What is your favourtie varmint calibre

[7 REM MAG]

Just wonderin what everyone likes

[yote calibre]

17 HMR yote's to gofers, hollow points for gofers, and ballistic for yote's. Have killed a yote up to 125 yards running with the 17 HMR.

[Rackmastr]

I personally dont like the HMR on coyotes....its a bit small for putting em down hard all the time, but okay for those close shots when calling in close...

[209x50cal]

none of the above - 25/06

[Rackmastr]

None of the above.....17 Remington so far.....for longer range shooting, I'd love a 220 Swift or a 204.....the 25-06 is a good hammer as well...

[winchester70]

I use my .30-06 on everything I hunt..:b

[gube204]

Before last year, I would have picked the 22-250. Now I would have to say the 204 is my ultimate go to varmint gun.
35 gr bergers on yotes. Bang, flop, done. Insides are like jelly.




Savage Vaporizer

[varmitr]

from the list... 22-250
my preference
257wby with 75gr@over4100 feet-per-wolf killing-second
i love word overbore

[dog duster]

The 6mm is the king. I shoot a 58gr v-max with 45gr of reloader 15 and i'm getting 3810 fps. It's great for long or short range. The 17HMR is way to light and there should be a law to stop people from wounding animals. Thats all that 17HMR does. Sorry to burst your bubble.

[nafegavas]

223 can kill a man at 500 so plenty o' power for varmints at closer range, cheap ammo. Using 12gr Bluedot and a 40gr bullet gets you 3000 fps with about the same noise as a hornet.

[hillbily]

not on your list but my 243 works well for me.
hill

[arch1965]

None of the above. I like my Browning Micro Hunter in 22 Hornet. My lever varmint rifle coming in next week is a Marlin in 218 Bee.

Arch:D

[Scott N]

It depends on what you want to use it for. I picked 222 because I usually shoot gophers, and this round is just about perfect for them. When I coyote hunt, I use my 22-250.

[Duffy4]

What is a "varmint cartridge"?

Many people shoot everything with one rifle, so their rifle is really not in a "varmint" cartridge. Some people use a flat shooting big game round (like a .25/06 or .257 weatherby) as their (coyote) "varmint" round. The .243 and 6mm were really designed as a "combo" deer/pronghorn and varmint (woodchuck, fox, coyote) round.

The .22 centerfires and now .17 and .204 are normally refered to as "varmint" rounds for ground squirrels and woodchucks at long range, fox, coyote, bobcat and such.

If you want to sell fur and get top dollar for fox and coyote, you need to use a "fur friendly" round and bullet. If you just want to be able to smack down critters at long range and don't make use of the fur then you can use different rounds and bullets.

Presently I use a triple duce for coyotes and fox and have a .22 mag. that I may try to use calling fox. (it should do the job of a coyote called in close to head shot range.

Robin BACK IN ALBERTA!!!!!!!

[Dick284]

None of the above.>:
Don't you just love polls.:rolleyes
BTW:
The only things a pole seems to get used alot for is for, exotic dancing, and for dogs to urinate upon.:rollin

You missed a lot of good varmint calibers such as all the 24Cals, and 25cals.

[depopulator]

6 mm Remington

for gophers, 58 grain Vmax at 3900 fps.

For yotes 75 grain Vmax at 3600 fps

[yote calibre]

I only use the 17HMR, when calling yotes, I have been able to put down yotes with one shot up to about 120-125 yards, otherwise i will be a bigger calibre. I like the smaller ones because i like to trade the furs if they are in good shape. And that's hard to do sometimes with a a big hole in the hide.

[Whupapup]

.243 with 1-13 twist - 58 gr V-Max and 68 gr Bergers.

.20 Tactical / 40 gr Berger

[Blakeinator2]

If all i had to choose from was a .17 hmr then i'd do just fine as most of my set ups are geared towards 100 yrd or less shots. And most of them i kill within 100 yrds too. Yeah, i'd have to pass on the few at around 250 i kill every year and it surely won't do any truck hunter a bit of good but i understood the .17 hmr's limitations from the get go...and because so i'm 15 for 15 with it...have recovered every single one. You put it in the vitals and your dealing with a 50 yrd runner at most....1/2 of mine go down on the spot with a bit of biting at sides at most...the other 1/2 do a 30 to 50 yrd runner before cartwheeling.

But i only use the hmr as a 'niche' round around parents acreage...why bother all the neighbors if you don't have too? Otherwise i like everything from .204 on up.

B

[aulrich]

I voted for 204 ruger but really depending on the context 22 lr, 17 hmr and a newly added 22 hornet would classify as well and really all the selecetions are fine rounds. If someone gave me a decent gun in any of them I would say thanks.

[TBark]

Wonder if peoples opinions are based on ballisitcs, or what they've owned / used.
Have to admit, I only know that my 223 is a fun rifle.
But ballistics & budget tells me the 17 Rem may be my next one.

TBark

[Prdtrgttr]

But ballistics & budget tells me the 17 Rem may be my next one

I've had a couple now, and worked with guys on theirs, they're really fun guns, different than everyone's 22-250, and great for harvesting fur. Go get one, and report back as to how you've made out.
Good luck to you!

[TBark]

prdtrgttr,
different than the 22-250 in what ways ?
I hear the 17 Rem needs cleaning very, very often.

Thanks
TBark

[Prdtrgttr]

Different from the 22-250 because most guys shoot them :b !
Some 17's foul more than others, I haven't noticed mine to be too bad. I don't think I clean mine more than other guys clean their rifles. They're simply fascinating little guns, that can kill coyotes with lightning quickness.

[7 REM MAG]

The only bad thing about them is the light weight frangible bullet that it shoots

[jrs]

I like 223 simply because bullets are cheap are easy to attain and it works fine out to around 350 yrds with limited holdover. I almost bought a 22-250 instead but based on hearing loss potential went with the 223. Really pleased with it at the range. No critters down with it yet however.

[7 REM MAG]

Yeah i like the 22-250 very much. it only drops 1.5" at 300- an 15" at 400 so i really only need to hold 10" above the back of mr wiley at 400

[Blakeinator2]

So far i've been really impressed with the .204 and factory 32 gr v-max. Only shot four with it, one at about 130 yrds, one about 150 yrds, one at 235 yrds and one at 285 yrds and only the closest one didn't drop like it was hit by lightning...it only made it about 30 yrds on a good broadside hit that put about a 10" circle black blob of jello goo just under the opposite side hide, but i've hit em with .243 like that and seen them go 50. I shoot a very light gun and just catch the impacts in the scope as it heads up on the recoil so i know what happened every shot. A light weight .204 for a "coyote calling" gun is about as good as it gets imo....for coyotes and smaller that is.

I zero about 1.5" high at 100 yrds and the one at 285 yrds was a first year female beginning of sept before bow season opened and she looked alot further away that 285...i was high up on the tail of a ridge overlooking a large plateau and laying prone and because of it i figured maybe 350 ish so i held just under spine and thats exactly where it hit. Impressed me anyhow....pretty confident i could hold square to 330 forsure before moving up the fur.

B

[sheep hunter]

I shot the new 17 Fireball last week and at 4,000fps, it has set the new standard for 17s. It should make an awesome varmint calibre...well other than on windy days...lol

[Blakeinator2]

Oooh, you get to shoot all the latest stuff! You hiring?:lol

So with only 700 ft/lbs energy(equal to .22 hornet) compared to my .204 with close to 1300 ft/lbs energy their must be very little recoil! Do tell, is it nice and quiet also? How much does the gun jump....how much did gun weigh...what model. Sorry for the 101 questions but i love these fast little sub-calibers and can't wait to see how 'standardized' remington can make it. Would love to see how many other gun manufacturers they can get making them too? Hope they follow the hornady/ruger recipe and introduce it with a bang so to speak.

B

[sheep hunter]

It was a model 700 Remington and yes the recoil and muzzle jump were very limited. Was it quiet...it went bang is all I can really say. I wearing electronic ear protection at the time. I was pretty impressed with it...more than any of the other 17s have impressed me.

[17 Firebal]

Just curious Sheephunter, why does the Fireball set the new standard for 17's? The fireball will drive a 20gr pill at 4000, but not the 25 gr one. The 17 Remington exceeds the Fireball in every category, I was just curious if you had actually compared the 17 Fireball(mach IV) to the 17 Remington. When you talk about 17's, the 17 Remington is really hard to beat.

[sheep hunter]

Okay you have me totally confused here. Are you talking about the the new .17 Remington Fireball????????? I think we are talking about the same thing here.

[17 Remingt]

Hey Sheephunter we're not talking about the same thing.
The 17 Remington Fireball is different than the 17 Remington, which has been a factory offering since the early 70's.
In essence, the 17 Remington Fireball is a necked down 221 fireball.
The 17 Remington is a necked down 222 Remington Magnum.
Hope this helps.
If you liked shooting the Fireball, try the 17 Remington, they're a lot of fun too!

[sheep hunter]

Shot them many times Guest.....

[Blakeinator2]

www.predatorxtreme.com/ar...ticleID=68 (http://www.predatorxtreme.com/articles.asp?ArticleID=68) this is the link i think that started alot of the buzz...took me a bit to find it but there we go, the fox guys will be all over this one...would be awesome for reloaders who love shootin gophers too....a bit more of a niche round for the more experienced coyote caller who is fussy about the holes in his fur and therefore a stickler for shot placement...

[Duffy4]

I have just been re-reading "THE RIFLE BOOK" by Jack O'Connor.
In his chapter on "Varmint Cartridges" he gives a lot of praise to the .22 Hornet (more for an eastern chuck and western prarie dog round). He also has great praise for the .22/250.
Then he discusses .25 cal cartridges (more with coyotes and jackrabbits in mind) and says of the .275 Roberts "If I were pinned down I'd probably admit that it is just about my own favorite varmint cartridge."

Of course we have a good handful of "new" cartridges" since he wrote this book in 1949.

Ronin in Rocky

[Okotokian]

Think a 270 would mess up a coyote too much? I guess it would be fine if you had no intention of selling the pelt. Wonder if that little 100 g. bullet you can get in 270 would help?

[Tree Guy]

All great rounds. I use a .243 and a .22mag. Definatelly my next gun though is the .17!

Any opinions on the. 280 as an all-around? I'm looking at ballistics compared to recoil energy. The .280 seems to have similar ballistics to the 7mm but with much less recoil.

[varmitr]

tree guy, my boy uses a 280rem, personally i feel that it is a 'useless' caliber the difference between it and a 270 is insignificant (.284-.277=.007"). big whoop,either one could be discontinued in favour of the other.
the only way i would buy this on purpose is if I had a lifetime supply of 7mm bullets and suitable powder.
not every retailer carries a box of 7mm express either.
if i only had one gun it wouldnt be a 280, its just plain awkward

[7 REM MAG]

if youre going to buy a 280 you may as well learn to shoot guns with more recoil and have more knock down power with the 7Mag

[??]

You guys are crazy....the 280Rem is a great round, and if I had to choose, I'd choose it over the 7 Rem Mag ANY day of the week. If cartridges were 'useless' because they were too close to others, then there wouldnt be 1/2 the cartridges out there that exist today....

280 Rem and .284 Win are two that trump the 7 Rem Mag any day......unless you NEED "mag" in the title....but that only benefits yourself...

Sorry...post limit reached!!

[..]

BTW,
Knock down power is hitting an animal in the vitals accuratly....

Kinetic energy is a moot debate when you're talking 280Rem vs 7Rem Mag

Thats just my opinion though.....

[Tree Guy]

Thanks Rack. I spent alot of time looking at ballistic tables and found that the .280 seemed very, very close to the 7mm on paper. The big difference was in recoil energy. I mention recoil for two reasons. First, I have bad shoulders. I am a big believer in spending alot of time at the range getting to know my gun, heavy recoil definately takes its toll on me. Second, when I was 8-9 years old, and the only gun I had ever shot was a .22, my buddy's bonehead brother let me shoot his 12 gauge loaded with a slug! So I'll be the first to admit that I have a flinch. It's taken years and thousands of rounds to kind of get it managable, but I have kind of had to learn to shoot around it. That's why the .280 appealed to me. My only hesitation is round availiability.

[Okotokian]

Won't find much at your local Canadian Tire or Walmart, but if you have the opportunity to frequent a hunting store of any size, like Wholesale, they seem to have plenty of variety and stock. Just stock up. As long as what's manufactured meets your needs.

[Bean]

Go 204. If you like your dogs with as little damage as possible the 204 is second to none. Plus 4100fps isnt bad either. If you are strictly a gopher man you may find it a little rich in the shell department.