225438 meets groundhog

[Antietamgw]

I have a little Martini sporter in .218 Bee, put together with a rimfire barrel I believe. I never had any luck with cast in a .22 Hornet TC carbine barrel but decided to try them in the Martini. With Winchester brass, RP SR primers, 8.5 H110, 225438 of WW +2% Tin, air cooled, Hornady gas check, LBT Blue lube, it will shoot into 2" at 100 yds and well under 1" at 50yds. I made a jig up and can hollow point the loaded round with a center drill. Only shot 1 group at 100 yds with the hollow pointed rounds, it went right under 2". I've not chrono'd it. I have a problem with groundhogs on a farm we rent. This owner doesn't allow hunting (until I showed her the damage and if I couldn't control them I'd want a rebate on the rent). This farm has a lot of small fields between wood lots and fence rows and is tough to hunt for groundhogs unless you spot and stalk. Had a ball though. It's been a very dry year here in Maryland and the 'hogs are really causing a lot of damage in corn. As I only have another week or so before the corn will be too tall to see the burrowing #$%^&*, I figured I owed myself a day to hunt. The Bee is pretty quiet with this load and that is important on this place if you want more than a couple shots a day. Anyway, I got 7 today with 9 shots, ranges from 40 to 150 yds leaving only a few key targets to take care of this week. The bullet seemed to kill well. The least dramatic was the last one of the day, pictured below. After 1 made a 120 yard shot, this one stood up in a grass waterway 50 yds in front on me. After a quick check around he went back to feeding. The shot was a Texas heartshot. No exit, very small entrance and an immediate kill, not even a helicoptering tail. The 120 yd kill hit the back of the skull which resulted in a huge exit. All the hits resulted in quick kills. I like this load out to 100 yds but could use a couple hundred more FPS for serious 'hog elimination. I spent most of the day still hunting just inside the wood line and it felt great. Getting rid of groundhogs in this cropground made it even better.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h232/Antietamgw/Bee.jpg

[Dale53]

Antie;
Nice looking rifle. Your account shows us what REAL hunting is all about. It can be far more satisfying than lying off 350 yards and sniping with a 22-250. Properly handled and loaded, it is obvious that cast bullets in the .22 CAN work, and work well.

Thank you for sharing with us.
Dale53

[9.3X62AL]

Great story, and fine little rifle too.

Jackrabbits don't lend themselves to long-distance sniping too often, and if they haven't been hammered at a lot or chased by dirt bikes--they can be still-hunted pretty effectively, esp. when it's hot. They will "shade up" under bushes in desert dry washes, and can be seen and engaged. Over the years, the majority of the jacks I've taken have been hunted in this way. It IS a ton of fun.

Long-distance sniping is kinda cool, too. It's tough to think of a BAD way to whack a RAT.

[w30wcf]

Antietamgw,

Nice looking rifle and nice work on those groundhogs with your .22 cast bullet load. Thank you for sharing.

I also make most all of my .22 cast bullets from w.w. + 2% tin air cooled alloy.
I have found in my .22 Hornet, that I can push 45 gr. bullets in that alloy to 2,700 f.p.s. into 1 1/2" groups on the average @ 100 yards with no leading whatsoever (because of the low sectional density of that bullet). The powder and charge weight is a standard Hornet load....11.5 grs. of 680.

Based on that, you have a good chance of pushing the 225438 faster, if you so desire, without loss of accuracy.

Have fun.

w30wcf

[Bucks Owin]

Great story, and fine little rifle too.
Long-distance sniping is kinda cool, too. It's tough to think of a BAD way to whack a RAT.


That's for sure!

I like to take along several guns when I go out for a day of ground squirrel "elimination" and I'll take most any shot at any range. (As long as it's safe of course...)

Out to 100 yds I'll likely try to handgun 'em if I can SEE them well enough. I have a deadly accurate rebuilt 10/22 with 12X scope that'll stay on "minute of squirrel" to 125 yds for the hard to see shots. The .22 Hornet works good to 200 yds and after that it's my .243's turn. If the shooting is fast and furious, I'll spell it with 110 gr .270 while barrels cool....

I've forgotten how many hundreds of diggers I've missed at 200 yds, but I think I remember almost all of the hits at 350+ yds! :-D

Fun at any range,

Dennis

[Four Fingers of Death]

Ain't no better feel good medicine than vaporising a varmint at a distance!

[Antietamgw]

Fellas,
Thanks for all the replies. The rifle looks better in the pic than in real life, but then the 'hog did too. It is an honest little rifle and shoots well with jacketed or cast. I swapped with a friend for a little '91 Argentine carbine that I had 2 of. When I saw the Bee I figured I owned him the pick of the pair. It's another sweet little woods rifle I don't have time to use... The only jacketed I've used has been old factory WW 46HP but the first 3 will go into 3/4"MOA and then starts to string a bit as it warms up. Since I believe it's built with a rimfire barrel I don't really want to shoot jacketed in it. The cast loads will shoot groups as long as the ammo holds out.

W30wcf - thanks for the tip on this bullet! I haven't really done any load work up to speak of, just got lucky with my starting loads I guess. It's really just a plinking load, too fast for a squirrel rifle, a bit slow for serious varminting. I'm going to warm it up a bit as soon as I get these last couple 'hogs out of the way. Then I'll move on to the ones in the beans and hay where the shots are a bit longer. It's interesting that you also like WW680. It's the ONLY powder I could get to shoot under 1MOA in my TC carbine (.22 Hornet) and only with the Win 46HP. The TC is such a touchy little thing. I only have about 3/4lb of WW680 left, think I'll try it in the Bee. The last I was able to find was about 5 years ago. The TC didn't like 296 or 1680, maybe the little Bee will.

I've always envied you guys out west for your varmint hunting. I grew up reading Jack O'Connor and remember him shooting jack rabbits with his .270 (I always figured he would have done better with an '06). When I was 13 or so I tried cottontails with my '06 but didn't do so well, guess you need some sage brush around. I've promised myself a trip someday for p'dogs or ground squirrels. I can't imagine having so much shooting to have to switch rifles! The 9 shots I made the other day is probably the most I've ever taken in a day's 'hog hunting. The hunting was great though and I wouldn't trade that. Even had the drop on a pretty nice gobbler and that hasn't happened in a long time. He never knew there were crosshairs on his neck and I just let him keep feeding until he was out of sight. I think the quiet load had a lot to do with it as the 'hogs never spooked. Even crows feeding 150 yds away didn't spook. I'll work on them when the 'hogs are gone. I wouldn't mind importing some p'dogs but only if they would stay on the yuppie's alpaca farm next place over.

Thanks for your comments and advice.

[versifier]

The only thing better than a dead woodchuck is when you get the sucker when he's on the way to your garden. :-D