Gopher hunting with a 22

.22 is light.

.223 or .22 magnum would work better. Gophers are massively ripped! Solid muscle
 
Ground hogs while out scouting new camps. .22 magnum Ruger Single Six in 9 1/2" barrel. Hated carrying a rifle and the Ruger fit in the pack quite easily.
But this was a long time ago in a world far away. :(
 
Groundhogs and woodchucks are the same and a lot bigger than a gopher. I popped a Punxsutawney Phil going to my garden for a snack a number of years ago and that fat f*** filled up my snow shovel like a wiggling mass of jello and weighed close to about nine or ten pounds.
 
30gr vmax 22mag in cz452 Varmint is my go to for woodchucks here. Would probably work great for gophers. pops nicely on impact and it’s a laser out to 100yds. def not as inexpensive as most 22lr though.
 
Shot placement with woodchucks is HUGE. I routinely shoot them in my backyard with a 25cal PCP. And if your even a hair off on the shot then they will absorb the impact and runaway. I've seen them take headshots that split their heads open and the've runaway. I usually find the body a few days later under some leaves.
 
Finally got a sunny day today. Late afternoon hunt and they were out in force. We dropped 25 in an hour and a half. I killed one at 110 yards, holding for a little left to right breeze. What's amazing is that I did it with the ar15 22, which is not nearly as accurate as my wife's bergara. Probably a bit of luck there.

I lost use of the bergara recently because my wife got hooked on gopher hunting too. Guess I gotta buy a gun. I've settled on the tikka T1X, since it mimics my primary rifle the T3X. Talk about a huge first world problem.
 
You are doing God's work to eradicate those gophers. Technically they are ground squirrels, no? I grew up at the edge of huge tracts of open land in Ventura County, CA. We could do no wrong with the ranchers when it came to wiping out ground squirrels. One year there was a bad outbreak of bubonic plague carried by ground squirrels, so we'd never come near them after zapping them with 22's or Sheridan 20 cal pellet rifles. Be cautious of whatever nasties the 'gophers' might be carrying.
 
Caveman said:
30gr vmax 22mag in cz452 Varmint is my go to for woodchucks here. Would probably work great for gophers. pops nicely on impact and it’s a laser out to 100yds. def not as inexpensive as most 22lr though.
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I need to do some research to figure out what barrel twist would work for 40 grain hot .223 loads. I once made the newb mistake of loading them in a 1:7 twist barrel, but in my defense it was a Windham Varmint special. Varmint weight bullets should work, no? [laugh] The 40's would disintegrate with a loud bang somewhere around 40 yards because their high velocity and fast twist rate sent their rotational speed way beyond what the projectiles could withstand.
 
Mountain said:
You are doing God's work to eradicate those gophers. Technically they are ground squirrels, no? I grew up at the edge of huge tracts of open land in Ventura County, CA. We could do no wrong with the ranchers when it came to wiping out ground squirrels. One year there was a bad outbreak of bubonic plague carried by ground squirrels, so we'd never come near them after zapping them with 22's or Sheridan 20 cal pellet rifles. Be cautious of whatever nasties the 'gophers' might be carrying.
Click to expand...
I think they are the same thing. I met the owner of the property today that my friend is leasing the fields from. He was mowing his lawn so I figured it was the right thing to do since I'm on his property. I pull up and the first words were, "kill them all". Not, "who are you and wtf are you doing on my land". I told him I will do everything in my power to oblige him.
 
Mountain said:
I need to do some research to figure out what barrel twist would work for 40 grain hot .223 loads. I once made the newb mistake of loading them in a 1:7 twist barrel, but in my defense it was a Windham Varmint special. Varmint weight bullets should work, no? [laugh] The 40's would disintegrate with a loud bang somewhere around 40 yards because their high velocity and fast twist rate sent their rotational speed way beyond what the projectiles could withstand.
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My Fathers CZ 527 has a 1:12 and loves 40-50gr blitzkings. Worth a look at that twist.
 
Caveman said:
My Fathers CZ 527 has a 1:12 and loves 40-50gr blitzkings. Worth a look at that twist.
Click to expand...
Thanks!

Actually, a friend gave me a ton of .22-250 ammo, brass, and some dies. I'd like to buy or build something and probably would need something like a 1:12 twist as the velocity would be ~4100 fps! Barrel burner, but fun while it lasts.

Now that I think of it, I could simply build an upper in .22-250 for my AR-308's. Easy peasy and relatively cheap.
 
We really got to put the new silencer to the test this afternoon on the gophers. That is a total game changer. Using subsonic ammo there is zero sound, so the gophers don't scatter when you shoot one. It was a bloodbath today. My wife was like, "you know, that is so much fun. I thought it would bother me to kill them but there are just so many. We going again tomorrow?"
 
peterk123 said:
This much fun should be illegal. And man, it's great hunting practice.

My friend is leasing some land for his cattle. They just seeded the fields. Has to be a thousand gophers there. He needs them wiped out. I know what I'm doing for the next week or so!
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Make it more fun , get out to 400 yards or so and work on your wind calls.
 

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