Trapped varmit load

[DonMountain]

My wife has an old barn cat that she feeds out on the porch, and the varmits come in after dark and eat all the cat food every night. So, she told our grandson to set the live trap out there and clear up the problem. So he has been catching scunks, raccoons, possums and groundhogs over the summer and shooting them in the cage with his 22 long rifle. Well, he has been gone for a week to visit family and took his 22 with him, leaving the job to me. Well, I shot a possum this morning with my 7.5 MAS rifle with 180 grain lead boolits I had loaded for deer. And they made a mess of the possum and the cage, but I got it washed back out. So, my rifle loading question is, what could I load in the 7.5 MAS cartridges with my 180 gr boolit (RCBS mold) that would give me a much reduced velocity and allow me to point the muzzle down when dispatching a varmit in the trap? :Fire:

[rockrat]

Do a search for "catsneeze" loads. I used to load the lyman 311252 (90 gr or so IIRC probably lighter) in the '06 over about 3 gr of bullseye.

I am sure there are loads for your weight boolit.

[OneSkinnyMass]

just wonderin'
how many times have ya caught the cat? :groner: [smilie=b:

Skinny

[DonMountain]

Just once. It must be a smart cat after all. And my wife wouldn't let me shoot it. :kidding:

[DonMountain]

I searched for "Cat sneeze loads" and didn't find anything close to the cartridge that I am trying to load. The 7.5 MAS is a little bigger than the .308 Win casing. And I am using a 180 grain gas checked boolit. So I am looking for a low velocity load for a 308 WIN type casing. I don't have many light pistol powders around. Have Unique, 2400, and H110 for 44. Mag loads and SR-4759. I don't do any shotgun reloading so I don't have any Red Dot or Green Dot. Mostly I have just rifle powders. Any help would be appreciated. :veryconfu

[nanuk]

how about a 45gal drum full of water....

works for me!

[Thumbcocker]

Size "0" buckshot rolled in liquid alox over 3.0 of red dot.

[popper]

Dare I say 'red ryder' or long pointy stick?

[Echo]

Size "0" buckshot rolled in liquid alox over 3.0 of red dot.

+1. Makes sense to me - roll the shot in Mule Snot, dump 3-5 gr of Unique in the case, push the ball into the neck until it is seated below the mouth, thumb a touch of lube on top, and There You Have It!

Since you already have the casting equipment, buying a Lee buckshot mold that will outlive most of us (due to light use) makes sense, too.

[Larry Gibson]

Try a Hornady .32 SWC swaged lead pistol bullet over 3.2 gr Bullseye. The 90 gr WC Hornady WC or the Speer 98 gr WC will work just as well but probably will have to be single loaded. I've dispatched many a small game and varmint with this load in numerous .30/.31 cal rifles using the factory swaged lead bulles or the Lee TL314-90-SWC that I cast. Very mild report and will give 850 - 900 fps.

Also, this might be a good excuse to the wife to buy your own .22LR, eh?

Larry Gibson

[popper]

Also, this might be a good excuse to the wife to buy your own .22LR, eh? I wanted to say that!

[ShooterAZ]

I'm with Larry, I use a .22 short from my Winchester model 62A for such tasks. It works perfectly for that job.

[Harter66]

+1 for Unique . My 06' and Mausers are happy from 5 to 8gr. 8gr in the 06' w/my 200 gr boolit gives about 1400fps.

[DonMountain]

+1 for Unique . My 06' and Mausers are happy from 5 to 8gr. 8gr in the 06' w/my 200 gr boolit gives about 1400fps.

Do you guys use any fillers with this small amount of Unique? Any problems with pointing the rifle down when firing these small loads? As in pointing it down into the live trap? :Fire:

[docone31]

An idea,
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_125&products_id=11582
They were devious back then.

[x101airborne]

No filler as long as you are using bullseye, unique, red dot, etc.

I use red dot under buckshot and I have taken many squirrels with my 30-30.

[milkman]

With ultra-lite loads you want to be sure the projectile exits the barrel if you get a squib or misfire.
Milkman

[NSP64]

I was told no filler, when using lite loads in 45/70.
I had a squib when aiming down hill once.
I then started using a tuft of dryer lint over the powder charge. Smelled great when fired.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

you could always tie a rope to the front of the trap , then let them out , and shoot them as they walk away and save cleaning or damaging the trap

[Harter66]

I've not had any probelm with it w/o fillers.

[geargnasher]

you could always tie a rope to the front of the trap , then let them out , and shoot them as they walk away and save cleaning or damaging the trap

Not with the critters we have around here you don't, unless you're an Olympic Bunker expert. You shoot them in the trap, and shoot them again to make sure they're quite dead before releasing the latch. Broken trap bars get gas-welded back together afterwards if necessary.

Gear