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Army Dillos and 22LR

5K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  noway 
#1 ·
I have a question for thoose that have hunted armadillos with 22LR. Did any of the projectile fully penetrated the shell of the armadillos when shot? If yes what distance and what bullet type?

I'm talking about the portion of the shell right behind the head at the thickess part.
 
#3 ·
No that's wrong a person must be nuts to use a 10mm on a varmit that weights less than 5-8lbs and a .22 or shotgun would be and is normally the best weapon to be used on such small game animal.

If I wanted to look like a hilly billy ******* and just destroy a creature for no other purpose & and giving more merits to PETA like groups that we hunters are a bunch of clowns, than yes a 10mm would do the job and prove that point.

next I'm waiting for the guy that claims to use a AK47 and empty it's magazine on a chargin Dillo ;g

Seriously, anybody have anything to offer up on the performance of a 22LR on dillos? Mainly with penetration of the outer area between the 1st band & the head.
 
G
#4 ·
I havent done any dillo hunting, but im pretty darn sure a good .22 would have no problem getting through the shell. However, if you hit it from a bad angle, you might get a ricochet. I would suggest you use a hyper velocity solid point. Both the Stinger and the Super Maximum come in a solid point, and at 1750 FPS it penitrates pretty darn good. I havent done any testing of my own, but I have heard that these penitrate deeper than 9mm ball, but please, no flames if I am wrong.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the information. I don't think a ricochet would be of any concern, Their shells aren't that hard. I have a guy going with me this weekend and he had ask me what to use in his 22 savage rifle and I told just get a box of whatever he had like cci blzaer or stinger. He was thinking that he need a 22 WMR for taking down dillos, but that isn't all that true. ( either do it would do the job also )


Anybody else that have hunted dillos with 22s.


BTW: I thought the CCI/stingers where JHP and not solidpoint.
 
#8 ·
{Have you ever touched one? A BB gun will go through the shell.}

To answer you're question I have shot 100s if not close 300 hundreds dillos in my life and yes I have touch afew.

I also highly doubt a common BB at 7yrds will fully penetrate a dillo shells and not I'm not arguing a .22LR will NOT go thru a dillo shell but would it fully PENETRATE a dillo shell between the 1st band and head. That's the question.


BTW: most birdshot will not and specially my #4 steels loads when shot at a avg dillo 7-10 yrds away.

edit: and to clear up a alittle bit confusion, when i use the word fully penetrate a shell that is "enter one side and exit the other side" as in leaving the body. Thoose that have shot a dillo in the body between the 1st band and head, pls respond. Others that haven't, kindly don't and no assumptions or links please.



anybody else have any direct experience s with 22s on dillos?
 
#9 ·
Well, I've shot dozens of armadillos (most in the head) and eaten a few. Around here the dish is affectionally know as "possum on the half-shell". While it may not taste exactly like chicken, it is quite good if it is prepared/grilled correctly.

Most of the time I've shot them in the area you are talking about, it was by accident...a bad shot meant for the head. Most of my shots were limited to 15-20 yards, usually with a rifle. I was either going to eat them or sell the skins/shells to a taxidermist. The common .22lr will penetrate both sides of the shell in that area on a small to medium size dillo at a range of about 15 yards, but definitely WILL NOT on the larger animals.

I caught many dozens of dillos by hand in my younger years, but I stopped with the "leprosy" scare back in the 80's. I snuck up on one and reached down to pick him up and all the bands on his tail slid off in my hands;P IT WAS GROSS! I never tried to catch another one after that, and I always used gloves to pick them up after I had harvested them.
 
#10 ·
Around here, I think armadillo hunting is done with car bumpers. It seems to work pretty good - I see enough of them on the roadside :)
 
#11 ·
To answer your question, yes a 22 will most often go T&T. If it doesn't, it isn't because of the shell but because of the distance it has to penetrate through the rest of the animal.

I have seen trap loads work when the distance was close. I suppose BB gun has several different meanings (different velocities) so I will clarify. I'll put it this way, a Beeman pellet rifle in cal .177 at the 750 fps range will penetrate the shell. As with anything, shot placement is key. With good shot placement, almost anything works.

I too stopped handling them because of the leprosy issue.
 
#12 ·
At the beginning of deer season this year (mid October) a Dillo started rooting through one of our foodplots, tearing it up pretty good. We kept our eyes open when hunting it to see if he'd pop out but never did. Finally about a week before Christmas my father-in-law was hunting with his .450 Marlin when he decided to show up. He hit it from obout 20 yards and the thing practically exploded.
Note: .450 Marlin = WAY too much gun for armadillos! ;P
 
#15 ·
{I snuck up on one and reached down to pick him up and all the bands on his tail slid off in my hands}

I had something similiar, when I was younger we where give 25c for every dillo we caught or killed ( that was big money back in the mid70s for a teenager). I had a big painter bucket and me and my brother when sneak up on them and catch them and either pick then up by the tail and toss them into the bucket and place the lid on them.


Will the first dillo I caught his tail broke off about 3" from the tip. I think this might be a genetic design to evade capture from predators.


btw: the leprosy scare is quite overblown or at least here in FL. The dilloscape websight has a good information on it and studies that have been done over the years with dillos.

http://www.dilloscape.com/

look to the right under articles.
 
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