wouldn’t hold a 3" group after he bent the barrel, that the scope mount was shimmed with paper shims which were decomposing, and the $30 3-9X variable shifted point of aim about 6" as you adjust the power from 3X to 9X … and didn’t return precisely to its original POI when the setting was returned to 3X … the ‘06 doesn’t perform much better than the .25-20. At least with the .25-20 he has sense enough to get close. Then compare that to his other rifle, a Winchester 95 in .30-40 Krag, a surplus Mexican army rifle which was shot out completely when he bought it used. He’s using 180 grain bullets and a mild load of a slow powder. The bullets don’t expand reliably! So, what I see as "death ray" performance by the toy guns amounts to a combination of selective memory and an uneven scale by which the comparison is made … and possibly a tendency to throw out data which doesn’t agree with the conclusion that is desired. So … wasn’t meaning to pick on you … you just sorta left the door open for one of my favorite speaches. :-) There’s nothing wrong with dad’s cartridge choices: I don’t like the ‘06, but it can do a workable job if the rifle is maintained properly, fed good ammo, and if the shooter practices. The .30-40 Krag, same thing … but because of it’s low velocity potential, bullet selection is critical … and having a barrel that retains even a little rifling would be a good thing. The .25-20 can even be used for deer … assuming proper ammo, if you’re willing to pass up some shots. What there is wrong is his judgement, clarity of thought, and … honesty of reporting what happened, and selectivity of memory over time. Oh, yeah … dead missionaries, who’s .250 savage failed to kill the tiger, didn’t get to write their version of events. :-) Tom Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
snip >This leads me to vocalize a belief that’s been percolating >through my brain (a slow process, BTW) in regard to the >killing power of firearms: somewhere around 75% of a >bullet’s performance depends on the confidence of the >shooter. If the nimrod believes he’s got a Kevorkian >Death Ray in his hands, the bullet’s effectiveness correlates >to the strength of the shooter’s faith.
Got to agree completely with this. My Grandfather had a .22 short that he used as the standard around the farm gun. For big stuff like killing cattle he went and got the BIG .22 long of my great-grandfather. When I would show up with a .22 Long Rifle, well THAT was way more powerful than necessary for day to day tasks. I won’t even mention his comments about my .222. Suffice it to say, he considered a .22 the complete package for putting down anything, and if he was a deer hunter he probably wouldn,t have thought twice about using a .22 (then again he was a real stickler for shot placement, and wouldn’t waste a bullet on a hog because you couldn’t make good head cheese then). In agreement with Tom Rutledge, those who shot small calibers on dangerous game and failed weren’t left around to contribute to the gene pool or the literary pool. Curtis A. Meurer Lancaster, KY "No man can be a good citizen who is not a good husband and a good father, who is not honest in his dealings with other men and women,…" —Theodore Roosevelt, an former president or something, 1883 "640K ought to be enough for anybody." — Bill Gates, 1981 Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
Expertly used, a sharp stick is also a deadly weapon. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
I got to thinking the other day that I have yet to blood my parents’ .22 Hornet. They used it for prairie dogs, and I don’t know whether for anything else. There are no prairie dogs in Virginia, so far as I know. There is a place I may be able to use it on woodchucks. What else? How big a varmint will it handle reliably? RR Neuswanger, PhD, NRA-E Fight spam, the cholesterol rrne (at) loc.gov of the Internet:see http://spam.abuse.net I speak for me. Only. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
> I got to thinking the other day that I have yet to blood my > parents’ .22 Hornet. They used it for prairie dogs, and I > don’t know whether for anything else. > There are no prairie dogs in Virginia, so far as I know. > There is a place I may be able to use it on woodchucks. What > else? How big a varmint will it handle reliably?
Get up close and it’ll thump a coyote. I haven’t done it, but heck, .22 mag works. Hornet must work, too. (Right?) Requires bullet placement other than "in the big" like you can do with little rodent-type varmints. Same for fox. Crows. Edible little critters, if you use a high velocity type bullet that doesn’t expand at hornet velocity. Tom Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
The .22 hornet will reliably kill coyotes out to 150 yds, and chucks, etc., out to 200. Jim Nelson > I got to thinking the other day that I have yet to blood my > parents’ .22 Hornet. They used it for prairie dogs, and I > don’t know whether for anything else. > There are no prairie dogs in Virginia, so far as I know. > There is a place I may be able to use it on woodchucks. What > else? How big a varmint will it handle reliably? > RR Neuswanger, PhD, NRA-E Fight spam, the cholesterol > rrne (at) loc.gov of the Internet:see > http://spam.abuse.net > I speak for me. Only.
Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
> I got to thinking the other day that I have yet to blood my > parents’ .22 Hornet. They used it for prairie dogs, and I > don’t know whether for anything else. > There are no prairie dogs in Virginia, so far as I know. > There is a place I may be able to use it on woodchucks. What > else? How big a varmint will it handle reliably?
Well, the Inuit (Eskimos for the non-PC) commonly used it to kill just about everything they could get the sights on– deer, caribou, polar bears, musk ox–so possibly any varmint you come across could be handled by the Hornet. This leads me to vocalize a belief that’s been percolating through my brain (a slow process, BTW) in regard to the killing power of firearms: somewhere around 75% of a bullet’s performance depends on the confidence of the shooter. If the nimrod believes he’s got a Kevorkian Death Ray in his hands, the bullet’s effectiveness correlates to the strength of the shooter’s faith. It’s the Halo Effect at work– a statistically significant phenomenon well known to researchers. For evidence, peruse the reports of hunters early in this century who were using such rounds as the .22 Hi-power and the .250-3000 Savage to knock over lions and tigers and bears. It’s a curious fact that many who used these cartridges overseas were none other than missionaries–men of presumably more than average faith. The astounding track record of what we consider underpowered rounds in the hands of these men is a manifestation of the power of faith. You don’t need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
Response:
Not bad for crows either if you have a suitable backstop. If you are near the shore seagulls may be candidates. Woodchucks as you said are ideal. If you are near the swamps, Nutria are real pests, too. You should be able to dispatch foxes with the 22 Hornet with no problem. Moreover we suffer from a lack of real varmints here in VA. Here in Northern VA the deer are the varmints, but shooting on the golf course is frowned upon by management. Good hunting. J Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/ To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
