Last night myself and a couple of mates got out to a friend's property north of Collector to see what we could knock over.
I meant to go out last weekend but my friend had been away and I hadn't managed to contact him in time.
It turned out not to be a bad thing though as he was out spotting ferals earlier in the week and by telling us what was out there he gave us an idea what to look for.
I'd spent the best part of a night doing some test loads for my 25-20 Martini Cadet sporter and after determining the best load on Saturday morning and apparently getting it on target I quickly reloaded some of the newly tuned rounds to use for the hunt.
As the only other rifles were .22lr's I decided to take both the 25-20 and my 22 Hornet Cadet.
That turned out to be a wise move.
My mate Chris had only just got his rifle up from his dad's place down near the border and his Winchester Mod 250 hammerless lever gun was deadly.
He took 4 out of the 5 bunnies around the stockyards straight off.
Another mate's son, Alex, came out to spot for us as his papers aren't through yet.
Here he is along side the 5 from the stockyards:
I only succeeded in winging a bunny with the 25-20 and subsequent shots were all misses.
After wasting 8 rounds and another 3 trying to zero it it went back in the guncase.
The sun went down, we got the spot going and Chris continued his one rifle wave of carnage with the little Winnie .22lr.
First another bunny:
Then a hare:
Alex's young eyes had proved astounding.
His spotting technique was erratic but Chris said he never would've spotted the hare and Alex's next ID was amazing.
We'd just passed through a gate when Alex spied some movement around a log.
It was a fox cub, the size of a little puppy, and small even through my 12x scope.
I called this one and slammed it with my 22 Hornet:
When I got to him though Chris's lever .22lr would've killed it.
The 40gr Ballistic Tip from the hornet made a tiny hole on one side and one the size of a baseball on the other!
But I went back to driving and the Model 250 went on its merry blood letting ways.
Here are a few more pics:
The only other shot I took was at the end of the night when the Hornet, without problem and decisive as usual, nailed out last rabbit.
Suffice to say we were pleased with the outcome - 11 rabbits, a hare and a fox (albeit a cub).
Still, as my friend, the owner, says the only good fox is a dead fox.
And we know there are another 4 cubs and vixen out there too.....plus all the rabbits we missed!
What I HAVE to do though is take the 25-20
BACK to the range and zero it properly.
That rifle took 9 rabbits on one outing and embarassed a friend's 204 Ruger.
It needs a smacked bottom to get it accurate again!
