WMR- its future with lead free

[billy_boyle_2010]

Hi guys

I'm considering purchasing a WMR for pest control. Grey ground squirrels, occasional fox, corvids, rabbits.

Have had a HMR. Brilliant for bulk rabbit sessions. But i want to try a WMR now.

However- with the likely move to lead free- just how future proof is the calibre?

I have read the 22LR will struggle as it traditionally has slow twist rates.

Is the wmr likely to suffer as much ? Is there anything factors that will make it well or poorly suited to a lead free future?

Can we assume 2200fps speeds from a 25-30gr bullets- which hold their energy less well than lead?

Any advice or thoughts would be excellent thanks.

 

[Accurate 1]

Hornady 25grain NTX shot best out of all ammo when I had my Hw60j wmr

A1

 

[Overlay]

Hi BB2010

Had a WMR again now for just over a year now
,hornady ammo shoot very well in mine, its a lovely calibre that falls in between 22 rimmy and 22 hornet mine is dob on zero 75 yds, the hornady shoots 3 rounds well within an inch more like 3/4 of an inch without trying tooooo hard , the Remington rounds i gave (after trying them) to my mate his rifle loves em, in mine it shoots like a scatter gun like a string despite all the gear being set up correctly
I think speed wise it runs out just over 2k I use it for rabbits and head shot foxes to 75-80 yds max, its got that extra bit of ooooomph at that range and does the job very nicely for accuracy and knockdown, same speed as HMR with a little more weight behind it and just as noisy crack as well if I had to chose from the two it would be the WMR on every count I shoot well within its capabilities and it does that perfectly

In some quarters guys shoot twice as far with 17 hmr, I had one for many years, the hmr had for a while a problem with splitting of the case, that has now passed, and I did have more runners on the hmr the wmr i find is the best out of the 2 just on knockdown and a useful accurate calibre at the rangr i shoot As far as non tox goes shoot it with lead and see what happens

 

[Trickyd66]

Can you actually find lead free WMR in the UK?

 

[Overlay]

See post number 2 I use NTX in my deuce due to stipulation on SSSI ground I shoot on

 

[Trickyd66]

See post number 2 I use NTX in my deuce due to stipulation on SSSI ground I shoot on

I know the ntx exist (I use them in my HMR) but can't find anyone local who supplies WMR in NTX.

 

[Smellydog]

22wmr is exempt from any planned changes.

I don't recommend head shots with any rimfire.
My wmr killed fox's with chest shots satisfactory if not instantly but I knew they were dead even if they didn't and never smashed a jaw on one causing suffering.

 

[Tom Highway]

I’ve used WMR on and off for a few years, by swapping barrels over on my CZ, I found it a very picky calibre in terms of bullet, the best for mine was 40gr CCI maxi mag which gave acceptable results up to 100 meters. It also shot the WInchester subsonics you can get for WMR well also. However actually finding ammo for it is difficult in the UK, once i sussed CCI was good, it was hard to source it locally and i gave up trying to get hold of the winchester subs, so I am not sure how you would fare trying to reliably source lead free ammo for it. If you purchase one, with luck yours will like the Hornady 30gr Vmax, as that seems to be the most popular .22WMR ammo around at present, mine shot it really bad, not acceptable for hunting, I've stuck the .22LR barrel back on the CZ and will probably not change it over again tbh.

 

[Andy RV]

Just buy one and crack on, now or never… perhaps!

 

[3595wilk]

The last tranche of Environment Agency guff around lead ban seemed to exclude anything smaller than 6mm falling into a potential ban.

I will crack on using it for bunnies and occasional fox. I bought up a load of CCI gamepoint running at 1875 fps that my CZ 512 manages to shoot 1.5 MOA with - even with me behind the trigger. More than enough for the distances I use it at.

Like above, I use it for body shots only. Carries enough oommpphh to do the job.