What's your favouritest varmint round between 17 hornet, 204 ruger and 223?

I made a EE deal for a encore 204 barrel not for coyote but for practicing getting my shooting range out past 200 yards
To see if I can reach my 300 yard goal to constantly hit 6 inch target
After years of hunting deer with 22 LR and 223 when I was younger I would probably wind up using 204 on are small deer and raccoon
 
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Flipping chicken I think I need my new anschutz to sell already so I can buy more centre fire rifles lol how about One of each!? eh eh eh lol
 
Better wear them seat belts when chootin hyper speed ammo lol my humour sucks but I like clean jokes and having fun. Good to loosen up a lil bit some time eh. I can't wait to find a gopher patch and watch some circus moves happen among them gopher villages. Southern Manitoba is not the best tho for finding gopher patches from i have seen so far. I'm guessing closer to sascratchmeonce border is where u start finding the larger prairie pootches lol
 
Mike112288 said:
Better wear them seat belts when chootin hyper speed ammo lol my humour sucks but I like clean jokes and having fun. Good to loosen up a lil bit some time eh. I can't wait to find a gopher patch and watch some circus moves happen among them gopher villages. Southern Manitoba is not the best tho for finding gopher patches from i have seen so far. I'm guessing closer to sascratchmeonce border is where u start finding the larger prairie pootches lol
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Loads of them in BC.. and slightly larger than their AB cousins.... which REALLY is entertaining .... .204's make a real mess of liquid filled containers..
 
leveractionjunkie said:
You're the man Hoyt you don't F around eh :).

I have one of the first m77's in .204, at least it was the first one to an edmonton gun store I used to frequent. Came with a leupold vx I already mounted. $700 if I remember lol crazy what a few years will do. They're some of the nicest bolt guns going these days.
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Picked up the dies, brass and bullets... just going to be awhile before the rifle jumps Trump's wall...
 
hoytcanon said:
Picked up the dies, brass and bullets... just going to be awhile before the rifle jumps Trump's wall...
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Excellent. There is some good info on 204 ruger forum. Powders: Varget, H322,H332, CFE223 seem to be popular. Primers CCI works best with the pressure, the benchrest ones I did not think were worth the $$$, Bullets?? Whatever the rifle likes.

While some complain the 1:12 cannot stabilize a .40 Vmax, that is only partially true... they need to get over 3750 to stabilize is all.

I found that reloading .204 is trial and error. but once you find the load for your rifle, it is pure heaven.

Out of 4 rifles chambered in .204, 1 REALLY loves the load, 2 shoot 1/2 moa or better, and the last one absolutely hates it. And has a special diet of .32gn-26gn bullets.... which is irritating. GRRRR
 
Varget and 39gr BK's or 8208 and 35gr Bergers shoot real nice out to 300 yards for me. I'm still playing with different loads and they all shoot great. Another is 40gr Vmax and H4895. the last load is over 3900fps and 2.5" groups at 300 yards! I haven't even switched bullets and powders with the combos above and they all do under .5" at 100. the first two mentioned are around 3850fps and group 1.5" at 300 yards! The round itself is awesome!
 
I have buckets of CFE and 748, so I'm off to the races... should hit on a good load with 32 and 40 VM's and 39 BK's.
 
hoytcanon said:
I have buckets of CFE and 748, so I'm off to the races... should hit on a good load with 32 and 40 VM's and 39 BK's.
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Unfortunately, it has been a while since I pulled a handle, but cfe really surprised me..... I almost had it written off as a "clean gimmick".....

Based on my results with 223 and the reviews on here, I bought 4 pounds and want to try it in other platforms.......
 
@gotjuice. I've never been able to shoot those massive prairie poodles. Must be explosive and gory. The small ones here just do acrobats even from a 17hmr pill
 
Mike112288 said:
@gotjuice. I've never been able to shoot those massive prairie poodles. Must be explosive and gory. The small ones here just do acrobats even from a 17hmr pill
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They are a bit bigger than the AB species. Adult males are 7-10" budy length, weight from .85-1.25 lbs.

I spend days in the fields on safari. Coolers full of goodies and boxes, crates, racks of ammunition. Time well spent. When i need to take a break, load up new coolers and hit the lake for some waterskiing and birdwatching. Life is good.
 
The size of the rats out here makes for some serious giggles. The higher velocity centerfire stuff like 17 rem, 204R can be awe inspiring. Headshots are fun, but usually done with the .22lr. Center mass and high velocity centerfire makes a huge aerial mess. Most body fluids turn to mist (very little blood) and the viscera separates from the pelt.

There is no substitute. Elk hunting, deer hunting is fun, but not like this.

The only hunting that comes even close (and even that is a distant second) is when in Texas on a quail hunt. Great fun, but gopher shooting trumps it.
 
I'd have to agree with you Got Juice, my only problem with varmint hunting is there isn't enough of it around here lol.

Had my ruger m77mkII .204 out calling for coyotes the other day, got a couple vocal responses, but had to settle for sniping a few magpies that were lurking around :). I added a 12oz jard trigger to mine a few years back and it really pays dividends when picking off little targets.
 
leveractionjunkie said:
I'd have to agree with you Got Juice, my only problem with varmint hunting is there isn't enough of it around here lol.

Had my ruger m77mkII .204 out calling for coyotes the other day, got a couple vocal responses, but had to settle for sniping a few magpies that were lurking around :). I added a 12oz jard trigger to mine a few years back and it really pays dividends when picking off little targets.
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5 hours from your place to mine... and it is varmint nirvana.
 
Average Male size.... shot with a .22lr so as not to distort the shape.... If I post too many .204 pics people tend to feel a little ill...lol

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Your gophers look similar to ours around here. Are they columbian ground squirrels as well?

I also used a rimfire pic so as to not offend :)

Used to have some good High volume nice scenery places to shoot, but seems less and less as time goes by.

 
leveractionjunkie said:
Your gophers look similar to ours around here. Are they columbian ground squirrels as well?

I also used a rimfire pic so as to not offend :)

Used to have some good High volume nice scenery places to shoot, but seems less and less as time goes by.
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We have both subsets here, and I am no expert on the little darlings. Both pics you and i have posted are Columbian Ground Squirrels (the ''puffy tail'' is the giveaway vs the 'streamlined' tail of the RGS)

Good shooting, and they make great stew...

PS, shooting off trucks as a bench is awesome. Savage Mako is a great tool for the job.

I have 2 fields like the one in your last pic.... nice loooooooong shots. As long as nobody hits the irrigation pipe all is good....It gets expensive replacing a length....
 
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Yeah I love the nice loooong fields to stretch out the legs on the centerfires. Challenging shooting once they start to wise up to what's going on :). I've been lucky to not poke any irrigation pipe so far. Definitely expensive.

Won't be long now they'll be poking up once again.
 
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