Are you popping gophers with rimfire only or do you mix in some centerfire for longe range or more explosion?
Well, I'm fortunate to have struck-up good relationships with some landowners out there...in a very "target-rich" part of Alberta. Quite frankly, the number of targets kind of dictates that it be a rimfire affair Hoyt. To give you an idea, I sent-out 5K of 22LR, and 1.5K of 17HMR back in 2016. We shot over 4K of the 22, 1K+ of the HMR and 250 rounds of 12ga. I'd love to be using my .223 (or new 17H) for a good part of that, but it's an economy thing to be perfectly honest. These are working farms/ranches too...and in spite of what the hell-raisers will tell you, the land owners out there do prefer you use rimfires.
A buddy of mine from Calgary brought down some of his toys last time there, a SAKO Varmint in .223, an RPR in 6.5 CM, a Marlin 1895G in 45/70, a Tikka CTR in .308, etc. I shot gophers will all of those but without a doubt, the .223 hits were nothing short of spectacular. If I lived out there, .223/.204R would factor into every shoot...but as a visiting gopher-slayer, it's a very rimfire-centric week. I honestly don't mind.
I will add~I bought one of those Neal Waltz hollow-point kits for my reloading press a few years back. All of my 22 goes through that for these trips, one round at a time. REALLY hits gophers hard, as in with HMR-like results. Instant bang/flop..usually with gooey bits flying around too.
So to answer your question...rimfire only, shotgun sometimes.
