Discussion Forums

Nathan Foster

Some good feedback here.

I should have mentioned, annealing will make little difference. These very small bullets will heat up regardless due to bore friction and air resistance, right to their core. When they hit, they are very warm and malleable.

Like I said, I have seen guys do this and in NZ, we all know of the swags of animals bagged with the .22LR, I have taken a good many animals myself this way. But situations like the one Bryan mentioned are very real, I have been in exactly the same position with a client and seen exactly the same result but with a 40gr .22-250 factory load. I managed to track and tackle the animal. I chose to do this rather than shoot it with my rifle as I wanted the client to come over and have a good look at just how much suffering he was putting the animal through. Take a good look, now get out your hunting knife out and finish the job. I put that one animal through excessive suffering knowing that it would save others from the same. And it worked.

I get quite a few guys tell me that their .17 or whatever is all they ever need because they can head shoot. No point arguing with this. So I say, yes it can be done but its not my thing sorry, a lot can go wrong. But again, if it is something you want to try, then careful testing is the way to go as was initially outlined. The only shot I am really OK with is at the base of the ear, nothing front on. But you have to be close and everything has to be spot on.

Really good to see that there was no need for me to say anything on this thread and see everyone working together.