Gopher plunker?

[Suputin]

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.

Spraying and hoping is simply a waste of ammo, even at closer ranges you will miss 90% of the time. So if you just want to spend money on ammo, make noise and scare gophers, then this would be your preferred method.

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)

What we found with a semi-auto was that in your head, you know you have 20 or 30 more shots to hit the gopher with so you subconciously do not make the best effort for every shot which results in a large percentage of misses. The semi-auto produces lazy marksmanship.

Using a single-shot target rifle you know you don't have another quick shot to make up for a miss so you tend to put your best effort into each shot which results in a much larger percentage of hits.

I have shot side-by-side with some very fricken good marksmen using semi-auto's and have never felt outgunned with my single shot target rifle. Over a day, the semi-auto guys have to continuously stop to reload mags, where I just keep shooting, slow but steady and my hit ratio is way higher over the day and I make longer shots.

We counted one day and the target rifle produced something like a 70% hit ratio. I have yet to see any semi-auto shooter come close to approaching that percentage. They tend to be down in the 20-30% range with all the unaimed blasting.

I even converted a dedicated 10-22 shooter over to a single shot target rifle cause he got tired of watching me whack gophers way out there with a single shot when he would blow an entire magazine trying to kill the same gopher. And this guy was one of the best marksmen I have ever shot a gopher field with.

 

[LarryG]

I find that if a gun has a good trigger and is repeatably accurate (same point of impact), the gophers are in trouble out to about 80 yards. For me, that mean 70%-80% hits consistently. Therefore, a cz/brno bolt action with an eric brooks trigger kit, a good 3-9 scope means you should have no surprises. Spraying gophers will overall be a waste of good ammo. I wouldn't do it. If you really want that, use a shotgun, as was suggested.

If the gophers are skittish and have been shot at, there is not much you can do. Here are a few tricks:
1. use Remington subsonic HP bullets, less noise, very effective.
2. sneak into a good spot without letting their sentries spot you and set up and wait.
3. use a gopher whistle to arouse their curiosity.
4. know where to hold at all shooting ranges. For really close shots, you must hold about 1" high or you may shoot under it, due to the scope height.

 

[cyclone]

2. sneak into a good spot without letting their sentries spot you and set up and wait.

Sounds like a case of a "benchrest-like" rifle versus a "stalker"...though more of an issue with something like a .22-250 than a .22 LR...

 

[af_newbie]

Looks like you need semi-auto.

Get a Savage 64FSS.

You cannot beat it in terms of price and accuracy.

 

[Suputin]

If the gophers are skittish and have been shot at, there is not much you can do. Here are a few tricks:
1. use Remington subsonic HP bullets, less noise, very effective.
2. sneak into a good spot without letting their sentries spot you and set up and wait.
3. use a gopher whistle to arouse their curiosity.

1. Subsonics may be quieter but they also limit your range due to their lower velocity. They also don't hit with as much authority so we rarely use them in the field. I have used all kinds of rifles and ammo on gophers and noise never seemed to make any difference to the number of them willing to stand up and be shot.

2. Really? I have never snuck into any gopher field. They have brains about half the size of a small peanut. If they have such a thing as a sentry, I'd just shoot it from slightly further out. Any field you have to wait for gopher is a field not worth shooting. Go find somewhere else, there are thousands of fields just polluted with gophers in this province.

3. Total waste of time. Got one and have never had any luck with it so it stays home now. Gophers are basically stupid rats and will stand up to see what all the noise is about. I have had them stand still for 3 or 4 misses. I once had one stand up directly below a target I was using to zero my scope and that was shooting a .243. I held low and blew him to bits with the next shot.