Thread: just Varminting - how far was your longest shot on your last walk

Originally Posted by Tussock

I started with a Savage Long Range Varminter in 22-250 but I started doing LR and realised the BC of .25 made my enormous 12lb rifle ridiculous. I sold it and got a 6.5x284 Savage F-class and I regret selling it to buy a PM2. It shot freakish groups. It was used for 100m blowfly shooting. Would have made a great varmint rifle but the Zeiss Conquest I had on it broke on the drive over to the only varmint shoot I took it on (thus the PM2).

I built a Sako 75 6.5x47L as a varmint rifle first and foremost and and awkward heavy hunting rifle second. It was a very reliable rifle even in a bit of breeze out to 400m. Best shots with that rifle were 410m rabbits but I shot a lot at around 400m. At 350-400m rabbits did not react to the suppressed shots but I could shot consistently, so I would set up this distance from faces. I never shot for records, but I shot a lot of rabbits on properties where they are normally hard to get. An expensive but very productive way to cull rabbits. I had to sell this rifle a while back.

I currently have another Sako 75 waiting to turn into either another 6.5x47L or a fast twist 22-250

Shame you had to sell that Sako 6.5 Lapua, I bet it was a fantastic all-rounder. If you were allowed only 1 rifle in the safe it would be hard to go past something like that

It is why I built it and why I will build another. Especially since I still have 700 Lapua cases for it.

The .223 will do for now. Longest recent shot was with my Anschutz .22LR 170m pigeon after two days of reticle hold practice.

Originally Posted by Tim Dicko

Hey Rossi just a question, obviously you are getting excellent accuracy ect with vmaxs without question. just wondering why you dont use higher b.c projectiles for wind cutting ability ect.

good question @Tim Dicko

the hard and fast answer is i am very happy with the 87grn. VMax . . . but if someone has suggestions for a higher BC bullet for 1-10 twist 243W i would be interested to hear their thoughts

R.

Originally Posted by Tussock

Longest recent shot was with my Anschutz .22LR 170m pigeon after two days of reticle hold practice.

like your style Tussock . . . put the practice in and getting the results

what ammo & scope/reticle ?

Originally Posted by rossi.45

good question @Tim Dicko

the hard and fast answer is i am very happy with the 87grn. VMax . . . but if someone has suggestions for a higher BC bullet for 1-10 twist 243W i would be interested to hear their thoughts

R.

Enjoyed the Targex 95 but was slower obviously.

Hit Goats really hard though and was super accurate in my Tikka.

Originally Posted by Friwi

Hi Rossi,
So I built that rifle because a friend had the reamer and i had seen spectacular results with it. ( his first two live game after load development and drop chart were two magpies at 350 and 400m with rounds number 1 and 2).
The reamer is a neck turn (229) . Barrel is true flite remington varmint profile, 24" long, built on a Rem 788 that I blueprinted. Timney trigger ken henderson carbon tactical hunter stock.( I am not sure he will ever re do an inlet for that action as it is so tricky with that stock pattern).
I am shooting a 39gr sierra blitz king at 3950 fps. I am using vita n133 powder.
I choose the Remington 788 so I can mag feed easily. The rifle is shooting well, but not exceptionally well yet , I still have the odd flyer and that could come from the fact that my first 50 lapua cases were from a second hand batch of 6 mm br.
I will try with a new batch to see if consistency improves. I also need to work up a bit my seating depth and change scope as I damaged my old leupold 6.5-20-40.
The gun was originally designed for Shooting magpies.
If I had to do it again I would go with a no turn neck reamer, a single shot action ( Barnard s or Remington7 or its clone).0 Moa rail ( I have a 20 Moa that does not serve any purpose for that flat Shooting cartridge) use a full length sizing die instead of just a type s neck die.
I built a 204 ruger on Howa mini action in a plastic stock with a standard tikka contour barrel last June and it does shoot as well with factory ammo than the 20 br with all the hard work. So if you are into Shooting more than reloading go with the 204.

some pics of the 20BR would be cool @Friwi

bit of a chuckle to myself about the Howa 204 vrs BR comment, i could have saved myself a whole lot of trouble if i had just got a .223R Tikka Varmint instead of fcking around with a custom setup/cartridge with my .22VarTarg, love the rifle but work vrs performance it doesnt really stack up when your in the field . . on the flip side being sensible & conservative is as dull as dishwater, what are ya going to do.

Originally Posted by SlimySquirrel

Enjoyed the Targex 95 but was slower obviously.

Hit Goats really hard though and was super accurate in my Tikka.

what was the actual BC & your speed for the 95s @SlimySquirrel

Originally Posted by rossi.45

good question @Tim Dicko

the hard and fast answer is i am very happy with the 87grn. VMax . . . but if someone has suggestions for a higher BC bullet for 1-10 twist 243W i would be interested to hear their thoughts

R.

The one in ten twist is not optimal for the over 100 grain it seems. the one in 8 looks like i takes over there. Try crunching the numbers on the 103 eldx on a twist calculator. i use 143 eldx in my 260rem varmint rifle and it has been very good at range.

Originally Posted by rossi.45

like your style Tussock . . . put the practice in and getting the results

what ammo & scope/reticle ?

Good old fashioned Powerpoint, but the newer 42gr stuff. Scope was a very ordinary Nikon Pro-staff which broke the next day. I'm practicing image retention of fall of shot against a plain reticle. It works well. I don't have any of my LR gear set up, so I have been playing with absolutely bog standard gear and reticle hold. It works a lot better than you might imagine and makes for very fast shooting.

I'm just carrying my Leica 1200 in my top pocket and that is it. Good old school fun.

That’s a great question mate!

Can’t remember but @Thar used them a lot too I think.

2950 from memory so I’ll have to go trawling through my notes....

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

Interesting how he uses game kings.

I would have thought that since a rabbit is well... A light skinned rabbit then the cheap as chips fmj you can buy would be the best option. Cheap shooting.

in one of my Nosler reloading manuals they address this very well...they were shooting something similar to rabbits ,one fella was using a target projectile for its extra accuracy the other a slightly less accurate but expanding projectile.....the less accurate projectile is more humaine as body hits produce instant results...the less expanding (as your fmj would be) will let alot of animals crawl away.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

in one of my Nosler reloading manuals they address this very well...they were shooting something similar to rabbits ,one fella was using a target projectile for its extra accuracy the other a slightly less accurate but expanding projectile.....the less accurate projectile is more humaine as body hits produce instant results...the less expanding (as your fmj would be) will let alot of animals crawl away.

I thought an fmj would still make a rabbit explode. From the velocity etc.

669m on a Rabbit 6x47L 75 Vmax at 3850 fps
555M on a Rabbit 20 PPC 40 Vmax at 4100 FPS
375m on a Fox 20 Vartag 32 Vmax at 3850 FPS

https://youtu.be/WjU5xkn_IbA
Worth a watch on a wet day,this guy has lots of uploads,no inane music or talking.

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

I thought an fmj would still make a rabbit explode. From the velocity etc.

not really.....pencil through as next to no resistance,the energy doesnt transpher so next to no shock...I recal a rabbit shot through both eyes SIDE ON with .222remington at close range using a target load...it simply didnt meet enough resistance to do anything...also a rabbit with through n through high shoulder wounds from .30/30 again no resistance,shot that 2nd bunny about 2 weeks later,it was in process of healing up.if either of those shots were even 1/4" across the outcome would be different. norinco yellow box .223 is funny stuff as it takes stuff all to make it tumble on impact...that is one fmj load that works...sure does on hares anyway.