Rick in Oregon
Gold $$ Contributor
Got my yearly call from my horse-rancher lady friend to come over and thin out the rock chucks from the ranch property. Yesterday dawned bright and sunny, fresh from an overnight frost, so it was crisp and fresh when I took my Cooper 20VT and fanny pack out of the truck at the ranch first thing in the morning to stalk some chucks.
The place has neighbors, so shooting any of my 204's there is a bit much, so I usually use a 22 K-Hornet, 17 Ackley Hornet, or my recent love, "Scooter", my Cooper 20VT.....nice and quiet for such tasks and the moderate ranges the ranch offers.
One of the most active rock piles lies in a corner of the property, and is at the highest point on the property, so any shot to those chucks is slightly uphill. My 'chuck-hide' next to a fence row juniper, looking up at the rockpile just shy of 200 yards distant through the junipers:
After laying in wait, the chucks started showing themselves, and one by one, I was able to snipe three off the pile. One only gave me his head, peeking over a lava rock, so aimed right under his eye......this is where he landed, the exit clearly visible from the Nosler 32gr BT at 3,700 fps:
The three from the 'corner rock pile' (the snow-capped east slope of the Cascade Mtn range can be seen in the background):
The morning ended up with these four, all males, with one large critter I estimated would go about 13-14 lbs. This guy eluded me last year, but I caught him peeking at me from the sagebrush across the pasture, just giving me his head and high shoulder......enough for a good sight-picture:
The old boy in question looks to have had a good steady diet:
My load for anyone interested was formed R-P 221FB brass, 50% neck turned clean-up and annealed (Redding Comp dies) 18.5gr RL-7, Nosler 32gr BT loaded .005" off the lands, Rem 7.5 for 3,715 fps.
Walking back to my truck with the chucks, I couldn't help but take this pic of Mt. Jefferson shining in the morning sun through the junipers:
All in all, a good way to spend a Thursday morning. Getting ready to take off for a few days at the ranch to shoot Skippy and his pals again, so next trip a couple of 204's will get thrown in for the more "rangey" stuff that open space allows. So far, it's been a pretty good spring.....for me, NOT the varmints.
The place has neighbors, so shooting any of my 204's there is a bit much, so I usually use a 22 K-Hornet, 17 Ackley Hornet, or my recent love, "Scooter", my Cooper 20VT.....nice and quiet for such tasks and the moderate ranges the ranch offers.
One of the most active rock piles lies in a corner of the property, and is at the highest point on the property, so any shot to those chucks is slightly uphill. My 'chuck-hide' next to a fence row juniper, looking up at the rockpile just shy of 200 yards distant through the junipers:
After laying in wait, the chucks started showing themselves, and one by one, I was able to snipe three off the pile. One only gave me his head, peeking over a lava rock, so aimed right under his eye......this is where he landed, the exit clearly visible from the Nosler 32gr BT at 3,700 fps:
The three from the 'corner rock pile' (the snow-capped east slope of the Cascade Mtn range can be seen in the background):
The morning ended up with these four, all males, with one large critter I estimated would go about 13-14 lbs. This guy eluded me last year, but I caught him peeking at me from the sagebrush across the pasture, just giving me his head and high shoulder......enough for a good sight-picture:
The old boy in question looks to have had a good steady diet:
My load for anyone interested was formed R-P 221FB brass, 50% neck turned clean-up and annealed (Redding Comp dies) 18.5gr RL-7, Nosler 32gr BT loaded .005" off the lands, Rem 7.5 for 3,715 fps.
Walking back to my truck with the chucks, I couldn't help but take this pic of Mt. Jefferson shining in the morning sun through the junipers:
All in all, a good way to spend a Thursday morning. Getting ready to take off for a few days at the ranch to shoot Skippy and his pals again, so next trip a couple of 204's will get thrown in for the more "rangey" stuff that open space allows. So far, it's been a pretty good spring.....for me, NOT the varmints.
