dmort
New Member
Posts: 5 
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Post by dmort on Jan 20, 2016 11:29:05 GMT -7
Hi I'm from Northern California and have been shooting ground squirrels for 45 years. Almost all my shooting has been on nearby ranches. I'm a reloader and my Varmint rifles are a Remington 722 .222 and a Savage Heavy Varmint .223. Both rifles will shoot 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards.
We plan on moving to the Boise area in the near future and I will be looking forward to attending your meetings.
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Post by Timber Butte Outdoors on Jan 20, 2016 17:24:23 GMT -7
Hello dmort,
Welcome aboard the IVH Forums. We look forward to reading your varminting adventures! Please add pictures to the posts, so we can live vicariously through your photos! We look forward to meeting new folks, and look forward to picking up new members to the Club!
Gary
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Post by broper on Jan 23, 2016 14:37:46 GMT -7
Oh man, a 722 Rem. in .222! I used to have one, wish I still had it. Looked at one at a gun show today. The .222 is one of my favorite cartridges. Now I have a Sako heavy barrel .222. Really nice gun and super accurate but a bit heavy for a walk around varminter. Keep in touch and come to our meeting when you get moved here.
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dmort
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by dmort on Feb 2, 2016 17:08:23 GMT -7
Hey, Broper, I bought my 722 at gunshow in the late sixties. It was used but looked like new.It had an American Weaver K-10 with Weaver mounts.Soon after I got a deal on some Redfield mounts [look great] and purchased a Herters glass kit. My first groups were in the 6 to 7 range. Different handloads and some 52 grn. Sisk bullets produced my first 1/2" group. A few years back a friend sold me a Leopold VARI-X 4-14. What a difference! Some of my test groups will run 4 to 5. I can hit ground squirrels at 300 yards but they are seldom clean kills so I pretty much limit myself to 250 or so.On the other hand I can miss them sitting dead still at 100 yards. I just never know. The .222 is such an accurate round and so easy to load it will always be my favorite.
The Sako has to be a nice piece. What are you shooting? One of my best loads is 24.5 grns. of BLC-2 with a 50 grn. Nosler BT and CCI 450 primers.It's not real fast but the squirrels don't know the difference.
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Post by broper on Feb 2, 2016 18:42:50 GMT -7
The Sako is a really nice gun. It's a Rhiimaki and I'm about the third owner. It was originally used for seals in Alaska. I really like Sako's but I'm basically a Remington fan. I would love to have another Rem. rifle in .222. Although there was a little Sako with full length stock in .222 that I lusted after for a long time, until they finally sold it. I've always liked the.222 and would take one over .223 any day. Really nothing wrong with .223, I've just been stuck on .222 for years. Right now I'm just shooting odds and ends for loads, trying to get them shot up. I got a bunch of ammo with the gun when I bought it. Mostly 50 gr. bullets but some 45's and a very few 55's. I prefer the 50 grainers in .222. I've got some 50 gr. Nosler Varmageddons that I want to try. When I had the 722, I used BLC(2) a lot. It really works good. Right now it's my preferred powder in my .204 Ruger, which is a Rem. 700. Have you heard about the new Howa mini action? I've heard rumors that it will eventually chambered in .222. I'm kind of anxious to see that one. I've wished for years that Rem. would make a mini 700. That's one thing I do like about Sako, they have three different action lengths to accommodate different length cartridges. I've got several varmint rifles from .218 Bee up to .257 Roberts. The .222 remains one of my favorites though. It does mess up a squirrels whole day! Does a good job on rock chucks and jack rabbits too. I've yet to kill a coyote with it but see no problem. When do you think you will be coming to this area? Look forward to meeting you.
Bob
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dmort
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by dmort on Feb 4, 2016 10:42:26 GMT -7
Bob, Glad to hear back from you and I would like to see your 218 Bee. A friend of mine has a K-Hornet on a falling block. It's a neat old piece.I gave him my old Weaver K-10 which is 15 1/2 inches long and it look's really good on that old rifle. We have friends in Idaho and two of the couples live in Meridian.We have in fact driven past your meeting place on Eagle road. I have often talked about moving to Idaho after we retired. I'm going on 74 and we need to make a move while all our body part's still function! We are putting our place on the market when it warms up a little and we will be going up your way to look for a house. Will contact you when we have an actual date.
Mort
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Post by broper on Feb 4, 2016 13:41:18 GMT -7
Hey Mort,
My 218 Bee is a Ruger #1 and I really like it. I have taken lot's of ground squirrels, rock chucks, a few badgers and two coyotes with it. The more I shoot it the more I like it. I have a 6x Leupold on it. I like the 40 gr. V Max in it. I load it with Lil'Gun powder. I was actually looking for a marlin mod.'94 but they were hard to find. Ran across the #1 and bought it. I haven't been sorry. You will like Idaho.
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dmort
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by dmort on Feb 4, 2016 23:00:54 GMT -7
Bob,I just flipped the pc open and it looks like I never logged off this morning. I've been out in the loading room sorting through stuff I don't plan to take with me.I have at least two boxes of old gun magazines. They are fun to read because of the great ads. When was the last time you could mail order a Mauser action for $20 or better yet a Luger for $100? I know the dollar went a lot farther then but those were still good deals. I bought a 1903A3 Springfield that I paid $40 for. Still have it. One thing I know for sure isn't going with me is a cast iron Herters press that weighs a least 10 pounds. Does anyone need a Bonanza primer press? I'm sure I will find more stuff tomorrow. I just have to quit reading the magazines.
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Post by broper on Feb 5, 2016 6:23:12 GMT -7
Yeah, those old magazines are really interesting. I used to save magazines but they're hard to store and hard to pack around. I know what you're saying about the price of guns. I have a Ruger Blackhawk .30 carbine that I paid $97.50 for, brand new! When I first started reloading I used a lot of Herter's products. Still have some of it. Maybe you could sell some of your "stuff" through the classified section.
Bob
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dmort
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by dmort on Feb 5, 2016 10:58:31 GMT -7
Bob, I read earlier that you shot a few coyotes. I have too but it wasn't what I was looking for. Two of the ranches where I shoot I've been instructed to shoot coyotes if I see any. The first one happened several years ago at a ranch where they let me shoot right off the front porch in the shade. It had been a better than an average shoot and in one corner of the field there were dead squirrels everywhere. Anyway, this coyote wanders out of the trees looking for an easy meal. He was out there about two hundred and fifty yards (I have a range finder)and I dropped him with one shot. After that a couple of buzzards started swooping low over the field and that was the end of the shooting that day. A few years later on another ranch I was having a good shoot and a coyote popped out of a dry irrigation ditch about a hundred yards away. Got it. The rancher was very happy because he had recently lost one of his new calves. On another ranch I had a Bob Cat pick up a dead squirrel near the edge of the timber but he was gone in hurry. Anyway those are my only coyote stories and I'm sticking to it. Mort
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Post by broper on Feb 7, 2016 5:55:47 GMT -7
Hi Mort,
I've shot a few coyotes but not as many as some of the other members of our club. We have some really good coyote hunters in the club. I try to listen and learn from them. Some of my coyote kills were just incidental, when I was out after something else. I have called a few in though. I would like to get a bobcat but so far no luck. The last time I was out we got a few to howl but never did see them. We saw five while were driving down the road. They were 4 or 500 yds. out and no chance for a shot. We ran across a fairly new calf the coyotes had killed and eaten most of. Hope to get out again soon.
Bob
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