ORIGINAL: ipscshooter
Very interesting.... I just did a survey of the 50 states' regulations concerning the use of .22 CF's for deer hunting. Here's what I found:
6 States do not allow rifle hunting
8 States, either had no apparent restriction, or I could not find a restriction
3 states require .23 caliber or larger
4 states require .24 caliber or larger
29 states ALLOW the use of .22 caliber CF's. Of these, 4 have minimum ft. lbs. of energy restrictions which would allow some .22 CF's and prohibit other .22 CF's.
NOTE: The moderator who shut down the .22 Hornet thread appears to indicate in the email to zrex that he knows .22 CF's are illegal in WV. The WV regulation actually reads "NO RIMFIRES UNDER .25 CALIBER". That does not, to me at least, mean .22 CF's are banned.
Edited/update...
Updating my earlier list:
7 states do not allow rifle hunting
4 states require at least .23 caliber (KA, MN, VA, WY)
4 states require at least .24 or .243 caliber (CO, CN, IA WA)
35 states allow .22 Centerfires.
Of the 35 that allow .22 Centerfires, 5 have energy restrictions. 2 of these say 1200 ft lbs of Muzzle Energy, 1 says 1000 ft lbs of Muzzle Energy, 1 says 900 ft lbs at 100 yards, and 1 says 1000 ft lbs at 100 yards.
So, the .22 Hornet thread got deleted because, as explained by a moderator:
In the majority of the USA using a .22 to hunt deer is illegal. I know that it is here in WV and checked the data base for other states. Yep, across the board it is for the most part illegal.
I really fail to see the "across the board" ban against .22 centerfires for deer hunting that got the .22 Hornet post deleted, and I wonder what the moderator's motives were. Did he bother to check ANY of "the data base for other states" before deleting the post? 35 of 43 states that permit rifle hunting allow .22's. That certainly refutes to ridiculous proposition that "in the majority of the USA using a .22 to hunt deer is illegal." He was even wrong about the restriction in his home state of WV...
When 35 of the 43 states that allow rifle hunting permit the use of .22 centerfires, I think that removes most question about whether the .22 CF's are "unethical". The ethics question, as I've said before, should relate solely to the individual hunter's shot selection based upon the legal caliber he has chosen.