Gopher plunker?

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Farmb0y

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Hey everyone, i got a quick question for everybody. I'm in the need to buy a .22lr semi automatic rifle. The gophers are getting over populated and are making big enough holes to damage machinery, and really hurt the cattle. So I'm wanting to buy a .22lr because i know that they're cheap to shoot. And pack enough punch to kill a gopher in 1 shot. And to really give a coyote a bad day. So, i'm now looking on the market for a .22lr. Yup, i know that ruger 10/22's are paintball's Ions. relitively cheap, and there's enough custom parts that you basically didnt need to buy the stock one in the first place. But I'm looking to get a .22lr that looks and feels like a AR-15, it doesn't have to though, i went into the states and went to Scheal's Sports. They have a large inventory of guns, and i really liked the feel of the smooth thumbhole stocks. But i'm not one to walk into a gun shop and ask questions. I prefer to ask people who have experience with the guns they suggest, not suggest one's by price to earn the most profit for themselves. So if anyone has any suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated. I've been on the forum for a while, and i don't know what went through me to post this much the past day and a half, but yeah, im here now. There is supose to be a new .22lr coming out called the Sig522 but you all think it's going to be a restricted gun? I don't have a restricted license so no ball for that one. I will be getting my license when the paperwork goes through, so i might aswell start looking.

Thanks

Edit: I'd like the gun to be a semi automatic because when there's gophers, there is tonnes, i mean like 10 in a group, and if i had a semi auto i could spray, and hopefully hit more then one.
 
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Sig522. Folding stock. Smells like a restricted class, for no other scary reason than that. Your guess is as good as mine why.

Buy a 10-22. Preferably a used one. Harris Bipod. Coupla Ramline mags. Some decent glass. Or cheap glass. Shoot the crap out of it. Enjoy!

Leave all the barbie-doll aftermarket stuff alone. Spend the money on ammo, instead. Shoot more!

If you don't mind spending as much time loading as shooting, you can get about anything. If you want to be able to lay waste to the gopher crop, the ability to sit in one spot and only have to reload once per box of shells, is useful. That boils down to the 10-22 and the Remmy 597.

Wanna play sub-caliber junior commando? The 10-22 in full dress-up mode is the one you want.

My boot ugly 10-22 is going on over 20 years of hard use, you could say I'm biased :D

Cheers
Trev
 
+2 on the Ruger 10/22

There are enough accessories to make it look pretty much how you want it to.

I also have to second the recommendation that trevj made. Buy a decent scope, some 25 round magazines, a quickloader and then shoot gophers. After you have tried it like that you can decide on an aftermarket stock, there are plenty of types out there.

In know what you mean about gophers being numerous at times. When I lived at home on the farm I hunted/shot them continually so the population was kept in check. After I left home they began to really multiply. My best day was a visit home in late May or early June a few years back, after about a week of cool rainy weather finally the sun come out in the late afternoon. The gophers were all out of their holes to dry off and feed so it was a target rich environment. I had 2 25rnd mags for my 10/22 and a entire brick of ammo in my vest pockets and I run out of ammo in 2-3 hrs. When I began to shoot I just leaned on the corral rails and emptied both mags and by the time I had reloaded them I had enough gophers to shoot at again. Did that twice more before I had to move to find more gophers, most shots under 25 yards. That was a great day but my thumbs told me that a speed loader for 10/22 mags is a worthwhile investment.
 
That's why i liked the idea of a beltfed one. And my thumbs killed after 3 hours of loading a 30 round mag. I live out on the open prairie and my shots are at least 50m or more. My gophers are smart for some reason... probibly because i shoot the stupid one. Now, i just think i need to find a cheap 10/22. And i really really liked the feel of the thumb hole stock, so would it be a smart idea to buy it right off the start? Or use the stock on it, till it becomes bad enough that it starts to give me splinters like my old pellet gun when i was young?
 
my shots are at least 50m or more. My gophers are smart for some reason... probibly because i shoot the stupid one.
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I hear you, had the same experince. The 10/22 usually need a fair bit of work to make it accurate beyond 50 yards. Some may have accurate ones or find an ammo type that works but accurate 10/22 is an exception rather than the rule.

If most of you shots will be beyond 50 yards I would suggest a look at the .17HMR. That will take you out to about 150, beyond that you need to buy a centerfire varmint rifle.:D

However a good .22 should be the first in your gopher killing arsenal.

I had a .22LR a 17HMR and a .204 to my shooting distance options. I gave the 17HMR to my brother in law as a wedding present so I need to get shopping to round out my trinity again.
 
If you want the thumbhole stock, you should get it. Check out the sponsors above, they have good prices on 10/22's with thumbhole stocks. I think I was looking at Frontier's site. Its going to be cheaper to buy the factory gun with the stock you want. In the end, its usually best to buy just what you want rather than upgrade.
 
why not pick up an older semi or bolt .22/ Great ones for ease of loading are the 151 M Mossbergs or the tube fed Marlin 81s....I have both and with the 15 shot capacity of the 151s and 14 shot marlins, not many varmints escape. No mags to load ( very hard on the thumb.), drop the ammo into the tube, shove in the tension rod and away you go again. And accurate out to over 150 yards. Another great gopher gun is tha Lakefield Mossberg bolt Mark II and semi auto Mark III if you want to fill the 10 shot mags. I carry 5 loaded mags and fill from a pocket stash between shots if I have to, Normally I kept busy restuffing mags.Either way....new or used...go out and have fun...be safe...
 
You can't beat the price of the Remmy 597. I picked one up at Russels last year with a scope and a brick of ammo for 215, taxes paid. Picked up a 30 round clip for it later too.

I also have a Ruger 10-22 with the Ramline folding stock on it, I like it too. I have 2 25 round clips, 5 10 round clips, and the factory rotary. Was shooting on 9 power at 100-130 yards, there were misses, but after a few shot you no how much to hold above.

The 220 swift and the 204 ruger work well for the 200 yard shots.
 
We were out gophering last summer and I was using my bolt action. I gotta say I preferred it because of the accuracy. I'd rather hit more and miss less. So much time is spent reloading mags when you shoot 500 shots or more. A good bolt action and good glass and you can hit gophers at pretty good distances. I won't say oh you can definately hit them at 80-100 yards all the time, but you can quite often with a good bolt action rifle and the ammo that you've tested that works well with it. I hit a couple of prairie chickens in the head at 80 yards, so to me accuracy trumps fast shooting. On the other hand, there's plenty who will disagree, and maybe the 10/22 is accurate enough?
 
there aren't alot of restricted .22s that i'm aware of, even with a folding stock, it might not be restricted. you can get folding stocks for 10/22s and they're no problem. your OAL must be 26" or more. on some things (like short barreled rifles) we have it better than state side.

i don't think that you'll find an AR15 type .22, not one that's cheap and reliable anyways. you could turn a 10/22 into one, but that is not a cheap option by any means.

it sounds like all you really need is functional. to me that says a 10/22 or a remington 597 with their respective hi-cap mags. i have no experience with a rem597.

10/22s have a bad rap for being finicky. my first gun was a 10/22R, and it ran quite good for about 3 years without any tinkering. then the "bug" got me. it's tuned up now with a trigger job, auto bolt release, VQ extractor, raduised bolt, bolt buffer, polished internals, re-chambered and crowned barrel and a 4.5-14 mueller APV scope. sewing machine describes it now.

i have a hi-cap for mine, but i don't really get the point anymore, you either load 10 and shoot 10 out of a far superior factory mag, or load 25 and shoot 25 out of an aftermarket banana mag all the while hoping it feeds. i would like to get my mits on a tactial inc mag though...

rugers have been a good product, just not quite finished all the way. most of the fine tuning you can do yourself for free, or minimal cost.

beware of the new ones, they have a synthetic trigger group. may be good, but the "purists" are not happy.

hope this helps!

edit: as far as accuracy, i've smooshed flies on my targets at 25 yards before it had barrel work done. it's plenty accurate when i do my part.
 
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Sounds like your are looking for quantity over quality and for that a factory 10/22 is perfect. Simple and a sinch to take apart and clean from head to toe. However Grizzlypeg has a good point that maybe a decent bolt action with good glass would do great for the intended purpose as well.
 
surfclod said:
If most of you shots will be beyond 50 yards I would suggest a look at the .17HMR. That will take you out to about 150, beyond that you need to buy a centerfire varmint rifle.
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The difference is i know nothing about .17hmr's. How expensive are the rounds? And why a .17hmr and not a .17hm2?

Grizzlypeg said:
If you want the thumbhole stock, you should get it. Check out the sponsors above, they have good prices on 10/22's with thumbhole stocks. I think I was looking at Frontier's site. Its going to be cheaper to buy the factory gun with the stock you want. In the end, its usually best to buy just what you want rather than upgrade.
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So, what you're saying is buying the 10/22 from the company with the thumbhole stock already installed is going to be a better decision then buying a 10/22, then the thumbhole later, even though i'll have both the thumbhole stock and the non thumbhole one?

Grizzlypeg said:
We were out gophering last summer and I was using my bolt action. I gotta say I preferred it because of the accuracy. I'd rather hit more and miss less.
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That's what i was looking at before, but i just thought for how easy a semi auto is(not having to take my eye off the target if i miss, not inacuracy of the gun, to reaload). And my father knows a cop who can get ammunition for dirt cheap. So, i'd like the idea of spraying at a pack of 10 gophers, especially when they're young, they stick in a group so i'd just shoot out my mag.

Jahred.F said:
i don't think that you'll find an AR15 type .22, not one that's cheap and reliable anyways. you could turn a 10/22 into one, but that is not a cheap option by any means.
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Yeah, i just like the looks of them alot, but i'll sacrifice looks for function. But i would really like to have a bi-pod, it would steady me alot, and for spraying i could be alot more accurate.

Jahred.F said:
yeah, good idea, can you get close enough to be effective?
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No, my dog would follow me all the way close, and just scare them all away, and the gophers always have at least 4 gophers on look out for me. Or a shotgun would be ideal.

slicknick said:
Full choke will stay on a gopher out to 50yards, depending on shot size. Might not be lethal but will make contact.
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They'll stay down in the hole for a while that's forsure. And a friend of mine, has a gopher exterminator, it pumps propane and oxygen down into the hole and it triggers it will a BBQ type ignition, but the igniter only last 3 or 4 blasts. And i got spare time alot, and i'd like to go out shooting gophers as a little time killer.
 
And, i do remember, a couple summers ago, my friend brought out his little semi auto .22 and to think about it, it looks exactly like this
3_gun.JPG
but he had a clear 30 round clip, and i spent alot of time reloading that thing... my thumbs killed.

I just found this google'ing
ap74car.jpg

It is a AP-74CAR short carbine with collapsable buttstock.
 
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On the thumbhole from the factory, its offered at a decent price. You might spend more buying the stock separately and wind up like me with a closet full of take off's that are barely worth the cost and hassle of shipping. On the other hand, I do enjoy building up a rifle, and if that's appealing to you, you can have the fun of fitting and possibly finishing an aftermarket stock.

I don't know about the shotgun idea. That sounds like fun for a few shots but I'm not sure its too practical for extermination of a field full of them. They only seem to stand right beside each other when one is dragging another dead one off somewhere to eat it. I kinda like the sound it makes when you hear a 22 smack the gopher and you see him fall over or start doing backflips.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
I kinda like the sound it makes when you hear a 22 smack the gopher and you see him fall over or start doing backflips.
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That's another reason why i like .22lr's the sound is a red flag that you hit it. So, i've come to the conclusion, .22lr, thats accurate, thumhole stock, nice scope, bi-pod, high capacity magazine, and a magazine loader.
 
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