magnums for groundhog hunting

[maddysdad]

does any one use the 7mm on the 300weatherby for long range hog hunting or any of the 300 magnums.describe your rifle ane the loads you use.saw articles on this in some older magazines .
gary b

 

[GT Accuracy]

I think the most documented rifle layout is the Richard Custom Rifle's 300 Varminter. Which is 300 WSM with a .337 neck and 0 Freebore. This is a tight neck chamber that runs over 4k with the 125 gr bullets

 

[K22]

I ran into a guy, several years ago at a farm I hunt who was using an 8mm Remington Magnum necked down to 6mm and shooting Hornady A max bullets. This was a custom built rifle, 30" long barrel with a very heavy contour i.e. greater than No. 5. Can't remember the scope he was using but it was a very large one with large turrets. He had a shooting mat and shot from a bipod prone.

He transported the rifle and his gear in a modified manual golf cart. I witnessed him shoot ground hogs at well over 500 yards on late August afternoon, can't remember the exact distances. Never seen anything like it. When he touched one off it sounded like a canon firing. Even with the specialized gear - shooting from the prone off a bipod at those distances impressed the hell out of me.

I have a friend that does fairly well with a standard 22 250 shooting long distances, i.e. in the 500 yard class, but he shoots from a portable field table with front and rear rests - bench rest style and has one of those very expensive Nightforce scopes.

 

[Dub]

???? but why???

 

[drags]

We used 7/300's 300 wby's 6.5/06 rifles for long range groundhog hunting they were Rem. and Sako actions Hart 30" barrels these rifles were chambered by Howard Wolfe. We shot the 140 gr. SMK in the 6.5 the 168 SMK in the 7 and 190 SMK in the 300 wby our longest groundhog kill was 750 yards with the 7/300 wby and quite a few 500 to 600 yard kills. Today I don't hunt groundhogs long range but I do have a kill at about 550 yards, my long range groundhog rifle is a 22/47 Lapua Rem. action Krieger barrel I shoot 80 gr. Hornady A-Max bullets.
Drags
PS All hunting was done in Penna.

 

[Gary in MD]

I was working up loads a few years ago for a 7mm STW and decided to load up 5 with 100 grain Sierra hollow points.
They basically just tore a ragged hole for 5 shots so I loaded up 20 and tried them on ground hogs.
Pretty effective!!!! Just left pieces scattered over the field.
Gary

 

[Adam in WI]

???? but why???

Why NOT???

 

[JoeMcNeill]

Back in the 60's I hunted ground hogs with my uncle in TN. I used a 7 mag (my only centerfire at the time) with hand loads and he
had a 22-250 Mauser action heavy barreled rifle. When I hit one it was pretty dramatic with several parts flying. When he hit one it
was much more explosive! The area where we hunted is now under water due to the Percy Priest Dam but be had a lot of shooting,
a lot of fun and many memories.

JDM

 

[Ackman]

Not a 7 or .300, but I do have a .257Wby for 'chucks. Hart 28", PMC brass (the best for that chambering), 100gr Sierras at 4000fps does a real thorough job on them. I love it. A big 7 or .300 with the right bullet should be just nasty.

 

[Lone Hunter]

I've shot ghogs with a 300 WM with 110 gr Speer Spire Point Bullets . They make a mess out of the hogs. Never did get the long range shots I wanted but shot them from 50-200 yds. One it decapitated, another it blew its guts 12' out and sprayed gore all over the broken down shed they were living under. The others it blew pretty good holes in and spread ghog parts every where. Too much powder to waste when you can do the same thing with a lot less powder,bullet, and recoil.

 

[sawcarver]

I've shot a couple with my 7/300 win mag specialty pistol, longest was just over 1k. 195 Berger at 2750fps

 

[people]

???? but why???

You have one and want to be good with it.

 

[500yards]

. 22 mag is a great round. We use them a lot for groundhog hunting around here. Also good for predator hunting, such as yotes and bobcats, and hunting hogs on WMAs during small-game season.

 

[Nightraider]

I use a 6SAUM that's a magnum right

 

[Kurz]

There are occasions when you simply have to go for all the gusto!

In a series of unrelated events, I made friends with a couple of hay and alfalfa farmers in Missouri while establishing a working relationship with them as suppliers. We toured several new growth fields where I happened to notice some furtive movements in the near distances. I asked the obvious question, are there groundhogs in these fields? Both assured me that there were far too many groundhogs in their fields for their liking. Since neither had time to shoot the invaders I asked permission to do so as soon as possible.

The field layouts allowed for some extreme shots, having good backstops. Good time to practice with a cartridge I wanted to try and some even newer bullets. So I spun up a 32", 6.5 cal., 1/8" barrel chambered for the 6.5-300 Weatherby Mag. I had some 124 grain Hammer Hunters on hand which I loaded over Re-33. Fun at longer ranges! Refining the load resulted in some of the best contact noise I've ever heard. Carnage was not immense but final in all attempts.

This is not a cartridge for rapid fire or long strings. But selective targets with down time between shots make it an ideal long range groundhog cartridge.

 

[std7mag]

As a youth, wanting more reach than the 22LR, or 410, and wanting more practice with my primary deer hunting rifle.

Have hunted ground hogs with the Rem Accelerator out of my 06'.
Even now, when whistle pigs start coming out, so do my main deer hunting rifles.
Up to and including my 7mm Rem Mag.

 

[3Ackleys]

I have always used any new hunting rifle for rock chucks and ground squirrels, for the practice and to get some rounds down the barrel. These include 270 Win ( a lot with this one when i was a kid my only other rifle was a 22 lr),
300 Win, 300 Wby, 280 AI, 28 Nos. and a few now and then with a 416 Rigby.

 

[fyrewall]

I have used both 6.5-06 with 120, 123 bullets with Re23 and 140 gr with H1000 for Rockchucks Some time ago my longest hit was just over 800 yards using a Sierra 140 GK using H4831. But now I like the 120 Hornady ELDM with Re 23. As an excuse to use it, I have shot some with .300 WM using 200 Hornady ELDX bullets with H1000 (building confidence for shooting elks). Not having a .416 Rigby I needed to use my .375-.338 using the 270 Speer BTSP with H4350 to shoot one somewhat less than 200 yards. Good idea to use every and all of your rifles in the field and rodents make for good field practice.

 

[ben lurkin]

I used to know a guy who had a rail gun in 338 Win Mag built for hunting rockchucks. It was an absolute HOOT to watch the hits! Makes me laugh just thinking about it.

 

[gunnermhr]

I use a 300 Tomahawk, which is a 300 RUM Improved. A 240 SMK in the mid 2900fps, absolutely devastating on anything it hits. I can get 3000fps but accuracy drops off too much for my liking.

This year I want to get the .338 Edge out, figured out the load right before deer season and it is an absolute tac driver with 300gr SMK's and H1000. It's quite possibly the most accurate rifle I have. And I have a couple, lol