Cartridge for beaver

[brewer12345]

After trying for 5 weeks and bagging a bunch of muskrats, I finally got a beaver which weighed in at just over 40 pounds. I shot it with a .22lr rifle, but I think that it was a marginal choice. I made a 35 or 40 yard headshot with an Aguila HV copper plated solid. It blew up the upper jaw on one side, but failed to penetrate the skull. Fortunately when it came up again I put a couple more bullets in the boiler room to finish it off. I recovered a badly mauled bullet that was trapped under the skin after going through the animal.

I think I want to use something with more power next year (today was end of season). I shoot muskrats at the same spot, so anything too much will just blow up the scrats, I would rather avoid buying something in a new caliber. Aside from 22lr, I have 556/223 and a 30-06 cast load that shoots accurately enough for this and throws a 118 grain flat nose bullet at about 1600 FPS. Think one of these would work well? If not, what would be a good choice?

 

[WestKentucky]

It’s a tough call. .223 will do it for sure but it’s gonna be hard to tame a .223 down to not blow up tiny critters. I would suggest a 22 mag for beaver and similar critters.

 

[DocRock]

Interesting. I would have thought 22lr perfect.

I don’t think a faster rifle cartridge will be the right thing, especially something like 222Rem or 223. Instead I would think 38 Special in a rifle - a little Rossi 16” R92 would be perfect. 9mm PCC would also be very good. In any event a pistol caliber will hit hard without the catastrophic effects of a rifle cartridge.

 

[brewer12345]

I handload and have a single shot 556. I might try fooling around with a downloaded 556 and see if I can get good accuracy at maybe 2000FPS. Something similar to 22 mag with a FMJ. I still think that the 30-06 cast load with the small bullet not moving all that fast might be a good choice as well.

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

22 mag would be my choice

 

[whughett]

Try CCI “Stingers”. 32 grain in a slightly longer case. Hollow point. Lots of YouTube videos on its performance.

 

[edwardware]

I don't care for rimfire in serious applications, so I'd use heavy/slow/bonded .223 load to limit expansion and damage.

 

[horsey300]

Interesting. I would have thought 22lr perfect.

I don’t think a faster rifle cartridge will be the right thing, especially something like 222Rem or 223. Instead I would think 38 Special in a rifle - a little Rossi 16” R92 would be perfect. 9mm PCC would also be very good. In any event a pistol caliber will hit hard without the catastrophic effects of a rifle cartridge.

I'm going to have to disagree, my 9 mm high point with jhps, absolutely tore cottontails apart. The 38 might be the ticket, but a .22 mag may do the trick a lil cleaner.....

I handload and have a single shot 556. I might try fooling around with a downloaded 556 and see if I can get good accuracy at maybe 2000FPS. Something similar to 22 mag with a FMJ. I still think that the 30-06 cast load with the small bullet not moving all that fast might be a good choice as well.

With your .22 if you're taking head shots, try the Federal automatch, they don't expand and my current term for them is overpenetrate, they are hard cast. With your .30-06 I'd be curious about the impact on the scrats, may yet get more than you bargained for, I'd really like a heavy for caliber load of .22 mag in your shoes or the automatch, but in .223 what twist is your single shot?

 

[Patocazador]

Use FMJ 55 gr. bullets in your .223 and use less powerful loads. It shouldn't 'blow up' anything. Penetration with no expansion.

 

[brewer12345]

With your .22 if you're taking head shots, try the Federal automatch, they don't expand and my current term for them is overpenetrate, they are hard cast. With your .30-06 I'd be curious about the impact on the scrats, may yet get more than you bargained for, I'd really like a heavy for caliber load of .22 mag in your shoes or the automatch, but in .223 what twist is your single shot?

223 is a henry. Don't recall the twist.

Not getting to use the 22 is a bummer. I have a Kidd trigger in the 10/22 and it makes it pretty easy to do those 25 yard headshots on a moving scrat.

 

[Laphroaig]

I've never shot at a beaver with a .22, but have shot hundreds of groundhogs with one, pretty close in size to a beaver. I use CCI Minimags which sound similar to the Aguila HV. My experience has been that unless you do a good solid head shot, they aren't going to be DRT. I wonder if hitting a beaver in the jaw might not always kill it no matter what you used.

As for moving up to a centerfire, 1) there might not be much left of a muskrat, and 2) are you concerned about ricochets when shooting on water?

 

[DocRock]

I'm going to have to disagree, my 9 mm high point with jhps, absolutely tore cottontails apart. The 38 might be the ticket, but a .22 mag may do the trick a lil cleaner.....

With your .22 if you're taking head shots, try the Federal automatch, they don't expand and my current term for them is overpenetrate, they are hard cast. With your .30-06 I'd be curious about the impact on the scrats, may yet get more than you bargained for, I'd really like a heavy for caliber load of .22 mag in your shoes or the automatch, but in .223 what twist is your single shot?

Hollow points in 9 mm. I have no doubt. But a plated bullet like Berrys or a FMJ target round shouldn't have such catastrophic effect.

Moving up to centerfire rifle velocity is a massive increase over 22lr. A bigger, heavier and, as you note - non-frangible bullet - will do much more damage to the beaver's head, even if slightly off perfect. While a 223 fmj might also do the trick, it also runs a much higher risk of ricochet and over-penetration. On the other hand, the OP has a rifle in 223, so that may well be the best place to start - an fmj 55 grs at modest velocities perhaps.

 

[Chuck R.]

I've killed multiple beavers and muskrats using a .223 and Nosler 55BTs, buuuut I was preventing pond damage and not concerned with pelts.

You might want to look at using a shotgun also, 6 shot does a number on both rats and beavers as long as the beavers are close in, 4 shot is even better. Most effective time to shoot with a rifle them was dawn & dusk, shotgun with a light at night works great. A high velocity varmint bullet pretty much fragments when it hits water up close, but I still always took shots with the animal against a bank. This is why I'd rather use a HV varmint round over any .22 rimfire around water.

Honestly the most effective way to get them is with traps. When we initially bought our place complete with 9 acre pond and beaver infestation I went the rifle-shotgun-back-hoe route at 1st (stopped short of explosives, but that's how frustrating the little %^^$# are). Then I went the Jeremiah Johnson route and actually had much greater success. Traps while not "fun" are a 24/7 weapon.

 

[horsey300]

223 is a henry. Don't recall the twist.

Not getting to use the 22 is a bummer. I have a Kidd trigger in the 10/22 and it makes it pretty easy to do those 25 yard headshots on a moving scrat.

Try the automatch seriously. With the .223 try 55 gr spsx with trail boss, clays or titegroup. The 1:9 Henry should stabilize. The Hornady spsx have always been super accurate for me and a subsonic velocity should take the "sx" out of the equation, but still be frangible enough not to ricochet. Speer gold dot 55 would be no frangible at all and probably not even start to expand and their 55 hp or sp would be something to fall back on if stability eludes you with the hp being most likely to stabilize.

 

[Patocazador]

I shot a ~50 lb. beaver while duck hunting in a swamp. I skinned it (a real chore) and cleaned up the head. The skull looks formidable and is flat on top. It looks like a .22 LR might just ricochet off it.
Aiming right at water level might allow a 40 gr. to penetrate the side of the skull.

 

[FL-NC]

I have a 22 mag I would use, or else a 17 HMR.

 

[Captcurt]

I would go 22 mag or 22 Hornet. Hornets are cool.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

.22 mag would be my choice

DITTO!

LD

 

[LNK]

Aguilla makes a 60 grain subsonic 22 rimfire that would work if your gun shoots them well. I have a pair of Marlin's 795's. One shoots them well, the other I get tumbling sometimes. I don't know why as they are pretty much great shooters with most other 22 rounds. Pick up a box and try them, can't hurt.

After trying for 5 weeks and bagging a bunch of muskrats, I finally got a beaver which weighed in at just over 40 pounds. I shot it with a .22lr rifle, but I think that it was a marginal choice. I made a 35 or 40 yard headshot with an Aguila HV copper plated solid. It blew up the upper jaw on one side, but failed to penetrate the skull. Fortunately when it came up again I put a couple more bullets in the boiler room to finish it off. I recovered a badly mauled bullet that was trapped under the skin after going through the animal.

I think I want to use something with more power next year (today was end of season). I shoot muskrats at the same spot, so anything too much will just blow up the scrats, I would rather avoid buying something in a new caliber. Aside from 22lr, I have 556/223 and a 30-06 cast load that shoots accurately enough for this and throws a 118 grain flat nose bullet at about 1600 FPS. Think one of these would work well? If not, what would be a good choice?

 

[brewer12345]

Aguilla makes a 60 grain subsonic 22 rimfire that would work if your gun shoots them well. I have a pair of Marlin's 795's. One shoots them well, the other I get tumbling sometimes. I don't know why as they are pretty much great shooters with most other 22 rounds. Pick up a box and try them, can't hurt.

I have tried the SSS but they tumble in most of my rifles.

 

[LNK]

I have tried the SSS but they tumble in most of my rifles.

That is the problem most have with them. Just a thought.

 

[Ohen Cepel]

If you want to stick with what you have I would do some testing with the Henry single shot and see what it likes. May have to go heavy or light to get the accuracy you want, misses matter little even with a great bullet.

There were some frangible .224's on the market for a while, could be an option if they shoot well for you. Or the light varmint bullets in 40gr or so.

Or, find a nice slow Trail Boss load for your 30-06 if the one you have now isn't meeting your need. 06 seems a bit over kill but I can appreciate using what you have.

The .22 SSS usually need a new barrel for the rifle with the appropriate twist. 10/22 version are out there but not sure of others as I lost interest in it myself.

 

[peterk1234]

357mag lever action but shoot a moderate to to low 38 special load maybe? Great excuse to buy a Henry Big Boy if you don't have one yet

 

[DocRock]

This is almost as good as a bear thread.

 

[jmr40]

I've only shot a couple, found one, one got away. To me beaver are a tweener. Not particularly big, but pretty tough for rimfires and too small for most common center fires. There are some good possibilities listed above, but most aren't especially common. I wouldn't shoot one often enough to justify a dedicated rifle so I'd probably use a shotgun with some of the larger shot sizes.