I went out Friday afternoon and Sunday for some chuck and squirrel shooting. I hunted in Northern Utah and Southern Idaho. Friday afternoon/evening I shot about 45 chucks. All were shot with my 22 Hornet. The rifle is a Ruger 77/22 VHZ. The scope is a Nikon Buckmasters 4.5-14 with a mildot reticle. Six shots of the 45 were at 150 yards. The remainder were at 225-280. The winds made things tough when the range exceeded 225. The load I use is 12.5 gns. of Lil gun, WW brass, Fed 205 primers and a 40 grain ballistic tip. Accuracy is excellent and terminal performance is very good although not in the league of my swift shooting the same bullet!
Most of the chucks I shot were very small as were the squirrels. Very few of the squirrels were larger than chipmunks. Here are two of this years crop that will not eat any more crops! The squirrels were out in good numbers and between the three of us we killed approximately 100.
The little hornet is becoming a favorite of mine. I also brought a Ruger 243 VT with a 6.5-20 scope for another location we went to on Sunday. Unfortunately the chucks did not come out on the long range rockpiles on that land but I was ready. I shoot 55-75 grain varmint bullets with the 243 and have worked up a load using RL22 and 105 Amaxes that I wanted to try out. Maybe next time I will have the opportunity to shoot the Amax's and check out the terminal performance. I only own a few Rugers and it was funny that my companions on the trip Sunday also brought along and shot three Rugers. One had a 10/22, the other had a Mark II pistol and a 357 RedHawk. Those guys did pretty good on the squirrels with the pistols.
Here are a couple more pics.
It was raining hard in Idaho on the way home Sunday afternoon. It did stop around the Idaho/Utah border and I stopped for a quick look for some chucks. I was rewarded with 5 more chucks and here is the last pic from that stop. As I Climbed the hill for the only easy picture a rabbit broke from cover and joined the chucks on the hit list.
Mike.
Most of the chucks I shot were very small as were the squirrels. Very few of the squirrels were larger than chipmunks. Here are two of this years crop that will not eat any more crops! The squirrels were out in good numbers and between the three of us we killed approximately 100.
The little hornet is becoming a favorite of mine. I also brought a Ruger 243 VT with a 6.5-20 scope for another location we went to on Sunday. Unfortunately the chucks did not come out on the long range rockpiles on that land but I was ready. I shoot 55-75 grain varmint bullets with the 243 and have worked up a load using RL22 and 105 Amaxes that I wanted to try out. Maybe next time I will have the opportunity to shoot the Amax's and check out the terminal performance. I only own a few Rugers and it was funny that my companions on the trip Sunday also brought along and shot three Rugers. One had a 10/22, the other had a Mark II pistol and a 357 RedHawk. Those guys did pretty good on the squirrels with the pistols.
Here are a couple more pics.
It was raining hard in Idaho on the way home Sunday afternoon. It did stop around the Idaho/Utah border and I stopped for a quick look for some chucks. I was rewarded with 5 more chucks and here is the last pic from that stop. As I Climbed the hill for the only easy picture a rabbit broke from cover and joined the chucks on the hit list.
Mike.
