Originally Posted by craig

.22 (of any sort) for deer is the experts gun at best, not for a new shooter. And the expert is going to wait for the proper shot placement to be possible.

The .22 rim-fires are used by poachers due to the very low report. The poacher is shooting illegal and so this is a big point in favor of the .22 mag. But poachers also waste a good deal of game this way when a bad hit is made they just drive on.

I know a man who, when younger & quite poor, killed a lot of deer with a 222 by shooting them in the head. Local land owners thought nothing of the crack of his rifle as he was always glad to eliminate any chucks the wished to be rid of. He was never caught for this reason. Per this man the 222 when used for a head shot will take off about 1/3 of the top of the deers head..........dead is dead.

I know he also took a deer legally with a 1/9 twist savage 22-250 handloaded with Swift 75 gr. Sirocco bullets. He shot a doe right behind the shoulder taking out the top of the heart & punching through both lungs as well. Deer still ran for 80yds however, which shows that even a expert shooter & perfect placed shot has limits on deer sized game. The thing I found of interest with this doe is that the bullet passed through & exited.....with over 2" exit. I was surprise the bullet did not blow up, but it clearly did not.

.22 center-fire rifles are legal in Mi.

Rim-fires are not.