600 yd groundhog

[cbrezinski]

i can shoot out to 600 or so yards.what woud be a good choice in a groundhog cartrige for this range?am thinking of a 22 cal using a 69 grain bullet out of a cheeta or a 6 xc with a 68 grain bullet.
gary b

 

[Varminthunter]

Check out Richard Franklin's 300 Varminter. It shoots a 125grn BT at 4000fps. However, you have to have a 1-15 twist barrel and a custom action to get these types of velocities out of the 300 WSM Cartridge.

Look at his site. There is a full right up on it. It is very destructive on groundhogs. If your going to build a custom rig, and you want red mist on large varmints, I would defiantly go with the 300 Varminter.

VH

 

[Clark]

I was in MT in May and there were very few prairie dogs. The guy I went with had a 17HMR that pushes a 17 gr bullet at 2550 fps. He hit a number of dogs at 250 yards, with lots of elevation and windage. Mostly he missed, but he did kill more than a dozen of them.

If he can do that, I am sure I can hit rodents at 600 yards with my 6mmBR. As long as dust flys up to see where the bullet hit, and the rodent hangs around for another shot, it can get done.

 

[357Mag]

CB -

AS a for-instance, I used a wildcat .224" on groundhogs for over 25yr.

My wildcat is .35 Remnecked dwonto .224" cal.

With a 24" Hart SS barrel, I got 3,690fps from, protoype )Hornady 55gr "V"-Max. The load was 41.2gr WW760 and
Fed LR Magnum Match primer.

Alternatley, 41.6gr VV160 and same primer/bullet.

This combo was good for a 500ydkill on a groundhog.

I re-barrelled, in 22-35 again ) to a K & P 28" SS 5-groove.
Shooting a load of 40.5gr AA3100 Fed LR Match primer under Horandy 75"A"-MAx; accuracy load delivered 3,420fps.
This is enough power for a clean-kill on a groundhog @ 1,000yd.
, Although, I have yet to make that shot ).

On those intermediate range shots I DID make w/ 75 "A"-Max,
all were clean kills....even w/ the occasional shoot-through.

I cannot speak to kill efficiency of Barnes XXX .224's, or Swift Sirrocos , which are intended to hold together ).

Hornady's .224" 55gr SX SP is my all-time favorite for out to
450yds w/ this case capacity.

* Sierra's fairly new .224" 65gr Varmint bullet should be near ideal for 500... again; for cases of this capacity.

Best of luck in your endeavors.

Regards,
357Mag

 

[sscoyote]

Might also take a look at the JLK 65 gr. Low Drag bullet. It has a BC of right around .4 and will get u 2 600 yds. way better than the 68/69's, and should also beat the various 75/77's,off the top of my head), excluding the A-Max. May not even need to go custom rifle really with this bullet. Some of the new Savage 22-250's are using 9 twist barrels i hear. That bullet is rated for 10 twist. Just another of the many options out there.