Well, the season has opened and I've taken three groundhogs. Two had given me the slip the day before, but in doing so, provided an opportunity to come from a different direction with a slightly different strategy. One of the hogs was about 75 yds. with an offhand shot and the other was 125 yds. with a sitting shot. Both were shot with a .223 1-9" Handi Rifle with 24.9 grn. IMR4895, 55 grn. Hornady V-Maxes jumped .103 off the lands. This is my walk around varmint rig that just had a new barrel installed via the barrel accessory program. I specifically waited for a 1-9" barrel and have been very impressed with the performance of this cheap, factory barrel. The way I came up with the .103 bullet jump was entirely by mistake. I was working up and shooting loads, at the range, for this new barrel with 60 grn. Hornady V-Maxes seated into the lands. The groups looked promising and several loads had potential for further development. I was going to shoot my Mini-14 at the range, which had the bullets seated to accomodate magazine loading and decided to shoot them in the Handi Rifle. The first five shot group was a one hole cluster measuring approx. 3/8" edge to edge and I couldn't believe my eyes. This was at 100 yds. and subsequent groups gave similar results. To get a $200 rifle to perform like that has been a pleasant reward. At any rate, the V-Maxes hit each hog mid section and dropped them cold. The third and last hog was taken with a .17HMR with a head shot at 75 yds. I've had very good results with the .17HMR within the 100 yd. envelope and use it for a walk around, as well. The long range custom rigs haven't been used yet as I'm waiting for fields to be cut to yield 400+ yd. shots.
Chino69
Chino69