Varmint shooting

[Ivan the Butcher]

I was up late watching YouTube videos on shooting pigs, coyotes, and small vermin.

I see the use of 6.5 Creedmoor at 100 to 200 yards on calm days is common place.

I like 22 Centerfires for everything out to 600 +/- yards. For different distances, I use different cartridges.

My arsenal includes: (with furthest successful distance used in yards)

22 Hornet/Savage 340 (165)
218 Bee/Rugar No1 (235)
221 Fireball/10" Contender (85)
223 Rem./Savage 12 (450), Rem 700 (too new), Cooper 21 (400ish), AR-15 (375)
22BR/Custom Rem 700 (425)

Has it become commonplace to shoot varmint at short distances? Is this due to lack of skill or lack of land with distance? Is hunting small game with Deer Cartridges due to lack of funds to own more than one gun?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Ivan

 

[elpac3]

Shoot what you have. Not everyone has caliber choices or can afford numerous garment guns

 

[Mule Packer]

Wow!! You have a nice arsenal. If I happen to come across a varmint that needs shooting, I usually just grab whatever is in the truck at that time. For example, I got this one with a Ruger 1022. He was out at a little over 75 yards.

I suppose I don't have what is normally considered a true varmint rifle. I guess this is about the closest thing that I have...a Winchester 9422M. I love shooting the .22 magnum. It does a heckuva job on ground squirrels in the alfalfa fields.

 

[mtgianni]

Ruger American 223
TC 16" 22 hornet bbl
TC 23" 17 Ackley hornet bbl
AR 5.56
CZ 452 22 lr.
TC 12" 7 TCU.

I just assume if they were shooting the Creedmore @ less than a 100 yards they didn't own a 22 lr.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

I'm kinda in the "use what you got" camp, too. I have one rifle i guess you could consider a "varminter" - a Remington 700 Tactical. 223 with a 3-15x Nikon Monarch scope. But I'll use whatever is handy, which is often a "deer rifle." Actually the last coyote I shot was with a Ruger Redhawk .44 mag with a 300 grain bullet. Overkill? No such thing.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

Mule Packer you make me kick myself once again for trading off my 94/22M - back when it was a $200 rifle instead of $800+.

 

[Narragansett]

I too like the centerfire 22's. I have a Ruger 77V from the mid 70's in 22-250, and a Browning heavy barrel Safari in 222 that I got nearing 40 years ago.

If I were to add anything to those fine rifles. I would look for something in 270 and if I could not find that, I would opt for 308.

I come from RI where long distances are limited by virtue of they don't exist, but whatever you do it must be on private land with written permission. Also the largest caliber you can shoot is a centerfire 22 about 4 months a year. So it is pretty safe to be a woodchuck in RI.

I agree skill level at long distance shooting is no doubt lacking. Especially if you have no place to practice.

I don't think the rifle business is as healthy as it once was. Handguns and shotguns are where the market is. Other than a 1940's Remington 512, I have not bought a rifle in 40 years.

The AR platform is not a hunting rifle, but it will work. I have shot woodchucks with a 32 Winchester special, and porcupine with a 30-06.

I will be joining a club soon with a 500 yard range and will be dusting off my rifles

 

[Borderboss]

I like watching coyote shooting videos as well. I believe the calling in of the coyotes is done to limit the distance of the shot so that the shooter doesn't have to go that far to pick up the carcass. I don't know that for certain.

I noticed the use of 6.5 Creedmore also, but for me, I would go .22-250. When I finally move out of this god-forsaken state and get to a state where I can buy a suppressor, I intend to buy a .22-250 and put a suppressor on it to do some of this coyote hunting. I haven't researched brands yet, but I hear good things about Tikka.

 

[Nevada Ed]

If lucky enough to call them in a 12 Ga. with large shot will fill the bill,
however the "Yotes" in Nevada are pretty smart and 90% of most shots
are out past 100 yards, and usually on the move.

It is rare to find/see one in the standing,sitting position, unless the moment is on your side.

Wind, sound and more than two eyes, are usually on their side.

I use a 222-250 with 52 and 55 gr bullets, per wind & temps, in my area.

 

[loc n load]

Varmints

My BIL & I eliminated 62 Coyotes last year ( combination of calling & trapping), calling them with an electronic caller. He shoots an AR in 223 with his handholds.
I use my tried and true Remington 788's. In 223 & 6mm Remington, my handloads also. We both load bullets designed specifically for varmints that deliver explosive expansion.
in some areas where we are calling, one of us will have a rifle and the other a shotgun with BB loads, or sometimes we both are armed with shotguns due to our location.
We have shot coyotes out past three hundred yards and within 20 yards of us.

 

[Engineer1911]

I shot out the barrels on a TC in 222 Rem, S&W 1500 in 222 Rem and a rebarreled Rem 700 in 25-06 that had a stainless steel barrel used for shooting prairie dogs for 12 years.

Current guns include TC in 30 Herrett, S&W 1500 was rebarreled to 223 Rem, Ruger 10-22 custom heavy stainless barrel, and AR-15s in 223. Now it is a 2-day drive to prairie dogs in the Midwest from Georgia.

 

[H Richard]

I shot Prairie Dogs for several years, and the 22-250 was my favorite. I had two Rem 700's in the 22-250. The older one i did shoot out the barrel, and replaced wit a stainless Douglas heavy barrel. I have several one shot kills past 500 yards with either gun. My walking around is a Sako in 222 Rem. I have a few one shot kills in the 300 yard range but prefer the 22-250 for anything from 250 and out.


So much fun. The closer shots are from, "Take a shot when it presents itself".

 

[mckenney99]

In the 1990s I was travelling to western South Dakota each June to shoot Prairie Dogs with some friends and I put together several different rifles for the task. I put together a Custom SS/HB TC Carbine in 218 Mashburn Bee for the early close in shots (100-150yds) before the winds started to pick up. As the ranges got longer and/or the winds started to pick up, I would switch over to either a Remington 700 HB Varmint in .223 Rem or a Remington 700 SS/HB Varmint in 22/250. When the ranges got longer (500+ yards) or the winds really picked up, I would switch over to a Custom blue printed & trued Remington 700 action with a SS/HB 25-06 Rem using Nolser 100gr Ballistic Tips. (Man those 100gr Ballistic Tips made the fat Prairie Dogs do some real acrobatics when they made contact.)
I miss those trips because I miss the friends we made while out there and because the shooting I got to experience was unlike anything that I could experience around here. There has been so much development, of the rural farming area in the eastern part of the county that there is nowhere safe to even hunt/shoot ground hogs any more.

 

[walnutred]

My most active varmint gun right now is a Heritage Rough Rider 22, six raccoons this year of the back porch.