First gopher for Savage B-Mag .17 WSM (Graphic pics)

gabrielguitars

gabrielguitars

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So, the first 10 gophers of my year lie in broken piles as of yesterday, thanks to my Savage B-Mag and a Savage in .204 Ruger. Here you go, gore-fans:

That gopher was a 120 yard offhand shot, which I was very impressed with. The thing I found interesting is the difference in gopher damage between the .17 WSM and the .204 Ruger 32-grain V-Max Superformance factory loads. Here is the .17 WSM:

And here is the .204 Ruger, shot prone at 100 yards:

I am aware that each animal and shot can vary considerably in terms of damage, but I shot others with both guns, and I would say that these are very representative of the calibre's performance. With the 4225 fps claimed velocity of the .204, I expected to find little to nothing of the gophers, to be honest. I would have to guess that the bullet is perhaps built a little tough? I would also assume that the 20 grain .172 pill in the .17 WSM is likely the exact same as used in the .17 HMR, just driven 625 fps faster, creating an absolutely gloriously disgusting terminal effect. I had multiple gophers fly into the air when hit, spinning off pieces as they did so when hit with the .17 WSM. The groupings on paper were far from awe-inspiring, but every time I pulled the trigger on game, dead animals appeared. BTW, the stock in the photo is a Boyd's Rimfire Hunter in camo, and I adore it!
 
Love the stock( next thing on my to get list).
That's a lot of damage from such a small bullet. I wish we had gophers here in Ontario. Nice to see a B mag in the field and the results it produces. I've only punched paper once with mine at 60 Meters and was short of time or would have loved to shoot more. I would like to shoot some ballistics gel out farther 150-175 just to see what it does as far as penetration and wound channel. Have you shot any gophers with the 25 gn yet? Also ,is that a Tasco 6-24 Target? Do you find them fairly clear at the higher powers (18-24)?
Scott...
 
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The 25 grain loads are pretty scarce here, so I haven't gotten any yet. I shot an old wooden fencepost, and the bullet completely penetrated, I was shocked! Realize that the gopher I shot in the photo was from 120 yards, so that is still a lot of usable energy. Yes, the Tasco Varmint sits atop the B-Mag. I find the higher magnifications rather cloudy, but it still seems to work well enough for a gun of this calibre (excuse the pun).
 
i was shooting yesterday shot few hundred gophers using b mag with 20gr bullets an my axis 223 with 36 gr barnes vg tips an 50 gr vg the 17 wsm made a bigger mess out of em then the 223...almost like the gopher are not big enough to make the varmint grenades work properly
 
Ive been popping gophers with steel core 7.62x39 and although needless to say the round is enough to do the job but I'm rather surprised at just how little energy transfer there seems to be.
 
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I've noticed some issues with vertical stringing since installing the Boyd's stock. It seems not to like being solidly rested, but prefers offhand. I'm going to try something radical for bedding and see what happens.
 
Wow... I havnt taken my BMag out except to attempt to zero it. I dont believe I would be able to hit a gopher with mine, except if luck was on my side. I will be sending mine back to savage, and request a replacement as mine is absolutely horrible, group wise. I believe it was shooting a 4-5" group at 50-60 yards last time I had it out. POS. IMO.... (I floated the barrel, didnt help). I am thoroughly disappointed. And I wanted to get the Boyds thumbhole, but won't bother till I get one worth shooting.
 
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