Building or buying the perfect gopher setup

Yotarunner

Yotarunner

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Location
Eastern Alberta
The gophers are out and babies will be coming up anytime now so like always I'm scheming up ways to make my gopher killing more efficient.
Currently running a cz 452varmint and have a built up 10/22 with green mountain barrel.
Given my occupation I have access to large amounts of gophers and the boss is gracious enough to supply most of my ammo as long as it's fired at gophers on his land.
The only downside to this is that the ammo being fired is often the cheapest stuff that's available and I find myself shooting way more than necessary at gophers that should have been hit on the first shot.
How would a guy go about squeezing the most potential out of the cheaper bulk box ammo?
Current thoughts are to get a rim thickness gauge
Sell the 452 for a 457 that can be customized to fit my needs best.
Or Change the 10/22 up to better fit my situation
Any other ideas? Rim thickness gauge I think is likely the best option to get better accuracy but with over 5k rounds a summer it isn't the most efficient method.
 
I'd just stick with the 452 and make sure you've sighted it in using the ammo you intend to use. Not likely that a change in rifle will improve the accuracy of mediocre ammo. Not sure what conditions you shoot gophers under, but I find lots to shoot at 20-80 yards, and can't blame the ammo for misses. Find something cheap your gun shoots okay, and go with that. It doesn't have to be expensive ammo, just weed out the crap.
 
FLHTCUI said:
American Eagle Hp is what I would try and recommend to your boss.
Even if he is footing the bill...
Rob
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I second that as well. I tested all the brands of medium priced ammo I could buy at the store and the AE's shot the best in my CZ 452 and Ruger 10/22. I did not compare them to high end target ammo. Not going to spend that kind of money on gopher shooting when I can go through 300-500 rounds in a day.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
I second that as well. I tested all the brands of medium priced ammo I could buy at the store and the AE's shot the best in my CZ 452 and Ruger 10/22. I did not compare them to high end target ammo. Not going to spend that kind of money on gopher shooting when I can go through 300-500 rounds in a day.
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I would agree with you AE shoots amazing out of my rifle. Sadly I'm these parts I. Pretty much stick with fed blue box or winchester as far as bulk is concerned. Haven't seen American eagle for a few years. I have a few squirreld away for when I take my own ammo but that's it. If I could afford it Eley hollow points shoot amazing but just not economical for high volume
 
a j cave said:
Just shor 4-500 with a hornet and khornet. Great fun. Got a badger at just over 100, was very surprised at the energy the head shot showed. :)
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Oh yes I have a 222 and 2 20 practicals for bench shooting along with the portable swivel bench all setup for gophers. But when it comes to meat and potatoes high volume work the boss is paying for 22lr.
 
I used to go out shooting coyotes so I imagine gophers aren't that much different. I have a rifle that's chambered in 556/223 with Leopold 15X 20 in 50 millimetre lens. Best rifle I've ever used because it also works well for deer. Good luck finding what you need.
 
RiMP9 said:
I used to go out shooting coyotes so I imagine gophers aren't that much different. I have a rifle that's chambered in 556/223 with Leopold 15X 20 in 50 millimetre lens. Best rifle I've ever used because it also works well for deer. Good luck finding what you need.
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It's like having 1000's of popcans running around all over the place lol. 223 works great but I can't afford to shoot 5000 rounds of it ��
 
I am a serious gopher shooter. I spend very little time fussing over super duper accuracy. I use anything hollow point, Winchester, Federal, Winchester-Western, Augila 38 gr. hp has caught my attention. I do fire the odd warning shot, but it’s only fair, no?

The last few years I’ve been using my CZ 455’s, and now 457’s. Before that I mostly used a stock 10/22. Shot a pile of gophers over the years, around home area and southwest SK. Got in a heck of a shoot east of Birtle,MB one time. Shot for four days in a small field that I just stumbled on.

I am stuck pro-tilling for the next few days, but after I’m done I’ll be heading out shooting gophers somewhere.
 
457 MTR with CCI Mini Mag HPs
Savage 93R17 with CCI A17 ammo...

1950's vintage Mossberg 151MB with period correct Weaver 4x scope for nostalgia's sake

The 17HMR is my fav. the .22s are good for when nearer to occupied areas... 'just quieter.

SxyG4R1.jpg
 
Try the Remington bulk golden bullet hp. My gopher guns shoot them way better than the Federal bulk. At 25 yards not much difference but at 50 yards and beyond no contest!
 
Try five different brands for accuracy at 50 yards plus CCI MiniMags both solids and HP's.
Then try rim thickness on the one you determine to be the best in your rifles.
As to rim thickness, there is huge variations in cheaper brands. Eley Match grades may show a 0.001 variation.
CCI may vary 0.003 which when segregated will fall into three thicknesses. These three thicknesses will suffice in low, mid and high.
Your mid measurement might be 0.042 which is within a 0.001 range. the other two will be < and >.
One box of ammo will be sufficient to see if there is a preference shown with your rifles.
The cheapest Rim Thickness gauge will be a 243 calibre centerfire case trimmed flush with the lead inserted then set your caliper to 0.000.

This might make more sense. You can see the rim of the bullet on the left side. With American made ammo you will have your samples in short order. With luck the largest group will be the most accurate.



Most of my experience was with Match grade and I separated them into two groups . . . high and low. Conclusion: Not really a tinker's Dam difference!

Additionally, CCI MiniMags round nose were producing 2" groups at 100 yards. HP's ballooned to 6" groups and were 6" to the left.
 
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Gopher shooting is literally my favorite shooting sport by far, which is why most of my travel budget/planning goes towards flying to AB for just that. Bringing the family this summer so a spring gopher shoot won't/didn't happen, but I'm hoping to find a few when I sneak an afternoon here/there.

I've literally shot over 2 cases (not bricks) of CCI Blazer through my 452 Varmint/@ gophers, but had taken that rifle out with every high velocity ammo I could get my hands on and tested them all @ 50 yards. For some reason, the Blazer was very consistent and affordably-priced. Issue was, no HP. A dead gopher is a dead gopher and even clipping one delivers that result so they're fine as they are. I ran mine through a die that puts a hollow-point on, but that's labor-intensive and slow when considering gopher #s. Obviously, finding a gun that suits the ammo is sort of the "tail wagging the dog", but for this gun it works and big HPs drop gophers with flying parts about 2/3 of the time.

BTW-I wish my varmint was an American-in high-volume days, the weight reduction would be much appreciated.

Last point-chasing accuracy in 22 gopher guns is a bit of a fruitless effort in many ways, owing to the constant wind and often restless nature of these varmints. Especially the pups. I probably spent WAY too much time doing exactly that when the one rancher passed me his open-sight BRNO 2E. My eyes are almost too hold to make iron sights work, but blasting away with an open-sight gun and a mix-n-match variety of ammo is actually very satisfying. And effective. Accuracy matters more the further you reach out, but reaching out isn't always required.

I'd suggest you run some Blazer through your rifle, and anything HV/HP. See what it likes, and leave out the caviar-grade stuff for your boss' sake.

I suspect you could easily rally-up some help on this forum if you need another gunner. :)
 
horseman2 said:
Try five different brands for accuracy at 50 yards plus CCI MiniMags both solids and HP's.
Then try rim thickness on the one you determine to be the best in your rifles.
As to rim thickness, there is huge variations in cheaper brands. Eley Match grades may show a 0.001 variation.
CCI may vary 0.003 which when segregated will fall into three thicknesses. These three thicknesses will suffice in low, mid and high.
Your mid measurement might be 0.042 which is within a 0.001 range. the other two will be < and >.
One box of ammo will be sufficient to see if there is a preference shown with your rifles.
The cheapest Rim Thickness gauge will be a 243 calibre centerfire case trimmed flush with the lead inserted then set your caliper to 0.000.

This might make more sense. You can see the rim of the bullet on the left side. With American made ammo you will have your samples in short order. With luck the largest group will be the most accurate.



Most of my experience was with Match grade and I separated them into two groups . . . high and low. Conclusion: Not really a tinker's Dam difference!

Additionally, CCI MiniMags round nose were producing 2" groups at 100 yards. HP's ballooned to 6" groups and were 6" to the left.
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That rim thickness trick is a great idea! I will have to give that a try. Did you say it didn't make a difference in the lower grade stuff or just the high grade?
 
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