SmallCaliberCentral

It's still early in the ground squirrel season here on the high desert of Eastern Oregon, but my crew and I got out for 4 days of fun with Skippy. Captqc (Gary), his son Rat Force One (Dan), and my nephew Matt piled into Dan's Xterra with all our gear in his enclosed ATV trailer and had our way with the rodents.

I shot my Sako Vixen 17 Mach IV, Ruger No.1V in .223 Rem, and my Sako M75 V in 204R. We got blown out with 40mph+ winds around noon one day, and yesterday, Sunday, we had to break down for home in the middle of a blizzard, but in between those two events, the shooting was very good, considering the crop is not up yet, and it was purty cold at 4,500' elevation.

Gary, Dan, and Matt shot 204's and .223's, along with some 17HMR thrown in. When we had to leave the field, we popped rats with our pistols out the windows on the way back to the Rat Hilton and watched DVD movies to pass the non-shooting time in style....and eat of course.

I set my personal all-time record for carnage launch distance. I splattered a rat with my .223 using 40gr V-Max from my Ruger No.1V, and hit him in the body. His head flew a measured 47'! Here's some shots of the adventure.....warning: Some are pretty graphic....

The firing line during the action:



32gr Sierra BK's, WS2 coated ready for Skippy:



My Sako M75V 32gr SBK launch engine (longest kill was 426 yds. that day):



My Ruger No.1V Skippy medicine (this No.1 really rocks!)



A victim of my Kimber Pro-Carry .45ACP with the Rimfire Conversion mounted:



Ever wonder what a .17 caliber Berger 25gr hollow point does to a squirrel at 185 yards when it's going 3,860 fps?



Another Kimber 22LR victim:



17 Mach IV Berger Launch Vehicle (Sako Vixen/Shilen bbl, McMillan stock/Lupy 6.5-20X):



Carnage record distance of 47'.....Matt is standing by Skippy's head:



Skippy's head, in an 'out of world experience'......47' away.....:



This rat now has a 'split personality'....peeking over his mound just over 100 yards away, nailed him right between the eyes with my 17 Mach IV....split his head in two, the top half here, split right down the middle of his little face. You can see his nose in the middle, and his two front teeth now separated a bit more than normal. His body was about 12 feet away (I told you it was graphic!):



No wonder we need trucks to haul all our gear.....an armored personnel carrier would be better. Lot's of support equipment just to shoot squirrels....properly that is (Sako 17M4 on the bench).



Overlooking the field in the early season. The brown rats are pretty hard to see against the brown landscape. If not for the mirage, we could have shot past 500 yards, but with bare ground, we had mirage even though the temperatures never got much above 50 degrees (Sako 204 on the bench).



I know some of my fellow shooters in the midwest and east are still snowbound, so thought you all might like to see our "first get out" here in the west. I've got more if you want to see some....let me know.

Very nice report.

Of note, it is SNOWING here today. It is okay though, we NEED the moisture.

47 feet is one heck of a launch distance.

That would be a lot of fun. I wish we could do that up here. We got ground squirrels and the such up here, but we have to salvage the meat or hide if we plan on killing one.

Looks like you guys had a good trip over here. The wind was horrible over here wasn't it? You should have stayed for after the blizzard, the rats are a lot easier to see in the snow

Awesome pics Rick. I'm jealous to say the least.
I've been invaded by skippy on one of the job sites I'm currently working on. I'm trying to figure out how to take some out without having the whole neighborhood freak out. Might have to dig out my old sling shot.

hey rick, great story and way better pics of the carnage. skippy really knows how to put on an air show!
went out myself on thursday and launched a few. the shooting started out real good but really slowed down after noon when the wind started blowin at about 40 to 60mph gusts and steady at around 25 to 30 mph. as usual, my crs kicked in and i forgot the camera, again.

acloco: I know what you mean buddy....springtime, right? Uh huh, yeah, right.....it snowed here yesterday too, snowing right now as I write this, coming down quite briskly too, and I keep telling myself we need the moisture. Personally, I think winter should end.....now!

Verm2: We broke down during the blizzard at noon, but it was time to hit the road anyway, but I'd rather stop shooting when I want to, not when I have to! Another week, and we'll be back at it again.

AK204: Good to hear from you up there....you mean to say your state regs say you MUST harvest the hide and meat from every critter? Even varmints? You could always consider Skippy-ka-bobs!

bullfrog: I've been there.....ever considered a Sheridan Blue Streak, El Gamo, RWS or a Beeman of some sort? My Beeman R10 has taken sage rats cleanly past 30 yards...nice and quiet too, the neighbors are oblivious to its report. You'll feel like a Skippy Hitman....

future: Yeah, the dang wind...bad enough when shooting a rat at 300 yards, and giving the shot 'three rats into the wind', but then cleaning the rifle is a real joy, chasing your cleaning patches all over the field while the wind scatters them eveywhere..... CRS eh? I can relate.....I have to use my 'Varmint List' when packing, or I'd forget my rifle! Well, maybe not the rifle, but something less critical for sure...... Make a list buddy, CRS only gets worse....trust me on this one.

Nice Rick!

That one on its back on the mound is priceless! Is that how it fell or did you place it?

WW

Waldo: I gotta be honest here......this particular rat was just on the other side of the fence, behind from where we were shooting, in a bull pen of sorts. He'd been lying there for most of the morning, not moving. I figure we probably ran him over with the rig, and in the soft earth, he just got "out of sorts", but not really dead.

Anyway, when we spotted him moving, a certain member of our crew (who shall remain nameless) pulled his Ruger MK-III Hunter w/red dot and shot at Skippy from about 8' away. HE MISSED! (Most likely due to the bore to sight line not being considered.) Anyway, the rat then charged me from under the fence.....I pulled my Kimber RF Conversion out and popped him stone dead.

The mound you see was right in front of my bench, so I laid him out there in case an inquiring rat wanted to munch on him, using him as bait of sorts, so I could maybe get more rimfire pistol action up close and personal.

During our "carnage walk" to inspect the body count, I couldn't resist taking a shot of him from ground level. It is a cool shot (pun intended). "Skippy at rest"......

There, now you have the entire....and true story!

I took a look at the recon photos. Looks like someone picked the area over.

Awesome pics Rick! Weather his head was 4.7ft or 47ft............he still lost his head to a well placed shot. Yep spring does not want to get here this year. Rain.........wind......... snow showers. Still can't beat getting out with friends and burning a little powder.
Thanks for sharing.
Later
Ray P

Okay Rick, some un-named member of the EORFS who just happens to own a Ruger Mark III Hunter with a red dot that has been shown here in several posts! Who could that person be??? Besides, as I remember it, that little bugger was 80' away and rabbid, yea that's it rabbid and I threw myself it it's path as it attacked you, yea that's the way it really happened Gary

Too funny!! You da man Waldo!

It's true, we were fighting "Insurgent Squirrels" with an attitude. Here's how most of them were typically armed.....



I noticed a bullet hole in that helmet too.....that must have been from a .12 or .14 caliber rifle!

Good news....as I was typing this, Penny at Pac-Nor called to say my new custom barreled, match chambered M700 204 Ruger was headed this way in UPS today! That means next week I'll be breaking in the barrel in the field on these pesky squirrels!

Captqc: Shhhhh....not everyone remembers just exactly who owns a MK-III Hunter w/red dot! And hey.....what's a few yards among friends anyway?

Now if one of these rabid squirrels tosses a grenade, will you still save me by throwing yourself on it?

Next week baby....we deploy!

Rick in Oregon wrote:AK204: Good to hear from you up there....you mean to say your state regs say you MUST harvest the hide and meat from every critter?

Pretty much!