Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Groundhog Day...

...is coming!

Went driving around this evening with the wife and kids. Lots of bean fields and most of the beans are still really small. We saw bunches of deer, but a few other fury critters caught my eye. We saw quite a few groundhogs within a couple miles of the house and a couple in the little fields at the end of my driveway.

We pulled in the driveway and I went to the gun safe. Grabbed the Ruger American 22-250 (1 in 8") and headed out back to the bench. Decided to give the nod to the Fiocchi 40 gr V-Max for my groundhog needs.

Fired the first group (2nd pic), then adjusted (1st pic). Those are 1" squares, so both are less than an inch. Hand loads will only get better. Hadn't cleaned the rifle since I brought it home. Maybe 25 rounds down the bore? I'm going to give this one some attention with heavies in the near future.





They're in trouble! Most of the 'hogs are in range of the Bad Boy Buggy. I should be able to get to them without making much noise. Gonna be fun!

I really like those rifles. If I didn't have 4 22 caliber centerfires already, I'd own one.

Great thanks......now I'll never get that sound out of my head.

Babe.......ive got you babe.....

Nice groups with the 40 grain Fiocchi factory loads, but isn't the whole point of having a quick ROT .224" barrel so that you can shoot heavier/longer bullets?

IOW, wouldn't you expect a comparable rifle with a 1-14" ROT to produce equal results?

The whole point is I can shoot anything I want in it! I'm not limited to lighter weight bullets like I would be with archaic twist rates.

It'll get shot with heavies more than anything else over time, but why limit the fun to one bullet?

How much difference in suitable bullet weights/lengths is there between a 1-8" ROT barrel and a 1-10" ROT barrel?

7 of my 9 rifles chambered in 22-250 are older and have the archaic 1-14" ROT. Only the 1-9" ROT 22-250 Marlin XS7, using a rechambered Stevens 200 223 barrel, and the 1-10" ROT RAR-P are current philosophy and both are set up to shoot 60 grain bullets, VMax for coyotes and Partitions for deer. So far, the RAR-P has been a little disappointing as it is both my least accurate RAR-P and my least accurate 22-250.

Have noticed more ground hogs around here than previous years as well... Unfortunately, never when I have a rifle in my hand. Good shooting !

Went with my older son yesterday to defend the soybeans on the farm we hunt. He went 1 for 2 at about 225 yards with my
Vanguard .223. The Fiocchi 40gr V Max did quite a job.

I'm going back with my Hornet using the same bullets running about 700fps slower. Most opportunities would be at 200 or less.

Groundhogs are almost a thing of the past around here. You still see them, just not as much. I'll shoot a few every year, usually with a 22, around or in buildings here on the farm. I might see one or two in a beanfield, but for the most part they've moved to places where it's more difficult for the coyotes to find them.

The chucks are gone around CT up thru VT. They say the coyotes got them!

Back in the 50's I carried a 222 to a farm to hunt them and a few shots at crows and a red fox.

I really miss that chuck hunting.

It rained all afternoon yesterday. I'll give them a try today. Sunny and windy now, but it should be good late this afternoon.

Good luck!

Very nice! I like that setup alot. Don't think you are gonna have any problems selling those. Nor would I be surprised to see something like that as a regular offer from Ruger.

One down!

This is my experience too.

Darrick your post reminded me of trying some40 gr. sx in my old22-250 years ago trying to generate. 220 swift velocities. The fiocchi must be a little tougher as I would be getting a good group and then miss the target completely. I did the check the scope thing a bit of head scratching then my buddy wanted to try. I was watching him shoot and on the 3 or 4 shot and saw a streak come out of the bbl at the shot. Yep problem solved bullets were disentigrating. Back to 50-55 gr and everything was roses again. Hard to beat a 22-250 on groundhogs.