S**r
发帖数: 2478 | 1 This post gained my respect for .22LR. If .22LR can penetrate a turkey from
250 yards, why should we doubt about its stopping power in home defense (5-
10 yards)?
http://www.pakguns.com/archive/index.php/t-1599.html
Lethality of the 22 LR standard velocity round
Source: http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504301&fpart=1
I’ve been shooting the 22LR for many years and even bought a new bolt
action 22 LR rifle (Savage Mark II BTVS) so I could train more cheaply for
tactical precision rifle matches. As I started to train, I actually became
impressed with what could be achieved with the 22LR in short and medium
distances and wondered about the actual lethality of the round, so I decided
to do some research in that area.
I mean, I know that the 22LR has been a good hunting round for small
critters/varmints such as rabbits and squirrels but occasionally you hear it
is used as well for killing deers, coyotes and bigger animals – heck, on
the internet, you can even find a story about the elephant being killed with
a 22LR on the internet, LOL!
During my research, I came upon several instances whereby the 22 LR has also
been used by the military and law enforcement as well. There were several
stories of Chechen snipers using the 22LR in urban setting or Israeli
snipers using it in “crowd control”
I started talking to several many people through bulletin boards to find
more information about the lethality of that round, specifically from a
tactical viewpoint – I.E. How effective and lethal is it? Any information
about its lethality should also of interest to the average target shooters
or even plinkers, being that it is one of most available/cheap round. Having
the correct information could make people more aware of the possible
consequences of not treating the 22LR with respect - I think we’ve all
heard “ It’s just a 22! It’s not that powerful, etc…”
To get back to the subject, talking to hunters on various message boards and
filtering out the “I heard that or someone told me”, here are some of the
typical feedback/information I received from people who actually did it:
Lots of varmint kills up to 150 yards (This distance came up the most).
Larger animals kills at shorter distance – Deer/Coyotes at 100 yards and
some even 150 yards
Mention of a larger animal kill at 200 yards
Mention of actual rabbit kills at 175, 225 and 330 yards
Overall the distance of 100 to 150 yards came up in 50% of the responses.
To go back to the “tactical” aspect and the actual effectiveness/lethality
of the round in military/law enforcement settings – no real information
was actually available. There were lots of stories and hearsay of people
getting shot with 22s and how effective it was (or wasn’t) but no ACTUAL
and PROVEN information – the main feedback was that shot placement was the
most important in a military/law enforcement setting but there were no
answers as to what would happen if someone was shot with a 22LR at medium
distance (200 to 300 yards). When would the round stop penetrating several
layers of clothing/skin and become completely ineffective and useless from a
tactical point of view.
Gathering all the information from hunters, target shooters, etc… I
personally came up with the conclusion that the 22LR “may be” effective up
to 200 yards and possibly penetrate several layers of clothing which are
usually something like a “t-shirt, a shirt and a jacket” and frankly I
would not have been surprised if it didn’t penetrate at all.
Actual information not being available, I decided to conduct a test myself
to see how far would a 22LR round penetrate 3 layers of clothing and
penetrate skin as well. I looked at several options such as using ballistic
gel, wet newspaper, etc… but finally ended up with the cheapest option and,
what I thought the somewhat most realistic as well: purchasing a frozen
turkey, thaw it and wrap it in 3 layers of clothing. This would be a good
test to see how far the 22LR would penetrate.
Here is an account of my “experiment” and Boy! Was I in for a surprise in
many levels!!!!!!!
The test took place in the California desert at my usual shooting place for
long distance shooting – far away from civilization and very safe. As it
happens sometimes, nature has its own mind and does not always follow your
plans. The weekend I chose and got ready for (including thawing the meat)
ended up being quite windy.
How windy? Here is a look at my tent during the trip – yep, that’s the
wind pushing the side of the tent nearly flat. Wind was an average of 25 MPH
with gusts up to 30 MPH and lowest at 18MPH.
http://www.postimage.org/
This was a nightmare for any rimfire shooter and frankly I was extremely
close to just pack it up and go home after doing some shooting with my 308.
I thought shooting the 22LR in these conditions (the wind was quite violent
and shifting constantly between 18 and 30MPH) would be absolutely impossible.
The main goal of the trip was this research and I already purchased the
turkey so I decided to at least “Try it” with much reservation as to being
able to actually hit the target. Having participated in many tactical long
distances matches over the years, I decided to follow my own hard learned
lesson: “When in doubt, follow what the book says” or, simply, trust your
ballistic information, instruments and basic field craft. Because I use the
22LR for training, I pretty much replicated my setup and had at hand all I
needed such as ballistic data card for elevation and windage, wind meter and
range finder.
http://www.postimage.org/
The setup for the turkey was as follow: 3 layers of clothing wrapped around
it and taped in the back (although care was given to not make the clothing
too tight either) and a white paper on top so we could see the impacts at
long distance.
http://www.postimage.org/
The test was done at the maximum distance of 300 yards because honestly, I
thought that penetration would probably not occur at that distance and
because, above 300 yards, using my elevation knob and even mildots was
pretty much useless.
A 400 yards shot is basically an 80 MOAs drop. Even shooting at 300 yards
requires me to place my elevation for 200 yards (27.5 MOAs) and use 6.6 MILS
(actually already off the mildots reticle so there is somewhat of a guess).
The clothing layers were composed of the following: One usual heavy cotton t
-shirt, one heavy cotton shirt and a canvas raincoat.
http://www.postimage.org/
The wrapped around turkey looked like this:
http://www.postimage.org/
My son was with me and it took use considerable time to find the right
location. Safety was definitely an issue but also, in order to have any
chance to hit the target with winds that strong we had to shoot within the
wind. Even then, because of the constant shifting of the wind from 7 to 5 O
’clock, I had doubts we could even pull it off. So instead of 300 yards, we
actually started at 250 yards which allowed me to use my elevation knob
zeroed at 200 yards and my mildots reticle and thus “less guessing”.
As you can see the package is quite small at 250 yards!!!!!! The wrapped
Turkey was a bit bigger then a human head, it wasn’t a big turkey to start
with – I actually bought the cheapest one ($12)
http://www.postimage.org/
We positioned ourselves on top of the Jeep. My son used my 308 and the
Leupold 6.5-20X to spot me (if we could do so) and I shot the 22LR.
http://www.postimage.org/
Equipment was as follow:
Savage Mark II BTVS in 22 LR
Bushnell 3200 Tactical Scope – 10X Mildots
Ammunition was Wolf Match Target – 40 Gr Bullet – 1050 fps
Note that shooting in that position was not the most stable and 25-30 MPH
wind actually WILL shake you around. I calculated the wind cycle to range
from around 18 to 30 MPH. It was a quick wind cycle with periods of 18 MPH
lasting only a 4-5 seconds at best. I decided to shoot at the lowest point
of the wind cycle and simply use 0 windage as I was shooting in the wind.
My first round went slightly to the left missing the target by a couple of
inches, my second round did the same on the right side and my third one
actually hit the small turkey dead center. I was actually amazed!!!!!!
I was ready to shoot 50 rounds in those windy conditions to have some “Hope
” to hit the target because, from what I was told, the 22LR is so unstable
in the wind at long distance. Yet despite the atrocious conditions – using
elementary ballistic information and field craft, shooting it in 18 to 30
MPH was factually quite easy. From a tactical viewpoint, every single shot
would have hit a center mass target.
Inspecting the 250 yards target was quite revealing…the bullet had gone
through the 3 layers as if it was nothing.
Encouraged by the results and the fact that we could hit the target, we
placed the turkey at 300 yards. I spotted for my son and he took the shots.
Again we were amazed that despite the wind we had 4 hits out of 10 rounds!!!
If someone had told me he can shoot such a small target in those conditions
, before we did so ourselves, I would have laughed!
Here was the result:
http://www.postimage.org/
Note that the 300 yards round in the center seemed to have keyholed (go
sideway). The probability is that the bullet hit some of the sage brush that
was moving around wildly in the wind because no other impacts showed signs
of keyholing and we were somewhat shooting through the moving brushes.
Now the huge surprise was the following. After taking the shot at 250 yards
I was quite happy to see that the bullet had penetrated the 3 layers of
clothing but I would have never thought of actually checking the BACK OF THE
TARGET.
After shooting the 300 yards and taking back the target to the Jeep, we
realized that one round had gone through the whole turkey, the clothing
layers in the front AND the layers in the back as well!!!!!!!!!! And this
had to occur between 250 yards and 300 yards. This was MUCH MORE than I ever
had anticipated for the standard velocity 22LR round!!!!!!!!!!
Not only that but because the clothing was wrapped around and folded/taped
in the back, it was the equivalent of shooting through 3 layers of clothing
in the front and 6 LAYERS of clothing in the back plus on layer of duck tape!
http://www.postimage.org/
We did one more shot at 100 yards and the round went through easily. The
turkey was the equivalent of 7 inches of meat and bones.
http://www.postimage.org/
Unwrapping the target showed that the rounds at 300 yards (assuming that the
round that went through was probably the 250 yards round) went through the
turkey and got stuck under the skin. Still penetrating 7 inches of bones and
meat.
http://www.postimage.org/
My conclusions:
I’ve gained a new respect for the 22LR and its efficiency. The 22 rounds is
very underrated. It many ways, it is much more powerful then I anticipated.
From a tactical viewpoint, it was also very interesting that despite the
atrocious conditions, basic ballistic information and field craft (wind
cycle, shooting in the wind, etc…) make it possible to shoot effectively
that round at medium distances.
300 yards can be a VERY doable and an effective shooting distance in normal
conditions. We did it in terrible conditions.
Although I probably won’t do further tests, I can imagine that round
penetrating layers of clothing and be effective at much longer distances
then 300 yards –maybe 500 yards and beyond.
But now I consider proven that within 300 yards it can be accurate and
extremely lethal!
Hope this help others to gain more respect as well for the small 22LR and
thus make sure we all practice safe shooting, even if it looks like a tiny
little round! | g**********g
发帖数: 18118 | 2 太长， 不是早有定论， 。22 可以吗， 当年刺杀里根的就是。22， 干掉好几个特工 | b*****e
发帖数: 5133 | 3 penetration，lethality和stopping threat有点关系但还不是同一件事。
自卫家防都想要尽快让对方住手。 |
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