what gun to buy for "varmints"

[Egon]

I've been looking for the proper rifle and came across this one. It should have the range and provide sufient energy to eradicate a Varmit.

Vidéo "Barret cal 50 Sniper Rifle" de Sweeny (Actualité > Reportage / Docu / ITW) - wat.tv

 

[Dargo]

If people never shot guns anywhere within the range of houses then there wouldn't me much shooting. My deer rifle is lethal out past 7 miles but I can gurantee that I have killed deer within 7 miles of homes.

Please do share with us what firearm you, as a civilian, own that has a lethal range of over 12,000 yards.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, ignorance of the consequences of any and every possible scenario or discharging a firearm is no excuse in the eyes of the law. Before you pull the trigger on any firearm you better be willing to bet your life, and the life of everyone around you, that you know precisely where the bullet is going to hit and where it will ultimately end up. As I said, I know first hand, probably better than anyone else on this forum, what can happen to a person when they are ignorant of every possible consequence of pulling a trigger. If you're comfortable with looking a mother in the eye and explaining that you were "just so sure" that your shot wouldn't take that one in a million bounce and kill her child, go ahead and shoot. Just remember that if Murphy's Law enters into the equation in the worst way, you'll get to give your lame explanation of how you were just so sure that odd ricochet wouldn't happen to police, detectives, lawyers, judges as well as your new room mate for the next 20 years or so while writing your family and friends hoping that you'll live long enough to see them again.

If you think that sounds harsh, I assure you, that little explanation doesn't even begin to touch the reality of how horrible one simple mistake can be and how many lives can be permanently shattered just because you thought you were safe when you were shooting around people.

 

[Highbeam]

Please do share with us what firearm you, as a civilian, own that has a lethal range of over 12,000 yards.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, ignorance of the consequences of any and every possible scenario or discharging a firearm is no excuse in the eyes of the law. Before you pull the trigger on any firearm you better be willing to bet your life, and the life of everyone around you, that you know precisely where the bullet is going to hit and where it will ultimately end up. As I said, I know first hand, probably better than anyone else on this forum, what can happen to a person when they are ignorant of every possible consequence of pulling a trigger. If you're comfortable with looking a mother in the eye and explaining that you were "just so sure" that your shot wouldn't take that one in a million bounce and kill her child, go ahead and shoot. Just remember that if Murphy's Law enters into the equation in the worst way, you'll get to give your lame explanation of how you were just so sure that odd ricochet wouldn't happen to police, detectives, lawyers, judges as well as your new room mate for the next 20 years or so while writing your family and friends hoping that you'll live long enough to see them again.

If you think that sounds harsh, I assure you, that little explanation doesn't even begin to touch the reality of how horrible one simple mistake can be and how many lives can be permanently shattered just because you thought you were safe when you were shooting around people.

Blah blah blah, I risk killing another person every time I drive to work. Your question about my range statement though has merit. Back when I took myt hunter's safety courses they had a display showing maximum range of various rifle rounds. The 22 was listed as 1.5 miles and I am certain that the very common 300 winmag was 7.5 miles. Best I could find was the much weaker 30-06, also very common, was only down to 800 FPS at 5675 yards from this source:

Range of a Handgun Bullet

Obviously I am not aiming to kill something at 5500 yds but this thread is about safety and the max lethal range is the issue. I would not want a 180 grain bullet at 800 fps to hit my child in the head. Speed of sound is just around 1000FPS.

 

[Dargo]

Blah blah blah, I risk killing another person every time I drive to work.

Yes, and I get to see someone sitting behind bars each month who had the arrogant and ignorant attitude you seem to possess concerning firearm safety. It's time to put your big boy pants on and become a responsible person if you are going to use firearms. I place your rude "blah, blah, blah" into the same category as your assertion that you possess a firearm that has a lethal range of over 12,000 yards; simply uninformed and unaware.

 

[MossRoad]

I've been looking for the proper rifle and came across this one. It should have the range and provide sufient energy to eradicate a Varmit.

Vid駮 "Barret cal 50 Sniper Rifle" de Sweeny (Actualit > Reportage / Docu / ITW) - wat.tv

Oh, come on now.... That's just a pop gun compared to this...

M1 Abrams - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[MossRoad]

Here in the NW where Knot-bored and I live, our "woodchucks" are actually little mole critters that are about as big as a rat.

If people never shot guns anywhere within the range of houses then there wouldn't me much shooting. My deer rifle is lethal out past 7 miles but I can gurantee that I have killed deer within 7 miles of homes.

Use weapons responsibly with safety being more important than killing the woodchuck.

Sounds like a different animal. Here, woodchucks often exceed 2' long and 20+ pounds. A pellet gun tends to bounce off their skull at all but the closest range (according to my neighbors, who have killed many over the years with various tools.)

As far as using rifles to kill deer in populated areas, that is just plain careless. Most people around here use shotguns because:
A. They will not travel far if the target is missed and
B. There are too many people. Even out in the country there is a road every mile with houses and cars and people.

It would be completely irresponsible to discharge a rifle in most places in our area. The land is just too flat and too poplulated. I can think of only two shooting ranges that allow high powered rifles. One is the F.O.P, which has about 3 miles of open farm land behind its backstop and the other is a state park with a huge backstop and several miles of farmland and quarantined land behind it (used to be a munitions factory and testing area).

 

[polo1665]

I certainly DO NOT advocate any unsafe activities revolving around firearms but I feel a couple of points must be made.

1. If you are going to quote the maximum range of a projectile fired from a specific weapon you also take into consideration the rate of drop of that projectile. In other words if a bullet of a certain caliber has the ability to travel one mile (max) you had better be shooting it off of a mountain top.
Ex. A .22 Hornet will drop 22" in 300 yards and 155" in 500 yards.

2. A freak accident can happen at a rifle range just as well as in your back yard. The only way to completely eliminte the chance of such a freak accident is to eliminate firearms completely.

Once again I DO NOT advocate firing any firearm in a populated area without regard to safety or the consequences that a stray bullet may produce. That being said, there are very few areas in rural Ohio (or other states) that would afford you several miles of clear path for an errant projectile.

http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/ballistics/

Mark

 

[Egon]

That sure is a nice carriage mount for a varmint gun Moss. Can you get enough depression for the close in shots?

 

[MossRoad]

That sure is a nice carriage mount for a varmint gun Moss. Can you get enough depression for the close in shots?

Yes, just back up onto a car or house to tip the nose down.

 

[MossRoad]

In other words if a bullet of a certain caliber has the ability to travel one mile (max) you had better be shooting it off of a mountain top.

All you have to do is discharge the firearm at about a 32 degree angle up to see how far the projectile will travel (45 degrees if you are in a vacuum).