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Post by dovehunter on Jul 30, 2015 10:23:57 GMT -5
My son and I almost entirely hunt groundhogs. In Virginia there are some counties that don't allow centerfire rifles and others that do restrict centerfires to no larger than .22 caliber. For this reason our groundhog guns, of necessity are no larger than .22 caliber. Where we can use centerfires my son uses 22-250 handloads consisting of 50 gr. Sierra Blitzkings over 38 gr. of H-380 in Winchester cases and CCI LR primers. I use 223 handloads consisting of 55 gr. Sierra Gameking hollowpoints over 25 gr. of H-335 in Winchester cases and CCI SR primers. My 223 does a number on pasture pigs, but my son's 22-250, with those Blitzking bullets, usually virtually explodes them. Where we must use rimfires, we use CCI .22 WMR with 45 gr. hollowpoints. I have shot one with the .22 WMR at 190 of my paces (though I have short legs) but that was a lucky shot. Typically we try to keep our shots with the .22 WMR to not much over 100 yds. I have used 22 LR when I was hunting over a couple of farmer's gardens and made clean kills, but I personally don't think the 22 LR is sufficient to always humanely dispatch groundhogs, especially large ones.
What do you hunt in the way of varmints and what loads and/or ammo do you use?
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Post by Jack on Aug 3, 2015 9:14:49 GMT -5
I haven't hunted groundhogs in a few years (in NY they call them woodchucks). In my 22-250 I used a 55 Sierra boattail and H380. My 222 magnum was loaded with a Berger 52 MEF and AA 2460. The Bergers are amazingly accurate. Over the years I tried about every bullet and powder combo you could imagine in the 222 magnum (I've had the rifle since the early 1970's) and killed a few bushels of woodchucks with it. Nothing matched the Bergers for accuracy. I also used a heavy barrel 243 for the long shots. That was loaded with 87 Hornadys over Reloder 19. That load wasn't super fast, but it did well in the wind, and since I only used the 243 for the long shots, it did a good job. Now that I live in Georgia, there are no woodchucks here, sad to say.
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Post by dovehunter on Aug 4, 2015 8:46:26 GMT -5
Now that I live in Georgia, there are no woodchucks here, sad to say. I am really surprised to hear that. I would have thought chucks/hogs would be in nearly all the lower 48, particularly Georgia. Our family went to Georgia a few years ago on our summer vacation and I could swear that I remember seeing them in some of the wider, grass medians and near the shoulders on some of the interstates along the way. Maybe not.
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Post by Jack on Aug 4, 2015 9:13:58 GMT -5
Dovehunter, there may be some in parts of Georgia, just not where I live.
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Post by Jack on Aug 7, 2015 14:45:43 GMT -5
Dovehunter, as a kid I hunted woodchucks with a 22 lr. Killed a lot of woodchucks with high velocity hollow points. A woodchuck is a tough critter, so you had to be careful to make a head or heart/lung shot with the rimfire cartridge. With the medium to large varmint cartridges, any body hit drops them in their tracks. Never had a 22 WMR, so I can't comment on it.
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