long range rabbit rifle

[TonyH]

...i shot a fox at 100 yrds small entry hole and large exit hole ,but the fox i shot at 180 yrds small hole in and blew other side of the fox apart,that was with the 204 .... i always use v max bullets 17rem 25 grn ,204 ruger 40 grn,and 243 87 grn,regards steve.

Sightly puzzled by your experience of terminal ballistics: I find the 40gr V-Max in .224" out of a .223 at nearly 3800fps is very unlikely to leave an exit wound on foxes, blowing up wholly inside and dropping them on the spot. In fact I found medium-large groundhogs in Canada (max around 12 lbs?) would do the same, and sometimes back home a big rabbit will too, blown up inside and distorted but not burst asunder... I find it difficult to imagine what special characteristic .204 Ruger might have that causes the same weight V-Max to perform radically differently.

TonyH

[BIGDOG]

I found with most of the foxes i shoot which are between 100 200 yards i have a job finding the entry or the exit but when you pick them up they feel like a bag of shixxx one second standing

the next laying on the ground not knowing whats hit them .I did however find somtimes early on when i was shooting rem accutip they would slice things like they had been hit with a knife but since using the hornady 40 g v max no problems

[steven67]

Sightly puzzled by your experience of terminal ballistics: I find the 40gr V-Max in .224" out of a .223 at nearly 3800fps is very unlikely to leave an exit wound on foxes, blowing up wholly inside and dropping them on the spot. In fact I found medium-large groundhogs in Canada (max around 12 lbs?) would do the same, and sometimes back home a big rabbit will too, blown up inside and distorted but not burst asunder... I find it difficult to imagine what special characteristic .204 Ruger might have that causes the same weight V-Max to perform radically differently.

TonyH

as you would say terminal ballistics ,i would say hunting experience, i can only relate to what as happed to me in field ,, as to you being sightly puzzled ,and so am i,the reason i had vmax was to stop inside the the fox ,some have and some have not,eg one fox shot at 30 yrds could not find a mark on it ,the next fox i shot 140 yrds blew its guts apart,a munty i shot the other day 154yrds entry wound and exit wound that was with a 243win 87 grn v max and it was dead on the spot,i will post some pics to show you what i mean tomorow best regards steve

[Guest Scotland Rifles]

Hi Steve,

 

I used to run a 243 with a 70 blitz king for charlie, but i had a .20 tac built for me by Neil (dasherman on here) and its the mutts nuts, as mentioned by some other 20cal users there is a lot more left to pick up after you hit a fox with it, but hay its bloody fast mate.

 

I do not profess to be a dead eye dick with any rifle i use but the lack of recoil on it has made me think and notice what i was missing with the .243, i can now watch the shot from squeeze to strike on target and thats just fantastic for me with my new glasses,

 

 

to date i have done a 388 yard shot on a furball hole digging golf course monster and the best shot on a fox was about 276 yards estimated as i did not have a lfr with me at the time, i forgot to mention one thing about these shots the fox was at night under the lamp and the rabbit was at last light.

 

 

sadly i have lost a fare bit of stalking land and i may be moving my .243 on, but i will still look forward to spending all my time just reloading the .20tac.

 

good luck on your search as its only you that can make the final choice, lets hope it works for you,

 

bob. this is it. http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5964/scope004.jpg only 6lb without scope, nice and light,

[Alycidon]

.I did however find somtimes early on when i was shooting rem accutip they would slice things like they had been hit with a knife but since using the hornady 40 g v max no problems

 

 

I had a 50 gr Berger do that with my 20 on the first fox I shot with it, frontal chest shot, shrapnel severed the front right leg except for a bit of skin, looked like a very sharp knife wound. Not had one like that since though even on the same shot.

 

A

[alled12]

Steve

just about to have .17fb built on a cz action by Dasherman who already has a fireball built on a sako. It will be set up to shoot the 30 grainers rather than the light stuff. It is a straight replacement on my ticket for my 17hmr. Bonus of it is the increased bullet weight you get to use over the hmr. Its good to 300 yards for bunnies wouldnt be tempted to a charlie much past 150 yards. the costs for reloading after you have taken out brass put it on par with .17hmr loaded ammunition. Its pretty quick. Should be a darn site cheaper to run as a long range bunnie basher than any of the 20's. Just a thought if you are definetly going for a 204 could a gunsmith not run a throat reamer in there to allow you to use a larger bullet, something that was within the twist rate of your rifle? I stand ready to be corrected by the gun smithing community if they cant do that sort of thing.

[tikka69]

I have a Remington 700 VSSF II in 204 ruger for sale if your interested Steven67 ?

 

Its only 3 months old and has had exactly 98 rounds through it.

 

Let me know if you want further details.

 

cheers