Small varmint kills (the bastards!)

3 for 1 shot

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My longest groundhog kill. Head shot at Exactly 420 yards (nice) in gusty conditions. I’m blown away by the 25 creed. It’s a keeper

The other victim was the week prior with the 6 ARC

Slow start to the season for me due to weather, time, and parts issues. Only 5 down thus far
 

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Where do you try to hit them? I hear the organs are preferable to the head to prevent them going off but that seems counterintuitive. Last one that I found in the barn didn't go too well.
I try for chest shot, that works sometimes. I had one inside the barn the other day and it didn’t go well either. I like to sit out back after dark with my thermal and get them out in the pasture
 
CCI Mini Mag .22 LR meets gopher. Marlin 39A delivery system.
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Fellow church member thought he should poison all the gophers in one of his pastures. I asked him to wait, I'd go shoot some.
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Set up the Bergara .17 HMR and tripod, it was a most perfect day to shoot. Total gophers kills 250 plus. Heading back later this afternoon.
Pretty Lady and I attended the Memorial Day ceremony this am. A most somber event.
 
Pretty impressive resolution filming at that low magnification! Blows away the Razor 27-60 spotter. Was thinking of upgrading to a Kowa.

I use the Ollin adapter. How do you like the Kapture?
Love the adapter so far. I used to use a Novagrade and it was good but not quite as “easy” to use.

Here’s another video at roughly 500.
 
This mofo mus was playing hide and seek with me for a couple of weeks.
You learn to shoot quick when dealing with mofo mus and this one showed itself right before I was going to put the rifle down and take out the scanner.
Same H&N finale pellets.
I've been testing several HP pellets to get some explosive results, but I haven't found any that shoot worth a shit in my Barra rifle.
SJC
 
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Does this count as a small varmint? He was probably 60 pounds. Very dense.
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So on today's episode of Canadian Swamp People Person:

I'm new to this but the farmer who owns this creek told me he usually shoots them with a .22 but his friend said a shotgun was effective.

I read a few accounts of how .22s sometimes just "bounce off their skulls." I think that's just a euphemism for missing but who knows.

As soon as I got to the pond I saw one 15 yards away swimming past and I shot him through the top of the head with a .22 Stinger. He disappeared so I pulled the 870 in case it was one of those bouncing shots. His head reappeared in the same spot at an unnatural angle and I sent a load of 00 Flight Control into it which made a big red and brown splash and he disappeared again.

When I did that another beaver upstream of me dived. I took one step left towards him and immediately fell waist deep into a narrow beaver canal without hip waders. I pulled myself out, changed out my wet pants for hip waders and waded around in chest deep water for ten minutes pulling up wads of grass and mud with a stick.

I finally gave up and turned to head back to the bank when some bubbles appeared in front of me followed by a nose and some orange teeth.


TL,DR: beaver hunting is damp but exciting.
 
Does this count as a small varmint? He was probably 60 pounds. Very dense.
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So on today's episode of Canadian Swamp People Person:

I'm new to this but the farmer who owns this creek told me he usually shoots them with a .22 but his friend said a shotgun was effective.

I read a few accounts of how .22s sometimes just "bounce off their skulls." I think that's just a euphemism for missing but who knows.

As soon as I got to the pond I saw one 15 yards away swimming past and I shot him through the top of the head with a .22 Stinger. He disappeared so I pulled the 870 in case it was one of those bouncing shots. His head reappeared in the same spot at an unnatural angle and I sent a load of 00 Flight Control into it which made a big red and brown splash and he disappeared again.

When I did that another beaver upstream of me dived. I took one step left towards him and immediately fell waist deep into a narrow beaver canal without hip waders. I pulled myself out, changed out my wet pants for hip waders and waded around in chest deep water for ten minutes pulling up wads of grass and mud with a stick.

I finally gave up and turned to head back to the bank when some bubbles appeared in front of me followed by a nose and some orange teeth.


TL,DR: beaver hunting is damp but exciting.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Heck yeah beavers are small(ish) varmints in my book.
 
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Getting ready for some pdog blasting! 🚀💥

Got a new barrel, a 22-250. The pic above is a chrono of some factory Hornady 50gr Superperformance at about 90°F.

Not sure yet if that is more accurate out of this barrel than regular 50gr Varmint Express. Sure is faster! But here’s 10 shots of the latter (lower left). I’ll take that any day!

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View attachment IMG_3203.jpegGot this one a few minutes ago in the east bean field- note the bean plant still in her mouth - about 80 yards 17 hmr

Now the storm that wasn’t supposed to come till tonight rolled in and I’m stuck in my deer blind
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Low clouds lots of lightning- wish I had a drink with me but I’ll wait out the storm and see if I can get another one or two walking back to the truck
 
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I initially thought I saw two really slow coyotes grazing but it turns out I didn't.
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Got them both with one shot at about 90 yards. They *probably* wouldn't hurt anything but the dog chased and bit a skunk a couple days ago and I didn't need these walking vet bills coming into the yard.

While looking at them I heard some branches snapping and thought oh here's the coyotes but again, no:
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About thirty yards away watching me until he (she?) ran off when I took a few steps in their direction.
 
Here’s a few frame grabs from two vids shot today. Both with the 22-250 and 50gr Hornady Superperformance.


285yds, before:
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During headshot; basically from head to butt:
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After (flopping backwards, apparently with no head and basically hollowed out):
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282yds (lots of shots around that yardage today!); before:
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Bullet in flight (the blurry bit):
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Headshot (or maybe neckshot):
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Very nice - is that with the loaf you mentioned before going over 4000?
Yeah, it’s just factory Hornady 50gr Superperformance. I don’t reload.

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I also use the same stuff in 204 (in 40gr), but it travels a lot slower (~3650 to 3800fps), even out of a 26” barrel. Man, the 22-250 variant hits way harder. Lots more DRT bang/flop vs the 204 (which is no slouch itself).

The 22-250 ammo actually meets or exceeds the box numbers. Can’t say that about the 40gr 204 variant, of which the box promises 3900fps.

Edit: haven’t used the 32gr 204 in some time. 4225fps is in the box, but the 40gr stuff is better in the wind, which is why I use it instead.
 
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The pdog setup. 22-250 pictured.
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Box of 204 on the table. DOA-brand bench. Forgot to use my strip of carpet under the bipod.

Taped down mint green things are makeshift elbow pads lol
Very nice - my varmint hunting buddy has gotten a .204 and while accurate he’s not thrilled with box vs reality and seems we have to track coyotes further than .223 with anything less than a perfect hit .

I really miss my 22-250 and am in negotiations for a very old classy one with a possibly shot out Heart barrel that if I do get it will be replaced with a much faster twist and it may become my sort of do all rifle with some of the more modern loadings / projectiles. By everything I mean all varmints , deer occasionally a sped goat and for head shots on hogs .
 
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Very nice - my varmint hunting buddy has gotten a .204 and while accurate he’s not thrilled with box vs reality and seems we have to track coyotes further than .223 with anything less than a perfect hit .

I really miss my 22-250 and am in negotiations for a very old classy one with a possibly shot out Heart barrel that if I do get it will be replaced with a much faster twist and it may become my sort of do all rifle with some of the more modern loadings / projectiles. By everything I mean all varmints , deer occasionally a sped goat and for head shots on hogs .
So far, the only disadvantage of the 22-250 vs. 204 for pdogs is that the barrel heats up waaaay faster (as expected). I just use a water-soaked towel wrapped around the barrel. Works well, looks dumb lol

Besides that, the recoil is a tad more and before the trip, I actually got slightly sore after 75rds of zeroing and 300/400/500 truing on steel. Didn’t notice it that day, but did the day after. 204…never.

Just call me Mr. Shoulder Puss™.