Dedicated Varmint Rifle Question

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Aaryq

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Howdy, folks. Everyone talks about a .223 or a .22 LR for varmint hunting. .22 LR is great for little critters (prairie dogs, squirrels, rabbits, etc). .223 is great for larger critters (Coydogs, Foxes, SHTF, etc). Is it possible to have a dedicated varmint rifle for the smallest of squirrels to the biggest of Yotes? It may be a silly question and don't flame me, but I want one multi-purpose varmint gun to cover both categories.
CRITERIA:

1. I want to keep the fur to brain-tan and either sell or use for my own uses so I don't want super fur damage. **SIDE NOTE** I'm just learning to brain tan so I have a few seasons of learning how to do it properly

2. I don't reload so if you come up with a cartridge I can use, tell me something I can buy in a various range of loads.

3A. I don't care the type of rifle (semi, bolt, single shot) it is but I would like it to be under $1000 not including a scope.

3B. I would like to find a way to add picitanny rails, because I have a scope that can mount to them. Recomend a scope for this rifle if you can't find a rifle that meets this criteria.

4A. If my multi-purpose request doesn't work for you folks, I want to hear why that they don't work.

4B. If my multi-purpose request doesn't work for you folks, I would like to hear a 2 caliber input for varmint hunting that comes from personal experience that you would choose for me (or at least websites where you saw it once).
 
I don't know, seems to me that .223 has all of that covered. The only thing I can see a problem with is exit holes on the 'yotes, since you want to keep the fur, but that can probably be dealt with given the right load.
 
.223 for squirrels and rabbits? Doesn't that round leave large exit holes on those critters? What about meat damage. I forgot to include meat damage. It's not a super large priority, but I was raised to eat what you kill (except 'yotes, in which case you USE what you kill).
 
I think you're asking for a little too much. .17 HMR is perfect for little critters (squirrels, rabbits, etc.), but doesn't pack enough punch for foxes and 'yotes. .204 Ruger is perfect for foxes and 'yotes, but will make mince meat out of squirrels.
 
I would argue, that the best varmint round, out to 300 yds, with as little damage to pelts as possible, for your closer up animals, would be something in a nice 17fireball, now called the 17remington fireball. they blow up small game. but on fox and yotes and such, they make tiny entrance holes, and usually will not exit. I have a friend that has been using this round for something like 20 years, and he says, unless he is hunting something big, all he uses otherwise, is 17mach2 for small critters, and the 17fireball for everything else up to, but not including, deer size.
he also handloads, so he says a 25 grain bullet, moving out at about 4000 fps, will drop a coyote like Dillinger. Remington does make this in a factory loading now. I would say , a 204 would do the same job, but since it is a bigger round, that doesn't blow apart on entry, you could get some nasty exit holes.
All in all, I like a fragmenting 17 better.
Or , if you wanna handload, you can go to the super torque 14 centerfire, and really put their insides in a a washing machine.
http://www.saubier.com/smallcaliber/russlucas.html
oh yeah, cz, and remington make rifles for the Fireball, I'm sure some others do as well, but I
don't know who they are, offhand.
 
Durn, you don't handload.
You should seriously consider getting started then I could recommend a good .222 Remington chambered bolt action rifle,,,,,,
 
Do some diligent shopping and there is a real good chance you can buy a 223 scope it, a 22 rifle, and one of Lee's reloading kits for $1000. Just a idea to through at ya.
 
Except for the picatinny rail (you can use a weaver rail, however), get a Contender G2 carbine in .204 Ruger. Won't ruin pelts, sufficiently accurate to head-shoot small game, & if you're not up to that, add a .22 barrel & scope. You'll still be < $1K.
 
a remington 700 lvsf is the right rifle. chambering would be tough - might have to go custom and have a hard look at the 218 bee and 22 hornet. the bee would be my first choice, but factory ammo is hell for price (shooting a couple boxes of factory ammo would quickly turn you into a handloader - which is better, anyway).
 
Hows about a Savage varmint rig? I think one in .223 would fit, you can get loads for the whole spectrum of Varmints, and if you eventually reload you can make up some reduced loads too.
The barrel change is fairly simple on a Savage, and if you decide you need more then one chambering you can change over for minimal cost.
 
If not for the "I want to save pelts & meat", the 204 is one of the best all around varmit rounds. But, it will blow apart a red or grey fox. The 22 hornet and all the 17's, don't have the umph to put down a coyote at long range (200+) with a marginal shot, that's from experience. When you get into rabbits and squirrels, it's tough to not blow them apart with most centerfires. I'd recommend getting a 223 and then using differnet loads. I've had excellent luck with full metal jacket rounds when taking red fox, the bullet goes right through clean. The ballistic loads cause major destruction on prairie dogs. I've had ballistic tip rounds kill coyotes without exiting, and I've had them blow paper plate sized holes out the backside, it's about 50/50. Good luck
 
I would go with a NEF single shot -- I believe you can get picatinny rails mounted on it, and you can certainly get two barrels, one .22 LR and one .223 -- and the whole package will be highly price-competitive with any other varmit rifle.
 
sounds like your looking for a 22 hornet, I've shot squirels to coyotes with both of mine,

factory ammo will cost you like mad, but if you reload, then it'll fit your requirements handily,

I neck size the cases, then load with a cci br primer, hornady 45 gr hp bee bullet, and lil'gun powder.
 
I love my Hornet, but it is a handloading proposition -- neck-sizing is critical because of the sloppy case-to-chamber fit and the taper in both case and what passes for a "shoulder" in the Hornet.

I recommend using the Lee Collet Die. With its radial action, it places no stress at all on the rest of the case. Put two washers on the shell holder to activate the collet early, sizing only the front part of the neck and leaving the rest as a "pilot" to center the projectile in the throat.

I like the Hornady 35-grain V-Max. With its short ogive, you can load it out to almost touch the rifling and still feed through the magazine. With a case dipped full of L'il Gun, I get over 3,000 fps from my Kimber M82 and shoot into about 0.5".
 
For the record, the .204 has been known to blow baseball sized holes in coyotes and obliterate smaller critters. The problem is there are not really any commercial loads available that are not designed to explode.

I love the .204, but its not what the OP is looking for.
 
Hmmm...How about an AR-15 with a .22 conversion kit. How accurate are they? Good enough for squirrels at 100 yards??

Or....how about an AR with a .223 and .22 upper?
 
the .204 has been known to blow baseball sized holes in coyotes

Well. from MY record, I reload 32 grainers (and reasonably "hot"), and I've shot thru 1 yote out of a couple hundred . . . that one was under 40 yards, sitting down facing me & I hit it in the soft spot at the bottom of the neck. It does, however, drop them with authority.
 
The problem with NOT reloading is that you cannot customize the chosen round to your needs.
If you re-load .223, you can increase speed, decrease weight (40 gr tnt or Vmax) in a highly frangible round that will disintigrate inside the animal without blowing it up, or increase weight and speed (50 gr vmax) to absolutly mist the target.
Philosophically, your requirement to eat what you kill is laughable. No one I know eats ground squirrels, or pdogs. They are pests, to be destroyed out of hand. Coyotes by the way, are the only animal known that actually increases the size of it's litters in response to hunting pressure.
If you want to go to the trouble of learning to tan hides, you should be learning to reload.
If you want to preserve the hides, and are primarily about taking hides for tanning, you should be trapping rather than shooting them anyway.
The .204, 222, the fireball, the 218 bee, in fact all the varminting rounds including the 17 rem and other 17s all have their place, but you simply have to reload and experiment with each loading until you have what you want. then color code or make notes on the plastic boxes you keep the different rounds in.
I use .223, with the following bullets: 40 gr Vmax, 50 gr Vmax, 55 Gr Vmax, 55 gr lead tip, 50 gr TNT ( hollowpoint with a very thin jacket: highly frangible). I vary the powder (H335 and I-4895 the most) weight, and type to get fine tuned.
I can take ground squirrels to javelina. Even deer if you really want to push the issue.
BTW, Pdogs are mostly out too far to make .22 rimfire very practicle. Ground squirrels are too far in, and too small to waste a 60 cent round(30 cents if you reload) of .223.
when we set up on one of our fields, one person has the 22 for all the GS under 100 yds, and the other the 223 for everything out past 100 yds. We switch off every 10-20 squirrels, depending.
Remember that the .22 LR loses stability at 100 yds, because it is then in transitional flight, that is it is dropping from supersonic to sub sonic speeds, and during the transition, it is experiencing buffeting, that makes the round skip around through the air, and opens the grouping up to several inches.
 
I own five .223's and they are all great..........

One of My first recomendations for who ever asks. That said, I consider the .22-250 the " Ne Plus Ultra " of Varmint Cartridges. No, it has more recoil, is louder on the ears and isn't as inexpensive to reload. I do think when Gebby patented the Varminter it was a well deserved title. I had one before everyone commercialized it. What a good round to tack remington on! Essex
 
Well the eating part is just for Squirrel and Rabbit. Oh, thanks for laughing at my ideals too. Well, I don't reload and this post isn't about whether or not I should reload, it's about what gun, so let's keep it on topic. From the way it sounds, I'll probably have to have 2 rifles. One in .22lr and one in .223. It seems to be the best bet for avilibility and power. I can work with 2 rifles. I'll probably turn my .22 into my dedicated varmint rifle and when I buy my AR, use that for yotes.
 
for the teeniest of holes, maybe go with a super accurate 17mach2, rimfire, ammo is a bit more than 22lr, but much less than 17hmr.
 
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