Author Topic: Favorite "Varmint" Guns (Read 4225 times)

Justin10mm · « **on:** August 21, 2008, 01:47:22 PM »

So what is your favorite varmint handgun? Mine is a Smith & Wesson .357 686-P, 6 inch barrel, topped off with a 2X leupold scope. This is a sweet shooter! At 25 yards it will put three winchester 180gr. partitions in the same hole. How far do you strech the distance? My longest shot with this gun was on a jackrabbit at 94 steps from the prone position. Stuck the cross hairs right between his ears and put a partition right under is eye. I'd like to hear about your favorite guns and some "war stories" if you got em.

S.B. · « **Reply #1 on:** August 21, 2008, 04:05:40 PM »

Justin, I'd like to see you shoot your pistol. Your accuracy claim is outstanding, one hole, three shots, at 25 yards is pretty good shooting in anybody's book. Especially with magnum loads. My .357s that won't shoot that good from a Ransom Rest. In the past, I've owned a Wilson PPC revolver that shot very good(.38 special) but, it wouldn't shoot that good. I guess everything is better in Texas? HEHEHE

jhalcott · « **Reply #2 on:** August 21, 2008, 07:23:44 PM »

I ONCE (long time ago) put 4 rounds from a .45 auto thru a ragged hole at 25 yards. I threw the last about an inch out of the group. MY favorite varmint pistol is the T/C Contender in 6.5JDJ. I have stretched that one way beyond 250 yards. I've even killed an antelope at over 200 yards with it. A 2.5x8 Leupold scope helps on those long shots. Just today ,I watched a guy put a clip full of .45 auto into a 2" group at 25 yards. I thought he could NOT shoot a hand gun.

Grumulkin · « **Reply #3 on:** August 21, 2008, 10:49:50 PM »

My favorite varmint handgun would have to be my Encore 460 S&W Magnum topped with a Leupold 2.5-8X handgun scope. The photo shows a group shot with the gun at 200 yards measuring about 1.5 inches center to center. The smallest animal I've shot with it was a porcupine at about 80 yards. The furthest animal was a klipspringer at about 180 yards.

blhof · « **Reply #4 on:** August 22, 2008, 02:57:49 AM »

Many years ago, I had a Dan Wesson 357 mag with an 8" barrel and a 2x scope. I sighted it in for 100 yds. It would make one ragged hole at 25 and 50 yds with 158gr semi-wadcutters. It took rabbits, pigs and on one occasion; a squirrel with a 38 wadcutter. I took it to South Dakota once and tried it on prairie dogs at 100+yds. It took 12 shots. but I finally nailed one. Now, my wife(a non-shooter) developed a liking to my son's Makarov 380, The first time she ever shot a pistol; she made a 2" group at 7 yds with the Mak. Now I'm reloading 380's and she's burning up the targets at 7 to 10 yds.

onesonek · « **Reply #5 on:** August 23, 2008, 04:26:40 AM »

Quote from: Justin Holder on August 21, 2008, 01:47:22 PM

So what is your favorite varmint handgun? Mine is a Smith & Wesson .357 686-P, 6 inch barrel, topped off with a 2X leupold scope. This is a sweet shooter! At 25 yards it will put three winchester 180gr. partitions in the same hole. How far do you strech the distance? My longest shot with this gun was on a jackrabbit at 94 steps from the prone position. Stuck the cross hairs right between his ears and put a partition right under is eye. I'd like to hear about your favorite guns and some "war stories" if you got em.

I like to reach out there a ways. My main varminter for a hand gun is the Encore, VVCG .243AI with 55 gr. NBT's. At first I had a Bushy 3200 elite on it. I found it just wast enough glass for much beyond 250 yds for me at least. I recently put a Burris 3-12 on it.
PD with the Bushy in place at 230 yds lazered.

After putting on the 3-12 and getting sighted in, we were sort of on time limit and it was windy as all get out.
But I did get one at 314 yds. This happened to be the farthest mound where I could somewhat shoot with the wind. I tried some cross wind shots in another direction, but those were between 4-500 yds. Winds in the 30-40 mph range made it pretty much hopeless.

Can't wait to try it on a calmer day
I doo think I'm going to send this barrel off for a JP brake, so I can see bullet impact better!

Dave

Freezer · « **Reply #6 on:** August 23, 2008, 04:31:59 AM »

Thompson Contender with either 10" 22lr or 223 I have both. I also have a 14" 30-30 for coyote and deer. IMHO T/C contender is the best hunting pistol you could own.

poncaguy · « **Reply #7 on:** August 23, 2008, 01:50:16 PM »

My Contender 15" 223 and my Encore 15" 6.8 SPC............

Tom W. · « **Reply #8 on:** August 23, 2008, 05:58:09 PM »

Mine is a 15" Encore in .22-250.....with a 2 x 7 Burris on it..

Badnews Bob · « **Reply #9 on:** August 24, 2008, 01:29:16 AM »

My Ruger Single six .22/.22mag, Tree rats are dinner anytime, opossums get LRs coons are tougher they get Mags. Got lucky one time and dropped a rabbit at about 80 yards with the mag cylinder in it.

Justin10mm · « **Reply #10 on:** August 24, 2008, 07:40:53 AM »

I take it the T/Cs are very popular.

(Good shooting "onesonek" and "grumulkin") I would like to get an encore some day. Maybe in 243 win or 260 rem so I can shoot varmints and deer. My second favorite varmint rig is my Ruger 22/45 with 5 1/2" bull barrel, topped off with a BSA red dot sight. I've taken sparrows out to about 60 yards with it. I also shoot a lot of turtles out of stock tanks with it. Keep the stories coming.

onesonek · « **Reply #11 on:** August 24, 2008, 01:59:44 PM »

Quote from: Justin Holder on August 24, 2008, 07:40:53 AM

I take it the T/Cs are very popular. (Good shooting "onesonek" and "grumulkin") I would like to get an encore some day. Maybe in 243 win or 260 rem so I can shoot varmints and deer. My second favorite varmint rig is my Ruger 22/45 with 5 1/2" bull barrel, topped off with a BSA red dot sight. I've taken sparrows out to about 60 yards with it. I also shoot a lot of turtles out of stock tanks with it. Keep the stories coming.

Yes Justin, the TC's are. It's just real tough to beat their versatility. There are some good dual purpose rounds out there. I think however, you like most everyone else will go the more use specific, because of the nature of quick change barrels. Meaning, be prepared for the addiction and ending up with several barrels

I do have another long range rig being built. Primarily for Prairie Dogs and long range plinking. That is based off the Remington XP-100 action, with a fast twist Pac-Nor chambered in the 6mm AI. This will shoot the heavy weight VLD types. Not nearly as explosive on impact, but work in the wind better at longer ranges. And pretty much due to it's weight will be a shoot of my triail bench gun. I'm not exactly sure on what scope will go on it as of yet, but do have a EGW 25 moa base sitting here for it. This will allow me to take out most of the bottom on the scope, using most of the elevation adjustment for extended range after a 500yd zero is set in.
Maybe if I'm "good boy" Santa will have it here for me at Christmas

Then I'll have plenty of time to work on loads for next season.

Dave

SD Handgunner · « **Reply #12 on:** August 24, 2008, 06:57:18 PM »

I actually have two favorite Varmint Handguns. #1 for little varmints (Gophers in my part of the world) is an original Stainless-Steel Contender with an absolute fantastic 1 pound 3 ounce trigger. This frame wears a Stainless-Steel 14" .22 LR Match Contender Barrel with a 3x12x Burris LER Handgun Scope. Back on Memorial Day I decided to shoot some groups with this .22 LR Handgun at 100 yards and was amazed when it would put 5 Remington BULK Hollow Points into 1" groups from the Bench. I also use this same Handgun for Indoor Bench Rest Matches at our Local Indoor Shooting Range in the Winter months.

Varmint Handgun #2 is for larger Varmints up to and including Coyotes. This one is a Stainless-Steel G2 Contender Frame with a reworked trigger (nice and crisp at 2 1/4 pounds with a custom trigger spring). On this frame is a Stainless-Steel 14" .223 Remington Contender Barrel, again with a 3x12x Burris LER Handgun Scope. Again on Memorial Day I wanted to check to see if I had any point of impact shift with my scope on different magnifications so I shot 3 shot groups from 6x through 12x. The average for these 6 groups was .491" with the smallest group coming in at .231".

Yep I too love my Contenders.

Larry

sscoyote · « **Reply #13 on:** August 31, 2008, 07:02:20 PM »

These are the handguns that i use for varmint hunting

1) 6.5 WSM XP with the 8.5-25X Leup. Mk 4 and TMR reticle

2) Savage Striker 243 WSSM with the 4.5-14X VX-III and Varmint Hunter reticle.

3) XP-100R 20 BR and Burris 4-12X Mini with Ball. Plex reticle

4) XP-100 22 BR Leupold/Siebert 24X LER conversion/TKLee reticle

5) XP-100 17 Fireball/6-18X Nikon Buckmasters mil-dot reticle

of all these my true favorite is probably the 17 Fireball. It's the one that gets used the most for both prairie dogs and coyotes (for coyotes i use another 4-12X Burris Mini).

Buddy Mitch and i were out prairie dog shooting with it recently and he killed a 420 yd. PD on the 1st shot using the turret for elevation and reticle for windage compensation calcd from a ballistics program--25 Hornady HP @ 3450 mv.

UpTheHill · « **Reply #14 on:** September 01, 2008, 01:04:45 PM »

for big coon size varmints a Taurus raging hornet, with 2 - 6.5 scope

for small pest either this buckmark, with red dot

or a Taurus M94 22LR revolver, iron sights

Jerry Lester · « **Reply #15 on:** September 04, 2008, 04:38:57 PM »

For years my two varmint handguns were a Ruger Single Six with the magnum cylinder, or my 357 Blackhawk. Both have accounted for slews of varmints from small game to groundhogs, and predators.

My dedicated varmint revolver now is my 32 magnum. It started life as a stainless Ruger Single Six 22/22mag, but I took it new NIB to Dave Clements, and he converted it to 32 magnum. He put a 5.5" Douglas barrel on it, made a taller front sight, made a slightly oversized line-bored cylinder for it, converted it to centerfire, and gave it a few more TLC touches, installed a set of Lett silver/black laminate grips, and ingraved my name on the bottom of thr grip frame. This little "Baby Magnum" as I've come to call it will out shoot a lot of 22 rifles I've owned, and has racked up a pretty good tally of small game, and predators in the last couple seasons.

I mainly shoot my Saeco SWC bullets in it. They weigh 97.9g + or - .2g, and at 750 fps thump squirrels, and rabbits like a hammer. This combo has also accounted for a few dozen coons, and possums. This same bullet pushed to around 1200+ fps is a very hard hitting load on coons, groundhogs, and such. I've also used 85g XTP-HP's, and 90g Sierra HP's at around 1200+ to kill quite a few critters, and they have awsome terminal performance, especially the 90g Sierra.

Mikey · « **Reply #16 on:** September 05, 2008, 12:53:38 AM »

Jerry - that last paragraph of yours sounds like it is right in the old 7.65 (30) Luger and 7.62 Tokarev lines. It's almost a shame you had to go to all that work to get a revolver to shoot loads like that, but then you wouldn't have that 'Baby Magnum'.

Since you like the 32s, what do you think of the new 327? Mikey.

UtahRob · « **Reply #17 on:** September 14, 2008, 04:52:18 PM »

http://www.gunblast.com/images/Ruger-22Charger/DSC02488.jpg

Ken ONeill · « **Reply #18 on:** September 15, 2008, 01:55:57 AM »

My favorite varmint handguns are a Remington Custom Shop XP-100 in .223 Rem. (3-12X Burris), and a couple of pre G-2 Contenders with 14" SSK barrels in .225 Win. (3-12X Burris), and .257 JDJ (Bushnell 2-6X 3200). For repeaters, I usually use a FA Mdl. 252 .22LR (4X Leupold), and an iron-sighted FA Mdl. 97 in .32 H&R.

xphunter · « **Reply #19 on:** October 06, 2008, 04:50:32 AM »

My favorite pd specialty handgun is my rear-grip 6.5-284 XP-100.
Dogs under 1k are in serious trouble, and it has killed several pd's beyond 1K.

Others:
6mm-284 center-grip XP-100
7mm Dakota XP-100 (Long-Range doggin)
6mm-6.5x47 Lapua both in a rear grip XP and in a MOA Maximum.

Ladobe · « **Reply #20 on:** October 07, 2008, 12:30:57 PM »

With P&V having been my hunting mainstay for about 5 decades, and including handguns for it since the mid-late 60's, I've had a lot of great handguns that worked very well for it. Still have a bunch of them. Picking an all time favorite would be hard as each has earned its place in the killing fields.

Since ranges are normally long here in the west, my scoped specialty pistols get the nod way more often than the revolvers or autos ever did. Mine have mostly been built on TC Contenders, Remington XP-100's, Wichita's and a custom Sako, and mostly shooting wildcat cartridges.

I guess it's more about range and critter size to me, and picking what is best suited to each hunting situation. Don't shoot them all anymore, so I guess I do have favorite specialty pistols. I've got a lot of enjoyment out of my 17HM2, 17HMR, 17 Ackley Hornet, 17M4, 17 Rem (all 14" Bullberry Contenders); 221FB, 223AI, 20BR (all custom mid grip XP-100's); 6TCU (custom Sako); 6X47, 257JDJ, 6.5JDJ, 6.5 Super Bower and 375JDJ (all 14"-15" custom Contenders); and a Hege-Siber 45 caliber muzzleloader pistol.

Like xph, when the ranges get very long my 6.5 Super Bower gets the call as it too is capable at 1000 yards and beyond (although I don't think I would call them in serious trouble with the 10X and 3-12X scopes it normally wears). But its killed its share out to those ranges.

I guess if I had to pick just one over all, it would be the Sako 6TCU just because of how extremely rare it is and it's always fun to unveil to other hunters because they have never seen one (or a pistol that has such a high price tag). Most fun to shoot is the 17AH though.

xphunter · « **Reply #21 on:** October 07, 2008, 01:06:05 PM »

Nice Adobe!

Here is pic of my favorite pd rig and favorite front rest.

Ladobe · « **Reply #22 on:** October 07, 2008, 07:06:00 PM »

Ernie,

So who is "Adobe"? You've known me long enough to know that it is Ladobe.

Believe it or not, I prefer to shoot off a BR bipod even long distance. Been a while since I've shot off a Bower rest, and a lot longer since the mechanical rest has been taken out.

L.

xphunter · « **Reply #23 on:** October 08, 2008, 02:57:02 AM »

Quote from: Ladobe on October 07, 2008, 07:06:00 PM

Ernie,
So who is "Adobe"? You've known me long enough to know that it is Ladobe.
Believe it or not, I prefer to shoot off a BR bipod even long distance. Been a while since I've shot off a Bower rest, and a lot longer since the mechanical rest has been taken out.
L.

Sorry about that! I don't know why my mind & fingers didn't get that right.

As far as bi-pods go, this past spring I used a bi-pod for some LR pd'ing with my 7mm Dakota XP (200 grain Wildcat/2706 MV), an killed this dog at 1455 yards.
Primarily I served as a spotter this past spring and early summer for others to make some LR goals, but one day after a friend was out of ammo, I pulled out the XP. Eric said it flipped him several times.

sscoyote · « **Reply #24 on:** October 17, 2008, 07:02:06 PM »

Bishop, only u would be out trying to shoot PD's in that kinda' weather. Lordy!! U know how many layers i'd have been wearing if i was out spotting for u on that day???

rks1949 · « **Reply #25 on:** October 18, 2008, 03:15:11 PM »

My favorite "varmit pistol" is my contender in .223 cal. I've shot a few coyotes with it while calling.

Ron

Boxhead · « **Reply #26 on:** October 19, 2008, 06:29:40 AM »

Either this 7mm BR,

Or this 32 H&R.

JOE MACK · « **Reply #27 on:** October 20, 2008, 05:23:05 PM »

Usually I use a .41Magnum with the 170gr Sierra JHC for called in coyote and bobcat. Then there's the rockchuck, prairie dog, gopher, and ground squirrel bunch consisting of:

Encore in .22-250 Remington
Encore in .204 Ruger
Encore in .223 AI
Encore in .22 Cheetah
Encore in .225 Winchester

Contender in .22 K-Hornet
Contender in .218 Bee
Contender in .223 Rem.
Contender in .32-20

XP-100 in 6.5/.284

Still trying out scopes. I use rifle scopes on the light kickers and a Burris 3-12 on the XP

sscoyote · « **Reply #28 on:** November 03, 2008, 06:13:31 PM »

Hey Joe, how do u like that Cheetah in the Encore? How does it compare to the 225 Win. (especially velocity).

JOE MACK · « **Reply #29 on:** November 03, 2008, 07:50:58 PM »

Quote from: sscoyote on November 03, 2008, 06:13:31 PM

Hey Joe, how do u like that Cheetah in the Encore? How does it compare to the 225 Win. (especially velocity).

I like the Cheetah but it doesn't do alot more than the .22-.250 Rem does with a good load. The .225 Winchester is a couple hundred FPS off the .223AI. Been awhile since I chronoed anything. Just don't have the time I used to have. It's all good when the rodents dissappear in a red mist.