Flat shooting varment calibre

22 ppc

+1 for James M. I have one with muzzle brake. Most accurate varmint rifle I have ever shot. 0 freebore for 40 grain V-Max. Use my old 6 PPC brass. Mostly for Ground Squirrels. Bought used .22 benchrest barrel and had chambered. Hall Action, Leupold 6-20x perfect for the little vermins. Lots of bullet selection. Good way to go. Very low recoil.

MAC
 
Ohhh, this is so true!! The 22PPC, 22Beggs or even the unmodified 220R is just a monster round, disproportionately effective on all fronts when using light bullets.


BTW Jim Borden was once asked "what's the best varmint chambering?" His answer, 6PPC!

Hard to argue w/Jim

al
 
Must read books

Hi, Two great and informative books you must read about small calibers by Todd A. Kindler. The Terrific Twenties and The Sensational Seventeens. These small books will answer all your questions and make your choice of what caliber much easier. Good shooting, Don
 
I have to agree on the 20 Cal--I have a XR-100 that was originally chambered for the 204 and it shot good BUT decided to rechamber to the 20 Practical for the simple reason that I have 500 pieces of the Lapua/Dakota 223 brass.

I have shot Groundhogs since the early 70's and used 222, 222 Mag, 22-250 and the /AI--22 Cheeta, 6BR ,243 standard and AI I have had more success with the 20 Practical than any of the other cartridges . This season I fired 46 shots with 40 kills ranging from 348 -564 yds many of the shorter range hogs were NOT STANDING when shot.

Inside of 600 yds it is deadly and inside of 450 a "Chip Shot" the recoil is such that 90 + % of the hits can be seen through the scope-- as has been written the 204,20 Tac and 20 Practical are soooo close there is no use to pick one over the other. It shoots like a Lazer. If the 20's have a downfall they do not do good in the wind.

Good Luck,

Jim
 
I agree that a 22ppc is the way to go. I shoot a .100 short 22ppc with 52gr bullets and I have seen 3650fps. That's fast. Hard to say what a full length case would do? Good bullets and the best accuracy, why would you use anything else. A 22br would also be an excellent choice as al has said.
I had a 204 and I used it one winter for coyotes. Worst cal I ever used. I had more splash hits, and run offs tat winter tan I have had all other winters combined. I'll never hunt dogs with another. Ever! Just my experience. Lee
 
Phill out here in our area we have an abundance of squrrels and coyotes. over the years that i have hunted varments i have used many calibers from 223-204-22.250 and yes also the 220 swift. After years of shooting varmints i narrowed it down to just two guns,one is my 6ppc and my other is a 6br that i switch barrels with that makes it a 22br. all of this guns of this calibers ar extreamly accurate. if you are concerned of pelt damage try the barnes bullets in the 22 caliber, they have no led. they ar all copper and dont blow up as much. If i had to pick just one gun it would be the 6ppc, they just buck the wind better than 22 cal bullets.
 
More Great Info

gabe ledesma said:
Phill out here in our area we have an abundance of squrrels and coyotes. over the years that i have hunted varments i have used many calibers from 223-204-22.250 and yes also the 220 swift. After years of shooting varmints i narrowed it down to just two guns,one is my 6ppc and my other is a 6br that i switch barrels with that makes it a 22br. all of this guns of this calibers ar extreamly accurate. if you are concerned of pelt damage try the barnes bullets in the 22 caliber, they have no led. they ar all copper and dont blow up as much. If i had to pick just one gun it would be the 6ppc, they just buck the wind better than 22 cal bullets.
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MORE GREAT INFO. It is all about accuracy and possible pelt damage. This is extremely important because any damage or tearing will cost me money, at the time of sale to the buyer. we are looking at numbers of 1,000 plus pelts over the season to make it worth the effort and costs = a lot of cold night in the late 70 & early 80's you could get up to $50.00 per pelt Average $30+ it was great money if set up and you did it as a job and did it right. Now 17 to 18 is top Dollar and it would have to be that in numbers to make it worthwhile at current costs of Fuel @ around $1.65 to $1.70 plus per litre. X 4.546 = ($7.73 per gallon) as `you can see you cannot afford a miss or damage on a good pelt. The first 7 to 8 are costs after that you start to earn money, every shot and dollar counts.
Any suggestions on Scope choice for night shooting under spotlights as I said previously I have not shot with illuminated sight pictures, only normal variables or fixed. Most scope I have are Dots or Fine cross hair BR Dot so will not do the job at night. Years ago we shot just Duples in vai or Fixed. the new Illuminated may be the go? regards and thanks once again to you all
 
IME illuminated sight picture will just screw with your night vision. I think you're best served with plain old duplex crosshairs in a good scope.

That said, if someone comes on who actually has experience with something illuminated AND IT WORKS, I'll go try it too!

I think the new lights are a huge stepup.

al
 
I thankyou Don

don carter said:
Hi, Two great and informative books you must read about small calibers by Todd A. Kindler. The Terrific Twenties and The Sensational Seventeens. These small books will answer all your questions and make your choice of what caliber much easier. Good shooting, Don
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G'day and Thankyou Don. I will try to sauce both of those books. regards phill
 
Hal said:
Phill

I don't know if any caliber larger than a .17 will stay inside of a fox.

New .17 custom barrels are better and smoother than than some of the older barrels.

You might check on the Predator Masters forum and see if any of those guy shoot fox with the .204.

The Saubier forum is also a good place for small caliber info.

Hal
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This is what I'm thinking. Even the .17Rem will probably have issues with blow-thrus. Personally, if I was the OP and had a desire for the best pelts and handloaded, I'd go smaller in caliber, not larger.
 
some sage advice about checking other forums more geared towards the question of pelts. I did a quick search on 204ruger.com, one of my old haunts. seems theres good reports of the 32's and 39's vaporizing after penetration with no exit wound on foxes. Given that I would expect all the new frangibles to act similar.

Seeing as your not limiting yourself to a factory chambering a 20 Beggs or ppc would be at the top of my list.
 
Just a little something interesting to share. I was bored this AM so I tried some 40 grain v-max in my 22 ppc .100 short with lt32. 26.5 grains shot over 4000fps. That's incredible. That little case smokes a 22-250. That's gotta say something. Lee
 
skeetlee said:
Just a little something interesting to share. I was bored this AM so I tried some 40 grain v-max in my 22 ppc .100 short with lt32. 26.5 grains shot over 4000fps. That's incredible. That little case smokes a 22-250. That's gotta say something. Lee
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Launch the same weight pill out of a 20 cal and look at the trajectory/drift gains:cool:
Now I can tell you from experience launching a 40 at 4000 is not something you want to achieve with a 204 Ruger. But a Beggs or PPC, piece of cake using the right powders. Plus the OP has the choices of going much lighter in bullets to protect his furs. JMO.
 
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Many Thanks once again

jo191145 said:
Launch the same weight pill out of a 20 cal and look at the trajectory/drift gains:cool:
Now I can tell you from experience launching a 40 at 4000 is not something you want to achieve with a 204 Ruger. But a Beggs or PPC, piece of cake using the right powders. Plus the OP has the choices of going much lighter in bullets to protect his furs. JMO.
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Thanks again Guys, Lot of fantastic Info, Still thinking - Light Projectiles 25GRN to 32GRN, In whatever. 17, what twist rate - 20 what twist Rate or 204 what twist rate - for best stabilisation, at the high 3,000's or more?
Even though small Calibres has anyone got thoughts on mussel brakes, tubes or tuners.
Regards Phill
 
17 MachIV with 30gr Kindler Golds at 3800fps has worked on everything up to coyotes for me. BC of .271 at 3800fps makes it very flat shooting. There was an article a few years ago about a guy in Alaska that used this bullet for wolves out to 400yds in a hotter 17 running them at 4000fps. It's an unbeleivable little bullet the way it works on larger animals (coyotes) as good as a 22-250 or Swift with alot less fur damage. You can get these bullets from Todd Kindler at The Woodchuck Den in eastern Ohio. It takes a 1:9 twist.
 
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I've been playing with the .224 Clark of late and am pleased with its performance. From a 1:7" barrel cut to 28.5" it'll push 90 grain Bergers to 3,600 fps (full case of US 869)

L to R - 257 Robert, unfired-formed Clark, fire-formed:



Berger 90 gr VLD. G1 BC = 0.551, G7 BC = 0.281



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
 
Cant speak for the 17's but in a 20 go for an 11 twist using 40gn and less. the new non lead frangible bullets although light are fairly long requiring extra stability. No sense limiting yourself out of their use.
The 12 twist seems to be just on the edge of stability in 1000,s of factory rifles. Quality custom tubes may not have these issues but a little insurance will not hurt.
I used the 204r for years in egg shoots, factory class 12 twist, five different barrels. Bought a cheapo 11 twist McGowen just to test. The 40gn bullets settled right down.


The first frangible to hit the market years back was the 26gn varmint grenade. The big concern amongst the 20 crowd was would it hold together in flight at high velocities. Decided to find the answer for the inquiring minds. The last recorded velocity in my overpressure test was 4850. all made it to paper. Had to chuck some nice Nosler brass but I found the answer. Impressed with the construction but a BC on par with a styrofoam cup.
 
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90 grn To big for pelts

Lee Martin said:
I've been playing with the .224 Clark of late and am pleased with its performance. From a 1:7" barrel cut to 28.5" it'll push 90 grain Bergers to 3,600 fps (full case of US 869)

L to R - 257 Robert, unfired-formed Clark, fire-formed:



Berger 90 gr VLD. G1 BC = 0.551, G7 BC = 0.281



-Lee
www.singleactions.com[/ur Hi lee...grn to 32 grn at high 3,000fps. Regards Phill
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I agree Phill.....the .224 Clark is a bit much if you're after pelts. I built it to vaporize groundhogs at long-distances and like the 90 grain for wind bucking ability.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
 
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