What’s your favorite varmint caliber? | General Discussions & Questions | Forum

I’m not much into varmint hunting but the rifle by my back door is a 22 WMR. The ammo is probably Winchester as well but that’s where the red W ends. My back fence would be a chip shot for a real varmint rifle so it fills the need.

Mike

I have not hunted groundhogs in years ever since I moved north again in 1982 but my favourite was a Sako L46 in .222 Remington with a 10x Leopold. It's a beautiful gun and very accurate even with open sights to 200 yards. My long range rifle for timber wolves is my M54 in .250-3000 Savage.

Mine is the 17 Ackley Hornet, A truly amazing cartridge. Shoots like a laser beam out to 250 yards and hits like a sledge hammer. It's the epitome of efficiency, 11.4 grains of VV120 powder and a 20 grain bullet leaving the barrel at 3,800 f.p.s. Turns crows inside out, cuts prairie dogs in half and with a soft point bullet drops coyotes like they were hit by lightning. Starlings hit with a 20 grain Vmax bullet are just a big puff of feathers. If you ever get a chance to try one of these, your 22 Hornet will start to gather dust.....

Erin

As far as Winchesters go, my 38-40 rifle and 38-55 carbine have had a hand in ending most kinds of S. Texas game. 

If shooting varmints with a modern non-winchester rifle, it would be my Remington M722 in 222 Rem or with the only black gun I own, the 223.   Couldnt tell you how many coyotes have been taken out with that 223, among the many other critters.

Favorite Winchester cartridge, 25-35, favorite varmint gun custom 6.5mm Mauser by Elwood Epps

I've used

Bert H. said

I doubt that I will ever let it gather dust.  I also have a sporterized Winder Musket that was rechambered to 22 Hornet more than 60-years ago, and then 25 years ago, I had it reamed out to the 22 K-Hornet.  Loaded with the 13.8 grains of Lil'Gun and 35-gr V-Max bullets, it is a very accurate & flat shooting cartridge out to 250-yards... and absolutely deadly.  It leaves the muzzle at just over 3,300 fps, which is plenty fast.  

I've used lots of the 35 Vmax, they have the BC of a flying ash tray. Out of my 2 Hornets, accuracy falls off sharply after about 175 yards. Out to that range  my rifles work well with them. I have much better luck using the 40 grain Noslers for stretching the distance and consistent accuracy. (better than the 40 grain Vmax)

C'mon Bert, 3,300 is just getting warmed up in a varmint rifle, I've got a 220 Swift Ackley improved that I broke the 5,000 F.P.S mark with. I'll have to dig back through my picture files and see If I can find the pic of my Chronograph with the 5,000 + reading on it.  It was 50 or 51 grains of VV540 behind a Barnes 30 grain bullet. I only shot a handful of these because they are absolute barrel burners. I kept the shots under a 100 yards in a prairie dog field, pretty impressive results when a projectile connects to flesh at those velocities.....

Found the old thread I posted on Saubier  http://www.saubier.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11320