Magpies on the farm and 200 yard range recommendations

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PINCHERRY

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Dear Long Range Shooters, I have a 65 year old uncle on a farm who is being invaded by around 20 pesky smart gun shy magpies. He loves reloading and I must admit I have been out of touch on the varmint scene. Please kindly recommend the cartridge and rifle of choice I should tell him to get. He does not like the heavy barrels in case he has to carry it around a bit. Much appreciated for the advice in advance. He currently has an old Savage rifle in 222 but with a 18 inch barrel it does not group at all. What should he upgrade to please?
 
What does he want to spend? Maybe one of the new 17 Hornadys if you can find one.
 
Most .17s and .22s would be fine choices, however I can't say enough about the .204 ruger. 32 grain bullets flying at 4000 fps with nearly zero recoil is just to much fun.
 
.223 is fine - pretty hard to miss at 200 unless the wind is howling... or the magpie is in flight. ;)

You might do a proper cleaning on the 222 and find the groups improve. I'm not one to say 'don't buy a new gun', but might not need to, especially since he's a reloader.
 
Tikka 223 is the way to go in my opinion. But anything in a 204 is second best since he does reload.
 
204 is a PITA to reload for the small bullets and older fingers. Advantage is the flat trajectory without having to worry about it traveling 2-3 homesteads. You might want to look at re-barreling the 222 as the lowest cost option if he already has the brass & dies.
 
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