Time to head up the north East rolled round quickly. Today was booked in my diary but by Friday no appointments had been made in the Albury office, so by the end of the day it read GanG (I used his real name
) Wangaratta and some bloke by the name of Thompson in Corowa. Since I didnt have to go to the office at all a bloke by the name of Ogre (not his real name 
) came for the drive.After we had lunch in Wang we met Thomo at his rabbit fields. I sighted in the 6/250. Great i have an excuse for the missed 200m rabbit he taped last time. It was off an inch to the right at 100m.
I also brought the 223 and fired 3 shots to sight in. Spot on.
So we were to walk a creek gully and periodically stop and snipe
Right, I had this 223 modified to be a walkabout varminter so I forced myself to leave the semi custon rifle in the boot and see what the 223 could do. Well its a pretty rifle and light enough to carry
We see a rabbit as soon as we leave the car. I spotted it so i load up, extend the bipod and lie down. I decide to use the newly adjusted 5.5oz set trigger and of course let it off before i have her steadied. thats 2 shots Thomo has seen me make for 2 misses. Damm this might be a long day!
Well once we got into the creek bed I got into position and Thomo and Ogre headed off to the next gully. I lay down and proceeded to snipe 7 rabbits with no misses over the next 3/4hr. This is truly varminting and a real hoot. Shane did such a good job on the CZ trigger I didnt even bother with the set trigger except for 1 kitten which at about 140m was the longest shot for the day. The shortest was 30m with most in the 60 to 120m range.
How did the 223 perform? Very accurate and very explosive. The rifle is now too light, and the 223 just a little more nudge than the 204 to see the hits completely on top magnification but I was getting back on target enough to see some separations and aerial displays
This type of shooting was exactly what i had it modified for and I could not have been happier with how it performed. I even took a couple off hand and a couple kneeling. I am not a confident offhand shot on small furries normally so this gave me a huge buzz. Again not enough distance to make the ranges challenging but I was hitting what i was aiming at and they were coming apart. They were mostly small half and 3/4 grown kittens which made them seem further away.
Then Thomo showed up and we walked further round the gully so he could show off. he had swapped his 204 for Ogre's 6br so they could both try something different. He spotted a bunny with its head and shoulders sticking out the burrow. Look what happened
It completely flipped over and ended up head first down the burrow. this is what it looked like when he pulled it out
A little later down the creek we found two rabbits who obviously wagged the day they taught anti sniper training at rabbit school, you know split up, make it hard for them. No these two posed one in front of the other. I swear I saw them shuffle round to get in line one behind the other level with Thomo's barrel
.
Thru the head and into the guts. Good shot on the 2 for one deal Thomo
My tally finished at 18 rabbits, I dont know whether Thomo or Ogre counted but I had a great day with good company in a target rich environment. See you again soon!
