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You will need more cartridge than a rim fire to make one-shot kills on a ground hog at any distance. I am a prairie dog and rock chuck (western version of a wood chuck) hunter. I found that if loaded with hollow points a .22 Hornet is good out to 150 yds, .222/.223 Rem is good out to 300 yds and the .22-250 Savage Ackley Improved is good to 500/600 yds. Find a .222 Rem or a .223 Rem. and learn to handload for it. If you buy used, find a Remington or a Winchester bolt-action rifle. If you buy new, Savage is really trying hard to sell a very accurate rifle for minimum bucks. Savage's new factory adjustable trigger is very nice.
Back to the .22 Hornet cartridge. Hardly any factory .22 Hornet barrels are super accurate. Only by custom rebarreling can one get tack driver accuracy in a Hornet. There are exceptions of course. I rebarreled my Ruger .22Hornet with a Shilen barrel and am very happy. I liked it so much that I built another identical rifle in .22 Hornet Ackley Improved. It is deadly out to 200 yds in windy conditions and to 250 yds in no wind on prairie dogs.
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