If they aren’t, maybe they should rethink their situation.
Gunwriters used to say that 22WMR rifles were neither fish nor fowl. If you have never heard that old timey expression before, it meant that something did not perform a specific job or purpose very well. In the case of the 22 WMR, it was too powerful for small game like squirrels or rabbits, but did not have enough juice for coyotes. I think some of those writers put that in their articles to fill out magazine pages. The 22 WMR works well on those and other animals. The only concession I will give them is that you have to pick your shot.
CZ 457 22 WMR
The ammunition could have been better. Back then, its performance could change markedly, box to box. Group sizes varied or the impact point shifted. Some of this was the shooter, but the QC wasn’t the best. Thanks to hunter demands, it is better now.
If you lived on a farm, or in a small town, a 22 Mag was a great truck gun. I cannot tell you how many skunks, groundhogs, foxes, feral cats and coyotes have fallen to this little cartridge around my place.
In days of yore, both the 22LR and 22 magnum rifles had their problems. I have owned some real dogs over the years, but they were sold off quickly. Like the ammunition, rifle QC got better too. But oh, those old rifles were made of steel and wood! Speaking of steel and wood…
Sitting around a campfire or at a gun show, older hunters sure love to talk about the good old days. Let me tell ya, son…that was when they still made quality firearms with nice, wooden stocks and good steel!
WARNING! Beware of the memories of the over 30 crowd! (insert laughing emoji here) While they might have been more pleasing to the eye, many rifles were not as accurate as what is being produced today. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing, but…
Some hunters weren’t born or forgot the aggravations of canvas tents, leaky scopes, abysmal triggers and the bedding troubles associated with wooden stocks. Advances in design, improved metallurgy and CNC machining have made much of that obsolete. And here’s some free advice. There are things people should never talk about over a drink at hunting camp – religion, politics and wooden vs synthetic stocks!
22 WMR rifles, like their 22LR cousins, had cheaply made iron sights too. If you upgraded to a scope back in “the good, old days”, rimfire optics were just bad. Almost every one was fragile, None was designed to last. Most had narrow tubes and poor glass. I can remember how excited I was years ago, when I spotted a rimfire scope for less than 20 dollars at my local Canadian Tire store. Jackpot! No more crappy iron sights! The elation only lasted until the fall hunting season. The scope leaked, or I banged it, and knocked the adjustments out. To be fair, it was the standard for the time and no one expected anything fancy from a rimfire.
My Marlin 883T – a tube fed bolt action rifle 22 WMR with a 4×32 Hawke AO scope
In the dim times, few scopes had adjustable objectives. Certainly, none that would be used on a rimfire! Parallax for rimfire scopes was fixed at 50 yards and it worked. As much as I appreciate being able to adjust the parallax on a modern scope, I don’t fiddle with the settings if it is mounted on a hunting rifle. The only exception is the range. With rimfires, dialing between 50 and 100 yards makes that feature handy for testing new ammunition, but that’s it. Fancy doo-dads and complex adjustments in the field are not welcome.
These days, I see more high power optics on hunting rifles and I always ask the owners, what’s with the fancy glass? They rarely give me a thoughtful answer. It is obvious the ad men were busy planting the need for a high power scope into their heads. These people hunt in the same areas as I do, so shots over 50 or 75 yards are rare. I have to assume that most of their shooting is done at the range with paper targets.
Everyone has different needs, but when hunting, it’s probably best to keep it simple when it comes to optics.
CCI 45 gr. Gamepoint ammunition
What about cost? It’s not too crazy – at least, compared to centrefire ammunition. I am not a shill for the ammunition companies, just a realist. Is 22 WMR more expensive than 22LR? Yes, but most of the 22 Mag offerings can also be used for hunting, not just plinking – and they can reach out farther as well.
If you’re older, and love to bore young people with stories of how cheap a box of 50 rimfire cartridges was when you were younger, don’t forget to tell them about tiny your paycheque was too. But heck, your priorities were different. Young men always managed to find some money to feed their hobby, and they still do today.
Here’s an example. The cheapest, store bought centrefire ammunition near me is 223 Rem FMJ. These cartridges are $12 for 20 (CDN). That’s 60 cents a pop, plus taxes. The same shop sells CCI Maxi-Mag 40 gr. HPs for $22 per 50. That’s 44 cents for ammunition that you can use to hunt with, or just plink – and it’s 16 cents a shot cheaper than FMJ 223 Rem. Your choice, of course.
What it all boils down to is your personal interests and what tools you need to get the job done. Do yourself a favour, however. When you get bored with your rimfire, or any other rifles for that matter, don’t trade them away. Leave them in your gun locker. Odds are, you’ll come back for a visit sometime in the future. They will be waiting there for you, like an old friend.