Need some advice on woodchuck rifle

[TresCrows]

Sorry, I will make this my last post on this so as not to stir to trouble.
We may be dismissing the 17HMR to quickly. I only had mine a few weeks. Shoots fast and flat and is useable to at least 200 yards and a bit more. It is designed for varmints and has virtually no recoil and is no louder than a 22 LR. It is seriously accurate. Rifles by Savage and Marlin start around 160 dollars. Yes, I priced a Savage in the tapered barrel, blued at a local store at 164 dollars. The Marlins and heavy barrels and stainless run about 250 dollars. The ammo is cheap enough and getting cheaper all the time and several new loads will be out soon that--may--may--be useable up to coyote size at up to 100 yards.
Also, Savage has a new rifle that may be in your price range--the Model 40 Varmint Hunter--it is a single shot bolt chambered in the 22Hornet and also in the 223Remington. The 223 can get out to 300 yards.
I have seen the Marlin and Savage 17s at Wal Mart even.
(http://www.varmintal.com/17hmr.htm)--an interesting site. J

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I can get the .17 Savage 93 with heavy barrel and scope for $173 and have been planning on doing it but was hoping to find a 22-250 or something similar first. If you re read my post in here I have been trying to find something other then the 270 but have a limited budget right now. I have mentioned numerous times about the fact I don't want to use the 270 because of how powerful it is but then I was told of varmit rounds and have not talked to any dealers about them yet. I will not use the 270 if I can not find a varmit round anyway. It all depends on what ammo I find or what gun I can find. This post was to get some advice from others and put it all together and see what I can make of it and go from there. Thanks for your post though as you have more experience with different rifles then I do so I will add your advice to the rest. Take care and have fun.

 

[SPIKER]

I've been reading & watching this for a while. I thought i'd add a few cents

Not 100% sure that the varmit loads are there for 270, maybe called velocity rounds? We had some with a 30-06 that would obliterate a chuck out beyond 300 yards. (not by my shooting skils though!) my brother made more than a few bucks off the local bar when we were younger.

we lived beside a country bar, nothing out back for about 3~4 miles but open hay field most of the time. It was mowed regulary as the farmer had cows and used that field for silage hay wheat corn you name it. anyhow free arm standing 505 pace shot using standard isue army peep sites... but then his 22' remington 22LR he could open site shot a black bird over 150 yards, made a few bucks betting the guys on those shots too... (myself I'm lucky to hit a 20 yard shot with a full auto! lol) the odd thing is I can out shoot him on hand guns! I think I'm actually better off hunting chucks using my browning 22 semi-auto hand gun! it sure is a load of fun to shoot. reasnoably quite and accurate to 50 feet.

my land now has very little open ground and has horse pasture on 3 sides. so all I shoot is my 10-22 with 20~30 yard shots max. just no farther shjots needed as everthing is wooded and in hills & ravine. (but the guy with the horses has a truck top mounted tri pod for those chucks that are out in the middle of the fields. Not sure what he is shooting but he has a scope nearly the size of the gun! I've spoken to him and he said he is on that One Shot One kill kind of guy, if he can see it he can eliminate it. I didn't ask what it was he was shooting but I think it was probably in the same range of wepons talked about here.

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Slamfire]

Ah yes Adobe Wells and Billy Dixson's legendary shot. I'm not gonna say he didn't do it, but the trajectory of those rifles was such that if he overestimated the range a mere 25 yards, the bullet would have passed over the indian by about 50 FEET! Then there's the small matter of the front sight covering up a whole flock of indians at 7/8th of a mile.

Robert:
If you want somethin' cheap for shootin' chucks take your Redfield scope to a gunshow and swap it for a Savage 110 chambered for .223 (cheaper ammo)or .22-250 (flatter trajectory). Keep the Leupold and mount it on your new rifle.
Thats a pretty good idea about keepin a 17 HRM on the tractor, but the old griz will learn pretty quick that when the tractor stops it's time to head for the burrow. The good thing about that is you'll get a lot of practice on runnin' game. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
The thing that worked best for us was a Scotch Terrier that hated ground hogs. Old Snuff had more whistle pigs to his credit than all the shooters in the family. An Irish setter that was terrorized by a groundhog, as a pup ran a close second, according to my sister.
The .270 shootin' 90 grain bullets is way too loud for the neighbors to tolerate, not to mention your shoulder. If recoil doesn't bother you now, it will after a day in the silo pottin' griz. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Hi, where we are up there is not a problem. The neigbors are constantly shooting chucks with their rifle (they are amish). I love the sound of the rifles echo. Recoil is not something I worry about as I will only take out a few chucks at a time. The cows are out to pasture now anyways so I can only shoot when they are in the barn being milked. I have to set up at a gun show in August so hopefully I will find something there as there is no real hurry anymore.

We have one dog that loves to hunt woodchucks. He will go with me when I smoke the woodchuck holes and locate holes for me as I drive around on the tractor. I have no idea what type of dog he is but he is some type of mutt we got from the amish as a pup, maybe someone who knows more about dogs can tell me as here is a pic of him. He also likes to ride in the tractor /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I remember last year he had a woodchuck trapped outside its den. It was a lot of fun to stand there about 5 feet from them two and watch the stand off. Every time the woodchuck would try to go around he would dive at it and force it back again. Went on for quite a while before I broke up the skirmish (didn't want him to get hurt as it was a big chuck /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif) I wish I had my pistol on me then but that is how it works, never have something when you need it. Later.

 

[TresCrows]

"Ah yes Adobe Wells and Billy Dixson's legendary shot. I'm not gonna say he didn't do it, but the trajectory of those rifles was such that if he overestimated the range a mere 25 yards, the bullet would have passed over the indian by about 50 FEET! Then there's the small matter of the front sight covering up a whole flock of indians at 7/8th of a mile."

Well, I was not there but after seeing the program on the History Channel and the apparent verification by the US Army I think the "legend" is fact. How repeatable it is I am not sure about. An Army friend of mine was going on and on about snipers and such and I told him the story. His math is not to good I guess because I had to converet7/8th mile to yards for him. When I did he realized that even modern snipers do not shoot at that distance /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif. Well, maybe they do and we just don't know. How far can a 50BAR sniper rifle shoot? How far does an M1 main cannon shoot? J

 

[HayDR]

22 MAG- 0-150 yards
222 REM- 100-300 yards
223- 100-300 yards
22-250- 100-400 yards
220 Swift- 100-500 yards
243- 100-400 yards
25-06- 200-700 yards

 

[EddieWalker]

Most of my hunting is done with a modified Remington 700 in 30-06. For varmints I use either a Winchester 22-250 with a bull barrell or my favoriter shooter, the Ruger 10/22.

I practice at 100 yards shooting from a bench and use a bipod for control. I have spent tons of money working on hand loads and various factory loads.

After all the time and money I've spent on hand loads, it's become aparent to me and my rifle that the premium factory stuff shoots extremely well. I like federal.

First you need a standard. How accurate do you need to be. Woodchucks at one hundred yards are a very small target, but at 300 yards they become extremely small.

One inch off at one hundred yards probably wont matter too much on most conditions, but at 200 yards it could mean four to six inches and at 300 yards it could mean over a foot!

At one hundred yards, my bullet holes must touch. One inch groups are fine if you shoot ten rounds and they all touch.

One of my biggest issues with hunters is the number of guys I see at the range that run a couple of boxes through their rifles, get half, or maybe all of them in the black, and say they are ready to go hunting.

As for what caliber to shoot, any of the .22's with a decent barrel and qualty optics should do just fine.

There is a big difference in what you get in glass. The cheap stuff is pure junk and not worth any amount. The medium price range, $200 - $400 has some good choices, especially if your not traveling to extreme conditions. Shooting in the back pasture is perfect for this range.

The good stuff is going to start around $600 and go up over a grand. If your going to Alaska for a few weeks hunting sheep and have $10K into the trip, the good glass really makes sence.

Lots of good advice, and some really silly stufff suporting personal favorites. Whatever you use, it always comes back to marksmanship.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I agree with the sighting but I don't need to worry about the 100 yard range. I have a 350 yard range that all I have to do is move the bench to wherever I want to sight from. I have a great back stop with nothing to worry about getting hit. When I am ready I will be able to sight whatever I get in at 200 yards and see how it shoots at 300 yards and go from there. I will be doing a lot of sighting in soon as I want to set up the 270, 10/22 Ruger, and most likely a .17 and if I can find one a 22-250. I enjoy sighting in guns a lot and have been working with pistols most recently so going to rifles will be a fun change of pace. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Take care.

 

[TresCrows]

"There is a big difference in what you get in glass. The cheap stuff is pure junk and not worth any amount. The medium price range, $200 - $400 has some good choices, especially if your not traveling to extreme conditions. Shooting in the back pasture is perfect for this range."

I do handloads to load down and also to custom make loads that are not factory available. Scopes, the best scope I have which has traveled through rain and snow first with my dad and then with me is a 3X-7X-42MM WesternField bought at a Montgomery Wards in circa 1960. I have the box, it was made in Germany and it cost 19.98, the price sticker is still on the box. I have another from MWs that I believe was made by Argus in the mid to late 50s. In any case I like it too. They are mounted on respectively a sporterized Springfield 30-06 also bought for under 20 dollars at MWs and the other is on a Marlin lever gun from the 30s, I use it for knocking pigs on their rears, inherited from a great uncle.
Swift makes some nice scopes for well under 200 dollars, if they break, just buy another, I have one on the Hornet Ruger 77/22 and it is clear and holds it's zero, it is a 4X12-40MM. I really need at least an 18X on that rifle but still the scope works just fine. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Of course, if your going on the hunt of a lifetime then I agree, nothing but the best. You will only get one chance but for critters in the back pasteur, the Marlin/Savage bolt in 17HMR will do fine to about 250 yards. CC1 has a new 20grain hollowpoint for "bigger" game. Hmmm, I still like the 22Mag for 'bigger" game in my Winchester 9922Mag. That thing is surprisingly accurate to 100 yards much to the dismay of several 'yotes and 'coons over the years. My brother used to skin them for me and hang the pelts on the carport wall much to the dismay of my southern belle mother /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif.
I think, the more I read about it that the new 204 Ruger is going to be a fantastic cartridge for 300 plus yards on varmints. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I want one in a TC or something anyways. J