.22 mag SOLIDS outperform Stingers,

I've always espoused the .22 Mag as a survival rifle. It shoots just as "flat" to 100 yards as a .22 LR Hi-Vel does to 50 yards. It also, as you pointed out, has a lot more punch.

Most game wardens that I have met whom perform beaver control duties favor the .22 Mag.

it SUCKS for survival, compared to 223

auto, with a can and .22 unit. u've got the replacement ability of the 2 types of ammo, 3-4 times the range, and power with the 223, and the subsonic load available for 22lr .22 AR units have been available for nearly 30 years. Wake up and smell the coffee.

I've often mused that the Ruger .22 mag would make a decent "survival" rifle

The .22 mag makes more sense in a dedicated RF rifle than the .22LR does to me, since just about anything that can be done with the .22LR can be done with a good quality .22 pistol.

That coming from a guy that doesn't own a .22 Mag and a bunch of 10/22's. One of these days though one of the Ruger semi-autos will come avaliable to me and I will give it a try.

The obvious downside is that .22 Mag isn't as common as .22LR and it's more expensive. That aside. I know many folks that think of thier .22 Mags as pretty good utility rifles and keep them at hand all the time. A Marlin bolt gun with a decent Jap scope offers alot of low dollar untility.

We have .223's and .22 Hornets, so I havn't had much need to mess with the .22 Mag much.

Teuf,

in the day BEFORE 223-22lr conversions

(ie, for about 10 years) the 22 mag rimfire had a niche, but there's really no reason to have sonic crack in a canned gun, and only have 350 ft lbs, instead of 1000 ft lbs or more. There's also no reason to spend 15c a shot instead of 2c, for either training or stockpiling ammo. Yes the .22 mag hits about 2x as hard as does a .22lr, but it's still pretty feeble for use on deer, or men, or even on big dogs. the 223 is far better for such uses, and the .22lr is far better for most small game, especially in the canned, subsonic format, and for cheap speed practice in "normal times".

I had a single shot bolt Colt, with a scope, as a 17 year old kid. think I gave $40 for it. My first score was at 130 paces, with solids, on a chuck. She went down, but flopped around a lot, if she'd been within 10 ft of her den, she'd probably have gotten down into it.

My Kimber .22LR conversion kit on my Series '70, using Stingers have taken down 10" tall steel gophers at 65 yards. No other brand has achieved the same results.

I've not tested it on steel plates but I've been impressed with the Aquila Interceptor load that's a 40gr high velocity solid with a stated velocity of 1470fps. I really need to chronograph it in both my Mossberg 144 and Beretta 21A just to see how much velocity is lost between extremely different barrel lengths