Ah-h-h, for the warm days of spring: and varmint hunting

Guns Magazine, May, 2008 by Dave Anderson

It's "varmint," not "varmit." There's an "n." As in V-A-R-M-I-N-T. If we must use ye oulde Englishe term for vermin we could at least spell it correctly. And while we're at it, it's muzzlebrake, not muzzlebreak.

You don't need a muzzlebreak on your varmit rifle, you need a muzzlebrake on your varmint rifle. Actually you don't, unless you consider the .460 Weatherby a varmint rifle, which I suppose you might ...

Panties In A Bunch?

Wow, says you, what's got his knickers in a twist? Why so crabby? I'll tell you. It's early January as I write this. Big game seasons are over. And it's cold. Winter came early and stayed. I was hunting whitetails in 30 below weather. Darn near froze my toes.

Every time I drive to town for the mail I see a coyote or two, some of them big and beautifully furred in their winter coats, but I'm so fed up with the bitter cold I refuse to hunt them.

Even range shooting has become work. Try accuracy testing when your trigger finger feels like a frozen salami stick. I hold my hand over a truck heater vent until feeling returns. Then I rush to load up and fire three or four shots before the fingers freeze again. A constant freeze/thaw cycle can't be good. I've been googling "gangrene" on the Internet.

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What sustains me in this time of trial? The thought of varmint season. Those perfect days of late spring and early summer. Crisp mornings and glorious sunrises, warm lazy afternoons, rolling pastures covered with vibrant green grass, crawling with gophers by the thousand. The rocky hills of Montana and Wyoming under a cloudless blue sky with gentle breezes blowing and rockchucks scurrying about.

I've lived in the West all my life so the classic groundhog shooting of the east is something I've only read about. Gophers, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, squeakies, picket pins, call them what you will, I've pecked away at 'em for more than 50 years, starting with homemade bows and arrows. I don't live in prime rockchuck country but it's within a day's drive. Here are some of my favorite cartridges and firearms.

When I shoot squeakies with buddy Steve Kukowski our unwritten rule is shots under 50 yards are for handguns, usually a Ruger Mk II target model or an old S&W 41. If it feels like a revolver day I'll use a prewar Colt Officer's Model target or an early S&W K-22.

For stalking or practicing offhand shooting, or to keep the noise level down, I'll select a .22 rifle, either the Anschutz sporter my dad gave me over 40-years ago, or the new Weatherby Mk XXII which is also built on an Anschutz barreled action. Both will shoot 1/4" groups at 50 yards.

.17 HMR And .22 WMR

More expensive than .22LR ammunition, both are also much more effective. These cartridges don't heat up barrels nearly as fast as centerfires, but are about as effective out to 150 yards or so. I've made hits at around 200 yards though trajectory and especially wind drift become factors. The .17 shoots a bit flatter and is less sensitive to wind, though the heavier .22 Mag bullets seem to hit a little harder.

The most accurate. 17 HMR I've ever shot is another Anschutz, the Model 1717. The other .17 I use is a Ruger 77/17 sporter, not quite as accurate but still accurate enough, and a light, compact and handy rifle. My favorite .22 Magnum is a Ruger 77/22M target model with laminated stock.

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.222 Remington

When I was a kid, the .222 Rem was a superstar cartridge. It breaks my heart to see it becoming obsolescent. I stick with it out of loyalty and because I have a really nice .222 rifle.

It's a Sako L-461 Vixen I bought at a time when buying a new rifle was not undertaken lightly. Because it was so expensive, I tend to baby it, and it still looks new after all these years. After trying many scopes I finally found one that seems an ideal match, a Leupold 4.5-14 VX-L. Some shooters heap scorn on the notched objective lens of this scope, but it gets the scope down low the way I prefer. This light, accurate little rifle is ideal if much walking is involved.

.223 Remington

The current superstar of centerfire .22s. If you're going to have one centerfire .22, this is the one. Excellent military surplus brass is readily available (though not as cheap as it once was) and most .223 factory ammunition is very accurate. If I'm too lazy to reload, I use Black Hills .223 ammunition loaded with Hornady V-Max bullets (40-grain for preference). Invariably it is extremely accurate.

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Currently my favorite .223 is the Weatherby Vanguard Sub-MOA varmint model with medium weight barrel. It has a "just right" feel, heavy enough to hold steady, but not so heavy as to be burdensome. Sub minute-of-angle accuracy is guaranteed, and most will do much better.

Don't overlook .223 AR-15 rifles. With match grade, free-floated barrels these often shoot rings around all but the best bolt guns. A Les Baer AR I tested some years ago averaged under 1/2 MOA with some groups in the 1/4 MOA range. My AR upper by Lee Mosher of ISSI (Insight Shooting Systems, Inc.) is even more accurate. To get more versatility from surplus brass, I have two other ISSI uppers, in .223 Ackley Improved (near .22-250 ballistics) and Tactical Twenty (similar to .204 Ruger ballistics).