Cabin Fever Gopher Hunt

I was suffering from "Montana cabin fever" so bad I had
to get out and get after some "early" Ground Squirrels
recently!
When my Hunting partner called last Friday morning I gave
in and put aside my policy of not Hunting them "to early"
in the year.
Besides the absentee woman ranch owner who's ranch we
were going to Hunt on had pleaded with us last year to
"thin'em out" for her next spring.
Okay I thought. I got three Gopher Rifles out of
"storage" in my gun vault and grabbed my always ready
Gopher gear/ammo bag and headed out.
I only killed 15 Ground Squirrels in two hours of Hunting
but it was well worth the trouble.
I was shooting all rimfires and probably took 30 shots
(windy, yeah windy that's a good excuse!) from the three
Rifles total - so not to bad, not to good, on the hits to
kills ration.
Rifle #1: Kimber SVT (silhouette, varmint, target model)
in 17 Mach2 with Leupold 6.5x20 E.F.R. variable scope.
Rifle #2" Ruger Deluxe Model 10/22 with Lilja match
chambered 20" heavy stainless barrel with 6x24 power
variable scope.
Rifle #3: Ruger 77/22 V/T in 22 L.R. with Weaver V-16
scope (4 to 16 power variable).
All the Ground Squirrels were LARGE adults and were on
the "spooky" side at this time of year - that made for
some more fun.
I think this was the earliest I have ever intentionally
gone off on a Ground Squirrel Hunt (February 26th)!
My partner was shooting from his swiveling bench rest
table from out of the bed of his pick-up truck and he had
a 270 degree field of fire thus he had over 30 kills in
those two hours.
The icey cold Budweiser beers we had at the end of the
shoot sure tasted good - even though it was only 42
degrees or so outside!
I am normally only a hot weather beer drinker.
Hoping every one has a good and safe spring/summer
season.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Sounds like a good day Varmintguy.

The weather here has been unseasonably warm this year. I think starting early is a good thing.

Wing master

wow...good observation 900f on the 17Mach2 ammo.

If anyone is unfamiliar with the round here is some
data/info on the .17Mach2 round:

CCI is known in the shooting sports industry for having
reliable ammunition that delivers exceptional performance
time and time again.

The 17 Mach 2 is a 22 Long Rifle case necked down to hold
a 17 caliber bullet. It is not a variation of the 17
Magnum Rimfire and is not interchangeable with it. This
ammunition is loaded with the polymer-tipped V-Max bullet
which makes it up to 60% faster than a 22 Long Rifle
round.

Technical Information
Caliber: 17 Hornady Mach 2 (HM2)
Bullet Weight: 17 Grains
Bullet Style: Hornady V-Max

Ballistics Information:
Muzzle Velocity: 2010 fps
Muzzle Energy: 152 ft. lbs.

Midway lists it for sale on line...$8.99/50 I think.

Edited by Irish Bird Dog

BEAR: Yeah we were dressed in our wintery clothes for
sure.
I won the local cash prize in our local "First Gopher Of
The Year" contest last year and I wish I had written down
the date of that kill - but all involved remember it
being in March. So this year things got going so early
that we had not yet put together a "kitty" type cash
prize for first Gopher.
I think I won $20.00 or so in last years contest.
Second place came in 2 hours after my entry by the way.
I should write more things down on my calendar and then
save the calendars.
Yes 17 Mach2 ammo is like gold in these parts - hard to
find.
I have been traveling a lot lately and in the last two
weeks I have been in at least 20 stores in Washington,
Idaho and Montana that sell ammo and NO ONE has seen ANY
17 Mach2 ammo for a LONG time.
It is a great Gopher Hunting round.
Lots of 17 HMR and 17 WSM everywhere but no 17 Mach2 to
be found.
I hate buying ammo through the mail but I may have to
start looking for 17 Mach2 on-line?
I saw more Gophers today but let them be in order for
them to "get started" and may wait a couple more weeks to
really get after'em?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Fella's;

Yeah, I haven't seen .17 MachII in literally years. I was
in Scheel's yesterday & they had .22lr & .17HMR, but no
.22magnum either. They did have a new .22lr, Browning
brand. It came in 100 round boxes for $9.99. The label
advertised it as a 40 solid at 1435 fps. My experience is
that the super velocity .22 stuff has a case that's
slightly longer than the .22lr to stuff in more powder, and
it's not as accurate as the common stuff.

900F

BobR: Thank you for keeping the eye out - I appreciate
it.

CB900F: I have noticed the scarcity of the 22 Magnum ammo
recently as well.
I don't use much 22 Magnum ammo anymore (since the
invention of the amazing 17 HMR) but I do have several
pistols and a couple of Rifles in that caliber but again
don't shoot them them much at all.
Puzzling to me whats going on in that regard as well?

Wing master: I have been (and still am!) chasing a gun in
Butte, Montana causing me 3 trips there in the last month
and two of those in the last week.
The chain store "Bob Wards" had maybe 25 to 30 cartons
(400 packs) of that Browning round nose 22 L.R. ammo on
my first trip last week - they were down to 2 cartons on
my last trip (Friday).
So the Gopher Hunters/horders are buying it even though
its not hollow-point stuff.
It will be interesting to hear how accurate it is.
One more trip coming up to Butte early this week so will
"make the rounds" again then.

Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Browning doesn't make much stuff, just imports it with the Browning name.

Wondering who is making the Browning 22lr? Eley, Norma, RWS,   ?????

same outfit owns browning label owns winchester label who
owns Olin? they make ammo under winchester name and would
be a good guess as to who makes the new browning stuff.

CB900F: The Rifle I was chasing is now in my possession
it is an unfired but previously owned and scoped Ruger
10/22 stainless heavy barrel target/Varmint hammer forged
barrel thingy.
I actually got to talk to the person who bought the Rifle
and put it together originally for this upcoming season -
then a left handed Browning T-bolt (or something like
that?) came in to the store and he apparently got the
hots for it and traded the unfired Ruger heavy barrel in
on it?
Anyway - finally that Rifle came home with me at $450.00.
They sell for $469.00 to $479.00 but this one came with a
brand new Weaver variable scope ($199.00 cost on this)
and good rings along with a very nice padded softly lined
Rifle case.
Its been SO windy here that I have not been able to shoot
it - that and the Bozeman gunshow just took up two days
of my weekend.
By the way when my crew and I traveled to the Bozeman
Gunshow on Friday we found some more Browning 22 L.R.
ammo on a stores shelf.
It was 22 L.R. ammo and was designated "Fragmenting"!
My partner bought one box and we "dissected" one
cartridge examining the slug for striations, lines,
sectioning or whatever but none were found.
It was higher than the two other types of Browning 22
L.R. ammo we have seen at $6.99 per 50.
We have also seen 100 packs of just plain old Browning 22
L.R. hollowpoints and 400 packs of Browning 22 L.R. round
nose bullets.
By the way the Browning 22 L.R. "Fragmenting" bullets
also had a small hollow-point as well - the box said
nothing as to how or why the bullets would fragment.
Snowed here today.
Spring hasn't quite sprung here abouts yet.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VarmintGuy;

Here & I'd like to sell a Miroku/Browning left hand T-bolt
in .22 magnum. Ah well, it's ironies like that that keep
the production numbers of good whiskey up.

900F