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Alternative Varmint hunting....

2dogs

So, all of us here are big wildcat fans and rifle bugs. Does anybody do any alternative Varmint hunting? Here is a big pile of W. Texas jackrabbits taken with the wildcat Ruger Single Six .257 Jackrabbit, 327 Federal Magnum Single 7, and a custom 32-20 WCF by Alan Harton running the .135 Grain Sixgun Sledgehammer bullet in excess of 1500 fps.
 
Up at our "cabin" we have a problem with ground squirrels (really more like the size of chipmunks) and we use them for pistol practice. I am using my 357 most often. It's good practice.
 
I been considering cutting down my Remington 700 204 Ruger to 18" and putting a brake on it for a Jackrabbit truck rifle. The other option is to leave off the brake and cut it to 20". All these details give a guy a headache sometimes.
 
Come to think about it ....it would be great fun to take jackrabbits with a pistol! I have just recently
started shooting my pistols again...I think I'll try em with a 9mm...LOL. Seems the jackrabbits where
I live come and go ...meaning some years they are everywhere and some years ya hardly see them.

Nice mess of jacks there 2Dogs!!! Beautiful pistol too!!!
 
pacificman said:
Come to think about it ....it would be great fun to take jackrabbits with a pistol! I have just recently
started shooting my pistols again...I think I'll try em with a 9mm...LOL. Seems the jackrabbits where
I live come and go ...meaning some years they are everywhere and some years ya hardly see them.

Nice mess of jacks there 2Dogs!!! Beautiful pistol too!!!
Click to expand...
Back in the 70s my buddy and I use to hunt Jacks around Bakersfield. i carried a 44 Blackhawk and a 22 Single Six. My buddy carried a 357 Smith and a 22 semi of which I cant remember the make. Our rules were simple, "only on the run". We shot at hundreds each day and connected with a surprising amount of them. It gets easier with lots of practice.
 
These little fellers are the cottontail preferred by coyotes everywhere. I fill a pot or two with them when we are bow hunting. Matter of fact, they're the only thing I've ever killed with my bow.:rolleyes:


And here's an old pic from pre digital days when we used to really tear up the jacks. I'm the pistolero on the left with my old fixed sight single six. I got a killer deal on a couple thousand rounds of mags for that six shooter and used nothing but them for a couple years. I killed a lot of jacks out to a hundred yards. My pardner in the middle and that wonderful all purpose dog are on the other side killing jacks these days. I miss them pretty bad. jd

 
2dogs, I want to see more of those photos! Impressed. What are the other pistols? Tell us more about your loading, wildcats, etc. You got me with that photo of the pile of jacks....
 
snert said:
2dogs, I want to see more of those photos! Impressed. What are the other pistols? Tell us more about your loading, wildcats, etc. You got me with that photo of the pile of jacks....
Click to expand...

Well, the .257 Jackrabbit is a small game round designed to fit in a Ruger Single Six .22LR cylinder window. So, if you have a Ruger Single Six, and either it is indifferent as to accuracy and or does not have the power you require it is easy to convert it to the .257 Jackrabbit. It is simply a 25-20 WCF shortened by 2/10s of an inch. Now, we found out early on the jacketed bullets designed for a 25-20 WCF will not give much expansion at sixgun velocity so without a suitable factory offering a cast bullet will be required. Here is a picture of my Jackrabbit built by Harton with Amboyna burl stocks and merwin hulbert style cylinder flutes.

Here is my Longhorn Companion custom carved by Mike "Doc" Barranti of Barranti leather:

And a mess of .257 Jackrabbit victims.
 
Now that is one slick rig. I am impressed. With all the tacticool stuff out there, it is so nice to see a revolver, especially a single action, and done so nicely. and a wildcat too to boot. Methinks I would like shooting jacks. I saw a few in OK, but did not shoot any in my short time there. Very interesting.

Thanks for posting this
 
The .257 Jackrabbit uses standard 25-20 WCF dies. All you need do is convert your Single Six to centerfire, add a .257 dia barrel, and rechamber the factory cylinder. I would say 2 things however, if you decide to build a custom cylinder, you should go ahead and pay the difference to lengthen the cylinder window and just do a 25-20. The .257 Jackrabbit was an attempt to save that additional 600 plus dollars a custom cylinder runs. The second thing is that the .257 Jackrabbit is no 32-20 WCF or even a .327 Federal magnum. The .32 bores are far more powerful and are truly in a different class. The .257 Jackrabbit is a bridge, more of a reloadable and more powerful alternative the .22 Magnum sixguns.

Here is my .327 Federal Ruger Single Seven. I have converted it to Bisley and I run a Miha 115 grain GCHP at almost 1500 fps. It is extremely hard on Jacks. Even when they are in excess of 100 yards it clobbers them. A group shot on a windy S. Texas day.
 
The idea of hanging the Jacks on the fence came from a bit of hero worship on my part. Here is Elmer Keith back when the .357 Magnum was introduced out testing sixgun and loads. Kinda neat to ferret out the long cold trails of the Old Sixgun Master.
 
As soon as the .327 Federal was produced, I commissioned Harton to build me a 5 shot on a Single Six fully intending to lean on it pretty hard. I was easily able to make 1550 fps with a hard cast LBT 120 grain GC. This was using all the available powder space and seating the bullet to the very mouth of the cylinder. While it was extremely accurate and quite a killer I wondered if I had a longer heavier cylinder could I take it a step further. So, after experimenting with a custom barreled Buckeye I had Harton build me a 32-20 WCF/327 Federal 2 cylinder best quality sixgun. In the meantime, I had a custom bullet mold built that would be a 140 grain solid or a 135 grain hollowpoint. The end result was spectacular. The 135 grain HPs exit the gun at over 1500 fps and is very flat shooting. Cast at about 12 BHN it expands violently. I ain't kidding. This one will completely unzip a Jack and take a leg off on the way out.

Some build details. Note the long cylinder flutes, lightened grip frame and skeletonized hammer:
 
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