Short-range varminting on the cheap with rimfire?

[BringHomeTheBacon]

How close will ground squirrels, woodchucks and prairie dogs let you get to them before they spook back into their burrows? Does varminting with a 22 Long Rifle require a lot of stalking skills? CZ makes a number of nice-looking .22 bolt-action rifles. They also make some .22 WMR and some .17 HMR guns but that is not exactly thrifty ammo. At my local Academy, I can now get a box of Winchester Super-X Power-Point 22 LR 40-Grain Rimfire Ammunition - 222 Rounds and just a buck's worth of those could give me up to 7 dead chucks or gophers taken within a half a football field depending on my own personal level of Kentucky windage. Imagine seven rodents for just under an All-American George Washington greenback! The catch 22 of the lowly 22 is severely limited range. I just read that 50 yards is tops for ethical varminting with a twenty-two long rifle. 100 yards might be OK for plinking cans, rocks or two-liters. I was thinking about getting a varminting AR, but I'm now gathering that .223 and/or 5.56 ammo actually worthy of varminting is not terribly thrifty. 22 LR still seems the best deal in town for eliminating small critters if one prefers a gun powered by burning powder as opposed to compressed air or CO2. The CZ 457 American is a pretty-looking little pea-shooter for retail under $600.

 

[jmorris]

How close you can get is generally proportional to how much of a threat you present. You know, like no one moves next to an active volcano but over the years they do, at least until it goes off again.

Over time, seems like you could get within contact distance.



Ethical killing has always been an interesting topic to me. When it comes to varmints, I poison them when I can. I can eliminate gophers at about 10 acres/hour with this device I built.



The hopper hold the poisoned seed and dumps a thimble full (blind hole drilled in 1” shaft) into the tunnel it makes, every 3ft or so. It’s much faster than shooting and they are all done. Might be a few years before any new ones come in.

I don’t generally “go after” larger animals with .22’s but have killed many pigs in traps with them and even one at well over 50 yards. One Aguila standard velocity 40 grain solid to the right spot in the head and he didn’t take a step.

 

[mcb]

I killed allot of groundhogs with a 10/22 and Tasco 3-9x32. It does take some stalking skills and/or some patience.

 

[.308 Norma]

How close will ground squirrels, woodchucks and prairie dogs let you get to them before they spook back into their burrows?

There are no woodchucks or prairie dogs around here, but as I've stated in several other posts, my wife and I have been acting as the official ground squirrel "exterminators" over on our friend's ranch for the last month or six weeks. We've been spending 2 or 3 hours over there a couple of times a week, and up until this week, it's been fairly steady shooting (1 shot every couple of minutes) with our .22LR rifles. However, we were over there for a few hours last Monday, and the grass is getting too tall, making the ground squirrels hard to spot. Besides that, on Monday the wind was blowing really hard, and it was gusty, so we had a hard time hitting the ground squirrels if they were any more than 40 or 50 yards out.
We didn't mind. My wife and I have sort of totaled it up, and we figure between us and our oldest grandson (who went ground squirrel shooting with us once this spring) we've killed close to 500 of the little vermin. And even though we're starting to feel kinda "bloody" if you know what I mean, we've hardly dented the overall ground squirrel population on our friend's ranch.
To answer your question though, most of the ground squirrels we've shot this spring have been between 10 and 100 yards out. Sometimes foolish ones would pop up out of their holes no more than 10 feet away though, and as long as we moved slowly, they would stand there and look at us - like they were trying to figure out what we were. We would sometimes shoot those with our handguns - my wife with her Ruger Bearcat, and me with my Glock 44.
We learned a little trick last year - if we stand still and emit 4 or 5 short, high-pitched whistles, ground squirrels will sometimes pop up out of their holes real close to us. Then, like I say - as long as we move slowly, they'll often stand there and look at us.
Both my wife and I also have .22-250s. On our first morning of ground squirrel shooting, I used my .22-250 to shoot a ground squirrel that was a little over a hundred yards out. But as soon as I shot, I thought, "Man, that was stupid! That was a whole lot of noise and expense just for killing a ground squirrel when there are hundreds of them running around within 50 yards of us."
I have no inclination of ever getting rid of my .22-250 though - it's still a good coyote rifle. And I used to use it for rockchucks (yellow-belied marmots), along with the .223 I used to have as well. I don't usually shoot rockchucks nowadays though. They mostly live on rocky, non-agricultural land anyway, so they usually don't do a lot of damage. If I catch one in the garden eating our freshly sprouted pea plants though... But then again, the .17HMR standing by the back door works just as well on a rockchuck at 30 yards as a much louder .22-250.

 

[BringHomeTheBacon]

What I'm discovering is that when you add CENTERFIRE ammo to VARMINTING, things can get pricey. There is something about pressing a primer into a case pocket that makes factory CF cartridges so spendy. Only a BB gun can get cheaper than a 22 rimfire for "ratting".

 

[BringHomeTheBacon]

There are no woodchucks or prairie dogs around here, but as I've stated in several other posts, my wife and I have been acting as the official ground squirrel "exterminators" over on our friend's ranch for the last month or six weeks. We've been spending 2 or 3 hours over there a couple of times a week, and up until this week, it's been fairly steady shooting (1 shot every couple of minutes) with our .22LR rifles. However, we were over there for a few hours last Monday, and the grass is getting too tall, making the ground squirrels hard to spot. Besides that, on Monday the wind was blowing really hard, and it was gusty, so we had a hard time hitting the ground squirrels if they were any more than 40 or 50 yards out.
We didn't mind. My wife and I have sort of totaled it up, and we figure between us and our oldest grandson (who went ground squirrel shooting with us once this spring) we've killed close to 500 of the little vermin. And even though we're starting to feel kinda "bloody" if you know what I mean, we've hardly dented the overall ground squirrel population on our friend's ranch.
To answer your question though, most of the ground squirrels we've shot this spring have been between 10 and 100 yards out. Sometimes foolish ones would pop up out of their holes no more than 10 feet away though, and as long as we moved slowly, they would stand there and look at us - like they were trying to figure out what we were. We would sometimes shoot those with our handguns - my wife with her Ruger Bearcat, and me with my Glock 44.
We learned a little trick last year - if we stand still and emit 4 or 5 short, high-pitched whistles, ground squirrels will sometimes pop up out of their holes real close to us. Then, like I say - as long as we move slowly, they'll often stand there and look at us.
Both my wife and I also have .22-250s. On our first morning of ground squirrel shooting, I used my .22-250 to shoot a ground squirrel that was a little over a hundred yards out. But as soon as I shot, I thought, "Man, that was stupid! That was a whole lot of noise and expense just for killing a ground squirrel when there are hundreds of them running around within 50 yards of us."
I have no inclination of ever getting rid of my .22-250 though - it's still a good coyote rifle. And I used to use it for rockchucks (yellow-belied marmots), along with the .223 I used to have as well. I don't usually shoot rockchucks nowadays though. They mostly live on rocky, non-agricultural land anyway, so they usually don't do a lot of damage. If I catch one in the garden eating our freshly sprouted pea plants though... But then again, the .17HMR standing by the back door works just as well on a rockchuck at 30 yards as a much louder .22-250.

You could also pop these little critters up close with a 22 pistol if you had one to be ammo-cost-thrifty. Which 22 LR pistol is a good companion for your 22 LR rifle?

The Ruger MARK IV™ HUNTER retails close to a grand! The Smith & Wesson SW22 Victory Fiber Optic 22 LR Full-Sized 10-Round Pistol runs about half that price.

 

[.308 Norma]

You could also pop these little critters up close with a 22 pistol if you had one to be ammo-cost-thrifty. Which 22 LR pistol is a good companion for your 22 LR rifle?

Read my whole post, BringHomeTheBacon. I said we sometimes do shoot the "up close" ground squirrels with 22 handguns - my wife likes her Ruger Bearcat, and I like my Glock 44 for that.
As far as "ammo-cost-thrifty" goes, we've been stocked up on .22LR ammo since I can't remember when - long, long before this current fiasco, whatever it is. The only thing we have to worry about ammo-wise in our .22LR rifles and handguns is which ammo works in which guns (see the attachment as an example).
Also, I like Winchester Power-Points .22LR ammo a lot in my Kimber bolt action rifle, but the cylinder holes (the chambers) in my wife's little Ruger Bearcat seem a tad tight, and Winchester Power-Points won't fit. So she uses Remington Yellow Jackets in her Ruger Bearcat, and Remington Golden Bullets in her Ruger American Rimfire .22LR rifle.
As I said, it can be difficult for us to remember which .22 ammo works in which .22 rifle or handgun. That's why we sometimes write it on a piece of masking tape stuck on the box of ammo.

 

[BringHomeTheBacon]

Sorry, Mr. Norma, I wasn't sure the pistols you mentioned before were even "22" rimfire. I never heard of a "Ruger Bearcat" and I read "Glock 44" as a Glock in .44 caliber. "Twenty-two" never enters my mind whenever GLOCK is mentioned. I own a newer unfired Glock 45 but it is 9 mm Luger. I did once own a pre-1964 Colt Government Model in .45 ACP. Very good condition. Came with the .22 LR conversion kit. Never fired this particular gun in either 45 or 22. Was sold a couple years later due to money issues. I can't attest to the accuracy or reliability of .22 LR shot from an M1911 platform. Paid $1,200 for both the handgun and its conversion kit back in 2000 from a private seller.

I believe Smith & Wesson used to make a Kit Gun that was a .22 revolver. Some 22 pistols look more sporty or racy than others and that is what brought the Ruger Mark IV to mind and the much-cheaper Victory by Smith that looks alike. I would think "hunting" or "varminting" handguns would be the longer, sleeker sportier models.

Yes, .22 rimfire can be an iffy thing when it comes to cycling reliably in an auto. My first-ever gun was a Remington Nylon 66 rifle new in 1988. Jam City. Killed one "varmint" with it at 15 feet while in the prone. A pesky peacock in my semi-rural front yard that was scratching the paint on my car. Got rid of this gun circa 1995. My mother also had a Beretta Minx purse pistol in .22. Not sure if it ever jammed.

 

[.308 Norma]

Sorry, Mr. Norma, I wasn't sure the pistols you mentioned before were even "22" rimfire. I never heard of a "Ruger Bearcat" and I read "Glock 44" as a Glock in .44 caliber. "Twenty-two" never enters my mind whenever GLOCK is mentioned.

Don't worry about it.
Yeah, there's probably a lot of people that think "44 caliber" when they hear "Glock 44" - I would have too at one time. It's actually named a Glock G44, and it's the same size as my usual EDC - a Glock G19 (9mm), even though it's only a .22LR.
I love it - it's accurate, and it's every bit as reliable as any semi-auto .22LR handgun I've ever owned. The fact that it looks and feels like (except it's lighter) as my EDC (my Glock 19) is a bonus.
My wife's Ruger Bearcat is similar to a Ruger Single-Six .22LR - only smaller. It's kinda cute, and she carries it crossdraw style in a little pancake style holster that she ordered from Leather Creek Holsters.
She's pretty good with it. But she's always been better with handguns than I am. I'm better with rifles.
I'm surprised to read you had problems with that Remington Nylon 66. I thought those things were like ultra-reliable. I've never had one, but I remember the advertisements.

 

[nettlle]

I have sat on creek banks and had ground hogs come out from under the creek banks an sit up 12" from where I was sitting while looking behind me. If you don't move or make noise you are pretty much invisible to a ground hog. I have taken many dozens at 80 yards with my Kimber 82, a good rest, and CCI Mini Mags. At 80 yards on a ground hog the hit has to be perfect with a .22 caliber for a humane kill.

 

[BringHomeTheBacon]

Don't worry about it.
Yeah, there's probably a lot of people that think "44 caliber" when they hear "Glock 44" - I would too have at one time. It's actually named a Glock G44, and it's the same size as my usual EDC - a Glock G19 (9mm), even though it's only a .22LR.
I love it - it's accurate, and it's every bit as reliable as any semi-auto .22LR handgun I've ever owned. The fact that it looks and feels like (except it's lighter) as my EDC (my Glock 19) is a bonus.
My wife's Ruger Bearcat is similar to a Ruger Single-Six .22LR - only smaller. It's kinda cute, and she carries it crossdraw style in a little pancake style holster that she ordered from Leather Creek Holsters.
She's pretty good with it. But she's always been better with handguns than I am. I'm better with rifles.
I'm surprised to read you had problems with that Remington Nylon 66. I thought those things were like ultra-reliable. I've never had one, but I remember the advertisements.

My Nylon 66 had a plastic stock: nylon. There was a metal receiver cover with two screws that horseshoed over the top of the stock area the bolt slid in. If the screws were too tight, it would pinch this area and the bolt would bind. A bolt moving inside a metal receiver is the way to go.

 

[Fyrstyk]

I have taken many a woodchuck with my .36 caliber black powder flint lock out to 60 yards or so with open sights. Stalking them is the key. They also make some mighty fine bar-b-q.

 

[FL-NC]

When I was on a ranch in Ca, we just drove around in a truck with 10-22 rifles with 4x scopes and smoked ground squirrels when we saw them out the windows.

 

[Navy87Guy]

“On the cheap” and a $600 rifle don’t sound like they go together to me! I have a Savage MK II that is a nice shooter. You can pick one up for not far north of $200. It’s not “pretty” with its synthetic stock, but it gets the job done.

 

[.308 Norma]

When I was on a ranch in Ca, we just drove around in a truck with 10-22 rifles with 4x scopes and smoked ground squirrels when we saw them out the windows.

The truth is, we also have killed more than a few ground squirrels that way this spring. Only we usually just use our .22 handguns for shooting out the windows. Most of the time though, we just park the truck out in the field, and shoot as many ground squirrels as we can within a 100-yard radius of where we parked it. The hood and the back corners of the bed make decent rifle rests.

 

[BringHomeTheBacon]

“On the cheap” and a $600 rifle don’t sound like they go together to me! I have a Savage MK II that is a nice shooter. You can pick one up for not far north of $200. It’s not “pretty” with its synthetic stock, but it gets the job done.

It's no longer listed at Savage site. A new CZ 457 Varmint is under $600. Walnut stock, heavy 20" barrel and that pretty ball-shaped bolt handle I so treasure. It would be more pleasing to shoot than a plastic gun. I would not put the priciest ammo through it but something along the lines of Winchester Super X Power-Point 40 gr. for under 13 cents a pop.

 

[.308 Norma]

At 80 yards on a ground hog the hit has to be perfect with a .22 caliber.

Never mind.

 

[BringHomeTheBacon]

It looks like CCI Blazer might be the ticket for CHEAP rimfire that might be good for squirrel up to 75 yards or chucks up to 100 yards out of a quality 22 like the CZ 457. 9 cents a pop with just a tad over 1 MOA at 100 yards. If your Ruger 10/22 is cleaned more often as it should, it might not even hiccup once. Might hit a 10 yard squirrel with a scoped pistol.

 

[Dirtybob]

Winchester Super-X Power-Point 22 LR 40-Grain Rimfire Ammunition - 222 Rounds

Recently bought some of this ammo and have been having lots of click & no pop (25% +) in both my rifles and Dad's HRR.
Maybe just a bad batch but I'm not buying any more of it.

 

[BringHomeTheBacon]

Recently bought some of this ammo and have been having lots of click & no pop (25% +) in both my rifles and Dad's HRR.
Maybe just a bad batch but I'm not buying any more of it.

Blazer looks cheap and promising too. Hard to go wrong with CCI I believe. My local Academy seems to have trouble keeping any .22 Long Rifle in stock even now. We have a new 22 Depression in 2022.

Now is not the time to shoot guns just for fun. The main reason ammo is so short is because people grossly waste it. High capacity and firepower and spraying and praying is now king. We are no longer a nation of American riflemen where each and every shot counts.

 

[Fyrstyk]

That is why I shoot muzzle loaders. Your time to reload can be as much as a minute, therefore make your first shot count. Also, shooting small bore muzzle loaders, especially flint locks, is cheaper than shooting a .22 long rifle.

 

[buck460XVR]

Growing up in the rural Midwest in the 60's, the lowly .22 was the mainstay of most of us kids, lucky enough to have one. Everything from dump rats, barn pigeons, squirrels, rabbits and yes, those woodchucks that lived under virtually every shed. Come late winter, they were our "fox" guns. Each and every one of those animals(along with every "tweety" bird in the area) quickly learned what we were up too and either took to being stealthy or just got up and left before we got close. Without access to something with better range, we learned to be stealthy ourselves. We learned the angles were could approach the shed and how to peak thru the slats on the corncrib to see the woodchuck before he saw us. We also learned to shoot between those slats. We learned how to sit still with cover until the rats came back out or the pigeons came back to the barn. We learned to keep the gun up and pointed at the perch they had outside the barn because we had to shoot quick before they got into the barn. Calling fox, we learned to take a old white sheet to hide under with a few peek holes we could look out of. All because of our lowly .22s. In the long run it helped us not only in the woods with small game we hunted with the same gun, but also when it came to deer with high powered rifles.Or getting turkeys, ducks and geese within range. Many times while sitting for long hours on bow stand, I think back to those summer days of endless waiting for another rat to peak out from under the garbage, so I could get one more shot before I went home.

The .22 is quite capable of "short range Varmint hunting on the cheap". The question is.....are you?

 

[BringHomeTheBacon]

Growing up in the rural Midwest in the 60's, the lowly .22 was the mainstay of most of us kids, lucky enough to have one. Everything from dump rats, barn pigeons, squirrels, rabbits and yes, those woodchucks that lived under virtually every shed. Come late winter, they were our "fox" guns. Each and every one of those animals(along with every "tweety" bird in the area) quickly learned what we were up too and either took to being stealthy or just got up and left before we got close. Without access to something with better range, we learned to be stealthy ourselves. We learned the angles were could approach the shed and how to peak thru the slats on the corncrib to see the woodchuck before he saw us. We also learned to shoot between those slats. We learned how to sit still with cover until the rats came back out or the pigeons came back to the barn. We learned to keep the gun up and pointed at the perch they had outside the barn because we had to shoot quick before they got into the barn. Calling fox, we learned to take a old white sheet to hide under with a few peek holes we could look out of. All because of our lowly .22s. In the long run it helped us not only in the woods with small game we hunted with the same gun, but also when it came to deer with high powered rifles.Or getting turkeys, ducks and geese within range. Many times while sitting for long hours on bow stand, I think back to those summer days of endless waiting for another rat to peak out from under the garbage, so I could get one more shot before I went home.

The .22 is quite capable of "short range Varmint hunting on the cheap". The question is.....are you?

Dressing as a Halloween ghost to hunt fox? How very foxy of you!

Guns are like Harleys and women (except a nagging loud-mouth one with a purse-full of credit cards is still one too many) and money and health and common sense and free available parking spaces.....you can never have too many or too much.

 

[Dirtybob]

Blazer looks cheap and promising too. Hard to go wrong with CCI I believe. My local Academy seems to have trouble keeping any .22 Long Rifle in stock even now. We have a new 22 Depression in 2022.

Now is not the time to shoot guns just for fun. The main reason ammo is so short is because people grossly waste it. High capacity and firepower and spraying and praying is now king. We are no longer a nation of American riflemen where each and every shot counts.

Never had an issue with CCI yet. Also like this aguila ammo

No real shortage of .22 lr in my neck of the woods thankfully.
Guys at the range doing mag dumps into the berm sometimes leave me shaking my head. I figure you may need to function test the firearm (new gun/made repairs/etc) but I've witnessed a few guys blow through so much ammo it had me wondering. Told the wife that I wish I had their ammo budget lol.
Shooting ARs at home defense ranges seems silly to me as well but w/e floats your boat.

 

[EMC45]

The one and only groundhog that I shot (and ate), was with my youngest sons pawnshop find Springfield Meteor youth single shot .22 with Federal Auto Match. I crept around the side of the house and it was coming out of the culvert of my driveway. I was statue still and I had the front bead lined up right behind the ear. Aim/breath/squeeze. It's head felt like a bag of broken glass. I was about 20-25 yards out.