Here are Two

1958 Marlin/Sako Varmit King 222 Reminton with a Leupold m8 6x .This ones a rare bird.




and my go too all the time a T/C Venture .204 Ruger with a Leupold VX3 3.5-10 an absoulute consistent tack driver. I think these are totally overlooked gems of a rifle.

First is a Winchester model 1894 in 32-40, second is a Colt Lightning large frame 40-60-260...

Nice.

Colt Lightning 45 Colt and Winchester low wall 22 long...

.

I feel sorry for you folks being so badly under gunned for those man eating squirrels. You need a 458 Lott minimum to stop a full charge. Maybe a 45-70 loaded to max pressure with solids? Anyway, use the utmost care when taking on those dangerous animals.

.

I have a few I look forward to spending time afield with once we get moved down to Idaho. Our Alaska adventure is drawing to a close and we'll be moving as soon as the house sells.

Here's a few walking varmint rifles that should be great for Idaho.

Left handed mini Mauser in 6x222. It currently wears a Leupold M8 7.5x.



A Browning 53 32-20.



A Browning 65 218 Bee.



For those times you need to get your mountain man on, a left handed flint 32 caliber.



Of course there's a lot good about spending time afield with a classic single shot 22, especially if it belonged to your Dad and you learned to shoot with it 50 years ago.

I slum with a Howa Mini and a Featherweight both in 223......

.221 Fireball





.25-20

mart,

some really nice, interesting rigs pictured.

i note in your post you're leaving Alaska. if retiring from your career, congrats are in order.

what was it that caused you to select Idaho as your final stop?

I lived in eastern Washington for 21 years prior to moving to Alaska. Left because of the political environment and won’t return to Washington to live for the same reason. Always liked Idaho. My wife doesn’t do Alaska winters very well anymore. My mom is also nearby in eastern Washington. We’ll buy property with enough acreage for her to have a small double wide and she can sell her big house which is getting to be too much for her. To me Idaho offered the chance to be back in the northwest with less winter to contend with, good hunting and fishing, and Etta has family in Idaho. Alaska has been a great adventure but I need to considering what’s best for my wife and my Mom. I have to admit I’m looking forward to more bird hunting and coyote calling.

I’ll continue to commute to the slope for my job for a few years yet. I can do that from Idaho with my two week on/two week off schedule.

I put this .22 Hornet together with varmints in mind but haven't used it on one yet. Not many varmints besides the occasional woodchuck around here.

in my best Chief Dan George voice, "Boy, you boys sure like to walk with your varminters in your hands. Don't anyone use slings no more?".........

And does anyone but Shrap actually have a pic of therir varminters with a , uhh, varmint?


Boy, you boys have some nice stumps, patio tables, rocks, dirt and stoves, tho.....

I've got several, but if weight is a concern, I like this one a lot.

Is this enough varmints for you. The rifle, though hard to see is my old Ruger 220 Swift, wearing a sling by the way, accounted for about 20% of these varmints. It was my only varmint rifle at the time so it did a lot of walking.

mart wins.....

I've got a Ruger Predator 223 with a 10X Bushnell for walking around and splashing goph's.

Mart,

Where in ID?

I live in the TriCities, WA and am thinking of moving to ID for the same political reasons.

David,

We're looking at small communities in the Orofino and Saint Maries areas. We're listing our house next week when I get home from the oilfield. We'll be down there the last week of July and first week of August to look at homes. I love Alaska but it's getting hard on Etta. She has had both rotator cuff surgery and a ten level spinal fusion, complete with matching titanium rods, in the last three years and the long, dark, cold months wear on her. Add some SAD on top of it and winter up here ain't much fun for her. She'll be closer to what remains of her family and we'll be closer to my mom to help her in her twilight years. She'll be 81 this year.

Mart

I have one of the laminated stock 221’s too and it may be my most accurate rifle. I think I’ve read somewhere that there were only 200 made but Remington won’t confirm that.

Mart,

I lived in Fairbanks for three years and Eagle River for three, and work for an Alaska Native Corp based in Kodiak. I get the need to move south.

In Las Vegas as I type this. Rode across 84 to Twin Falls then down 93. I think Twin Falls is worth a look if I flush WA.

But, my three kids live in WA, two near Seattle and one in Kennewick, so maybe western ID, Lewiston?, is the right location.

It's a pretty nice area and my real estate dollars will go further than a lot of other areas. Etta and I are are small town folk. We lived in Walla Walla for many years and that was bigger than I liked. Wasilla has gotten very populated in the 17 years we've been here. It's still a nice area and way better than living in Anchorage, but the traffic has gotten bad and it continues to grow with no end in site. Good time to sell and move to a quieter, slower paced area.

Our son's widow still lives near Boise and has remarried and has a son whom my wife has claimed as a grandson. She has nieces in Idaho and Oregon and my Mom is still in Walla Walla. Mom is planning to move near us or perhaps even put a good quality manufactured home on whatever property I find. We're going to get some acreage with the home we buy.

Mart, best of luck... Hope to see you when you get to Idaho...

I'm looking forward to meeting Fire members in the area. I've met a few up here and all have great guys.

My latest favorite light walking varminter......

I have 3 of them, 223, 22-250, and 243. Very nice rifles.

About as close as I get to a lightweight rig.

CZ527 Kevlar Varmint in .223AI. Its one of the older 12 twist guns, so its relegated to light bullets. It really likes the 50gr Vmax at about 3500fps. Barrel trimmed back to 18", usually wears a Silencerco Harvester. Leupold Mark AR 3-9 on a DIP rail.

I gotta hand it to ya, Shrap, you sure know how to have fun ! E

I love mine in .17 FB. My current project is a Browning Micro in .22 Hornet that’s getting a suppressor and hopefully soon a thermal scope. Dave

Howa Mini Lightweight barrel.


6.5 Grendel.


I want one in 223.


I like Howas.







Say Don.....its a pigeon!

A what? Never heard those nasty things had a name......

Looking at your birdie......kinda makes me wonder how a 100 grain BT did so little damage to my birdie......

Jim
I like the looks of that one.
Been thinking about a
Grendel also.

17FB would be a sweet rig in the predator! I found a 17FB sps a few years ago and put it in a LV stock, she was my latest love affair before this one.

I took the predator to the range today and figured dope/dial out to 500, my strelok app is on the money.......varmints beware!

You wrecked the part that goes in pigeon pot pie.

Late model L-461



BRNO Combo 12ga/22 Savage HP



German drilling 16ga/16ga/6.5x58R Sauer(real close to a 25-35 Win,) an ounce of NP BB's is a coyotes nightmare.



I usually don't mess with things I can't skin or care to eat.

Somebody post a pic of a Tikka Superlite in .223 Rem, that’s mine.




P

Don't have a walker, although I do walk around with my varminters. With a sling. And sticks. AND sometimes, a surveyor's tripod WITH A BIG STRAP.

Ruger 77/22

25-06 Rem 700 CDL with 6x Leupold & 115 Berger VLD. I like using this on coyotes 'n such, 'cause I use the same setup on mule deer & antelope. Good practice. The other side of that coyote almost doesn't exist either... Ugh.



Someplace I think I still have a photo of the rockchuck I shot with a 300 gr SPBT Sierra, 375 H&H.

Guy

Rockchuck with 204 Ruger, CZ rifle, 12x Leupold:

My varmint Hunting is limited to coyotes during the winter. It’s a spot ‘n stalk proposition as long as I can do it.

CZ 204, factory Fed 32-gr loads. Zeiss 8x45’s, BRF. 250 yards.



Blaser R93, 243. No longer have this one. 200 yards.

CZ 204 again.



A pic of an old pic in the ‘80’s when red fox were abundant here. They have now been largely supplanted by coyotes. This is an old Savage 110 in 243 with a S&B 10x scope. The 243 is much too large for fox if hides matter.

Not the best pic but its a "build" Remington 700 in .222

Foxy...

you are wise to consider your family first.

we did the same, and buried my 97 year old mom just over 4 years ago--and now must help my wife's parents.

if not for that, i'd be moving to eastern Montana.

i believe you will have an exciting time in Idaho, and to couple that with family--such as your aging mother, will make for great medicine.

best to you in that new adventure...

Thank you sir. I am looking forward to it now that I've made the decision. Alaska has been great. I'll miss moose and caribou hunting but I've killed a few of each. Got to catch lots of salmon and see some truly remote and spectacular country.

Looking forward to lots of bird hunting and coyote calling, garden growing and having more than three roads.

There is absolutely nothing to not like about a 222. Great picture.

I'd like to use this 1913 vintage 22 Hi Power as a coyote & rockchuck rifle. Despite the wolf skull in the photo - I've never shot any game with it. The rifle has been in our family for a few generations, believe it was built in 1913, but I think it went unfired for 50 years or more until I took custody of it a couple of years back. Since then I've been to the range with it a few times, learned a bit about handloading for it, but I just haven't been hunting with it yet. Soon perhaps!



Regards, Guy

Cool pic George! Back then, were you Iowa guys calling or spot, stalk and sniping sleeping foxes off a snow bed?


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Some interesting firearms! Everybody has a different take on what an ideal walking varminter is. Mine is a Tikka Hunter 222, love hunting groundhogs with it.

Some photos in an old post...
Old 222 thread