Shot placement on big Eastern groundhogs.

[Mr. Magoo]

You should try the 204 ruger, go to Colorado on dog hunts great cal, also drops coyote in its tracks, 400 yards is about the max range

I thought about it but can't find brass for it and factory ammo for that cartridge is too expensive to shoot high volume.

I have pounds and pounds of 5.56/ 223 brass so will probably turn it into a 17 fireball or 20 practical- close enough to the 204 for my needs and can be loaded down to quieter levels while still having having enough velocity to keep the bullest frangible.

 

[Mr. Magoo]

Shot 284 prairie dogs this year with a 17 hornet. All were 25gr Vmax reloads. I can't find any .172 cal 25gr bullets now anywhere.

I still see some around here occasionaly (colorado).

I wish thwre were more high B.C. bullets in the sub-22 calibers. These hot rods are fast but shed velocity quickly.

 

[CMP70306]

Strangely enough the only groundhog I ever killed was with a break action pellet gun when I was in my early teens, it was wandering in circles so I snuck up on it and shot it several times before shoving it into the woods with a stick.

I did almost kill a second one, missed it by less than an inch at 200 yards with the irons on my 1903 Springfield after crawling 200 yards across the field to get closer. Was shooting towards the setting sun and had to hang my hat on the ladder sight to block the glare enough for the shot. The hole in the bank 6" behind him was right around where he was so my guess is I just barely missed him as I couldn't find any blood and I'm sure a 150gr SST out of an 06 would do a number on them.

I really wanted to get into the groundhog hunting but by the time I was old enough to get my own rifles and get into the long range shooting the groundhogs had pretty much been wiped out by the coyotes as we see very few in the fields and the ones we do see are on the edge of or in the woods.

 

[comfisherman]

Yes the 204 is incredible

Seems like so many folks have this response. I've wondered why and think it's the reality of over 4,000 fps. So many modern calibers are 3-3300 with standardized weights. Something magical happens on vermin with 4000 fps and above. Doesn't matter if it's 55s in a 243 or 40s in a 22-250 the effect is the same, the ruger is just the easy button to the gateway of hyper velocity.

I thought about it but can't find brass for it and factory ammo for that cartridge is too expensive to shoot high volume.

I have pounds and pounds of 5.56/ 223 brass so will probably turn it into a 17 fireball or 20 practical- close enough to the 204 for my needs and can be loaded down to quieter levels while still having having enough velocity to keep the bullest frangible.

That 20 practical is one that I've always though would gain even more popularity. It may not hit the marketing buzz of 4k but it's darn close, and practical is an understatement for what it is as a wildcat.

 

[NDAR15MAN]

From What I have seen the last few years a few people have spoiled it for every one. Only takes 1 bad apple for a farmer to say no. Plus here in Iowa any way , farmers have their hand out for pay to hunt. Even ground hogs and coyote hunting. I know farmers leasing 15 acres of woods for 3500.00 for deer season. No walking must sit in stand. It's a rich mans game. MD

 

[comfisherman]

From What I have seen the last few years a few people have spoiled it for every one. Only takes 1 bad apple for a farmer to say no. Plus here in Iowa any way , farmers have their hand out for pay to hunt. Even ground hogs and coyote hunting. I know farmers leasing 15 acres of woods for 3500.00 for deer season. No walking must sit in stand. It's a rich mans game. MD

I'm so glad this hit the west about the time I was leaving college. My youth would have been much more lame if pay to play had existed. Remember going down south and everything was leased to certain hunters. It's all over the west now as well sadly, I was a poor kid and that just wouldn't have been an option.

 

[Mr. Magoo]

From What I have seen the last few years a few people have spoiled it for every one. Only takes 1 bad apple for a farmer to say no. Plus here in Iowa any way , farmers have their hand out for pay to hunt. Even ground hogs and coyote hunting. I know farmers leasing 15 acres of woods for 3500.00 for deer season. No walking must sit in stand. It's a rich mans game. MD

I have a friend (used to be a neigbor) that has 30,000 acres and told me to come kill as many coyotes I can shoot. Invited me to bring my rv and stay there while I shoot em. No pay to play there. Of course he knows and trusts me so there's your problem I beleive. Just too many people (even hunters) that don't live by the old code. Ya kinda have to prove yourself these days

 

[Mike Patton]

Seems like so many folks have this response. I've wondered why and think it's the reality of over 4,000 fps. So many modern calibers are 3-3300 with standardized weights. Something magical happens on vermin with 4000 fps and above. Doesn't matter if it's 55s in a 243 or 40s in a 22-250 the effect is the same, the ruger is just the easy button to the gateway of hyper velocity.



That 20 practical is one that I've always though would gain even more popularity. It may not hit the marketing buzz of 4k but it's darn close, and practical is an understatement for what it is as a wildcat.

The biggest thing I like is the reloading, cost is cheaper yes but you get so much out of your powder as compared to the 243 that I also load. Both have a nitch but the 204 is still the one!

 

[Mike Patton]

Id take you up on that but what i dodnt mention is we recently had a coyote poulation boom that I think decimated the rabbit and groundhog population, since I only saw a few this spring, one in the summer, and I only saw one after the hay was cut until now. Up to last year, theres no way I could have stayed ahead of the groundhogs, so it has to be coyotes killing them off. Come to think of it, I think the 'yote population boom has run off all the foxes too as we used to have a few (I don't generally shoot foxes as they're one of the things that keep the mice and gopher population under control and since there's very few sheep and goats here, they don't kill much livestock other than chickens and no sane person would leave their chickens out at night anyway)

There's a few farms further north that still have prairie dog problems though. I had been wanting to get out and do some shooting there but something else would always seem come up. (I didn't even go fishing this year!)

The plague killed thousands of dogs in the southeast part of Colorad, it's real tuff finding a good place for three days!

 

[Mr. Magoo]

The plague killed thousands of dogs in the southeast part of Colorad, it's real tuff finding a good place for three days!

Hmm, I didn't know that. Explains alot

I just noticed that varmint shooting popularity in general really seemed to have died off last few years. 204 ruger and 22-250 rifles and ammo are basically vapor ware here.

 

[Mike Patton]

You can't find shells for the 204 unless you pay outrageous prices from individuals on line. Must reload and good luck finding components!

 

[Teri Anne]

Those things are big! Nice shooting.

Ours here in Colorado (we call em rockchucks) are a little smaller. We got an infestation on our ranch 6 or 7 years ago and they've been tearing the hell out of the fields and digging under the buildings. .223 just has too much boom for the neigborhood so a while back I got a 17 WSM. It's surpisingly accurate and has been super deadly. Just can't find ammo for it now so I've been thinking of a little centerfire. 17 hornet is the next step up but i3 cant find ammo or brass for that either. So i guess its going to be a 17 fireball or downloaded 20 practical- just something quiet and zippy i can make out of .223 brass. One of those wildcats -badger or garin, based on a 30 carbine but in 17 or 20 cal may work well too.

A few years ago a farmer not far from here was infested with woodchucks on her farm. She asked me if I could help her get rid of the chucks, which I was more than happy to do. We were out in the country so noise was not an issue but instead of my AR I chose the Tikka T1x in .22 LR. topped with a Vortex Crossfire II 4 x 16 x 50. The particular cannon fodder the rifle likes and which proved to be deadly is Winchester Silvertip 37 gr hollow point segmented bullets. This ammo is actually listed as defensive handgun ammunition. With a muzzle velocity of only 1060 fps it's not super high velocity but it's terminal performance is unbelievable. Accuracy from the Tikka is around 0.7 MOA, I had the rifle zero set at 100 yards. There were some 30+ chucks on her farm, some undermining the foundations of some out buildings. Ranges of the shots varied, but the longest shot the range finder reported at 130 yards. At that range I held on the eyes and the round dropped down into the chest with the same results as all of the others. One shot, one chuck. The destruction these little segmented bullets made was unbelievable. I do have to admit that all of the shots were from either a prone or bench supported positions
Since then I have been asked to do some more chuck eradication by other farmers in the area. Surprising how word of mouth works. Anyway used the same rifle and same ammo on all of them. When I arrived at the farms some of the farmers questioned using a simple .22 on something as big as a woodchuck. Once they saw what that little .22 could do it made a believer out of them.
While this may not constitute what others here consider long range, it is long range enough for a .22. One of these days I am going to haul the Tikka up to the Northwood's Range in Gordon, WI. It will be interesting to see how a .22 LR performs accuracy wise at 200 and 300 yards.

 

[Mr. Magoo]

A few years ago a farmer not far from here was infested with woodchucks on her farm. She asked me if I could help her get rid of the chucks, which I was more than happy to do. We were out in the country so noise was not an issue but instead of my AR I chose the Tikka T1x in .22 LR. topped with a Vortex Crossfire II 4 x 16 x 50. The particular cannon fodder the rifle likes and which proved to be deadly is Winchester Silvertip 37 gr hollow point segmented bullets. This ammo is actually listed as defensive handgun ammunition. With a muzzle velocity of only 1060 fps it's not super high velocity but it's terminal performance is unbelievable. Accuracy from the Tikka is around 0.7 MOA, I had the rifle zero set at 100 yards. There were some 30+ chucks on her farm, some undermining the foundations of some out buildings. Ranges of the shots varied, but the longest shot the range finder reported at 130 yards. At that range I held on the eyes and the round dropped down into the chest with the same results as all of the others. One shot, one chuck. The destruction these little segmented bullets made was unbelievable. I do have to admit that all of the shots were from either a prone or bench supported positions
Since then I have been asked to do some more chuck eradication by other farmers in the area. Surprising how word of mouth works. Anyway used the same rifle and same ammo on all of them. When I arrived at the farms some of the farmers questioned using a simple .22 on something as big as a woodchuck. Once they saw what that little .22 could do it made a believer out of them.
While this may not constitute what others here consider long range, it is long range enough for a .22. One of these days I am going to haul the Tikka up to the Northwood's Range in Gordon, WI. It will be interesting to see how a .22 LR performs accuracy wise at 200 and 300 yards.

Good to know! I haven't ever tried that round but it sounds like just what I need considering the easy fragmenting, price and quietness.

I have a marlin m 60 that likes just about everything I put through it so I'll have to give them a shot. I have a similar vortex as yours on it with the nice bdx reticle so it's just a matter of mapping what range each hash mark is for whatever ammo I'm shooting.

Thanks for the post.

 

[Teri Anne]

Good to know! I haven't ever tried that round but it sounds like just what I need considering the easy fragmenting, price and quietness.

I have a marlin m 60 that likes just about everything I put through it so I'll have to give them a shot. I have a similar vortex as yours on it with the nice bdx reticle so it's just a matter of mapping what range each hash mark is for whatever ammo I'm shooting.

Thanks for the post.

I don't worry so much about mapping the distances on the reticles. I sight in the rifle for 100 yards then use the Army Battlesight zero to make corrections. For example I know that at 50 yards the .22 hits about 5 inches higher than at 100. I simply hold a bit lower on closer targets. and a bit higher on farther targets (within reason) It's simple and it works.