Had a fun time out gopher shooting this last weekend not lots of gophers out but enough to keep the barrels warm
. I had 3 guns with me my 204 and 22 k-hornet handi's and a 10/22T. All three had a good workout last Thursday at the range so they were dead on.
For around here it was hot(36c ~98f) between that and the grass getting long is probably what kept the numbers down. the day started out good, the opening shot by my buddy (HB savage in 223 with a new Leupold 6-20 varmint reticule, yes I must dump my Chinese knock off for one of those) ended a crows raiding days 325 yards across the field.
First out of the gate for me was the k-hornet and my 22, I only had about 30 rounds for the k-hornet (We typically carry 2 guns a 22 and a longer range gun) I came off that field with 5 rounds left for the k-hornet. Shooting off a bi-pod hits to 150 were quite easy after 150 it was harder, part of it was with the lightness of the gun and no trigger job yet it was hard to stay on target, you really have to concentrate on a good trigger pull. Can't wait to see my son get a coyote with it this winter.
We moved to a different field and there we found most of the place to be way too tall but there was a a big field of some sort of late crop that was only about 6" tall, this was perfect to pull out the tables and shoot for distance. Between the two of us anything within about 350 was in serious trouble. For a while we tried to get ones that were out past 500 but between the two of us all we managed was a pair of near misses but mine actually showered it with dirt (even though it was a miss I am calling that best shot for the day). It is very hard to translate 3 feet short into holding x inches higher. At that range you need to use the target knobs I was somewhere between 4 and 5 dots up but could not quite get it.
There were a couple of places we could not cover from the table position so we did a walk through. And I used a bi-pod again just to see what would happen to POI and accuracy in general.And I was surprised when hits to 200 were very do-able.
The day ended up on a field that was 22 only and well the 10/22t continues to be a great gopher killer.
On a sad note one of my favorites did not make the trip, my 917v has developed a head space issue and is currently at the Marlin Canadian repair shop waiting for a new bolt (it been there 3 weeks and I bet I don't get it back til September, waiting for the bolt to cross the border). I am a little perplexed on that one but that is another thread.
All in all I am very pleased and very surprised by the good results while shooting off a bi-pod. Now I need to get off of my butt and do the triggers.
