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Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 11:30 am
by Rick in Oregon
On that nice hillside that overlooks so much of prime varmint habitat, this is a shot of Rat Force One (Dan) making that 709 yard shot on the unluckiest rat in the state of Oregon. He had switchy wind from two directions to deal with, and a squirrel that would only hold still for about five seconds at a time.

Look closely at the light colored spot way out in front of the rifle, and you'll see the dust signature of his bullet impact: (The irrigation pivot pipe is just over 300 yards away.)

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Out near some of the well drilling equipment was a bunch of drill and irrigation pipe. I saw a squirrel at just over 150 yards next to a pipe sitting upright. I pivoted my bench, turned down my scope and shot the rat. The 32gr Nosler BT completely disintigrated on the rat, and no damage to the (surplus) pipe at all. We're talking EXPANSION here! (I'm now a "pipe painter" :wink: )

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A while later Captqc (Gary) told me to look at the little weasel hunting squirrels out by the drill rig. As the weasel came near the open end of a steel well casing laying on the ground, a squirrel stood up inside the end of the pipe. Seeing the weasel coming, he ducked and the weasel didn't see him. Once the weasel was gone, the squirrel stood up......right into the crosshairs of my Leupold 6.5-20X LR. The "terminal effect" can be seen in a 360 degree arc inside the pipe. (There were 'remains' at the other end of the pipe too......12' away!)

The scene at the drill rig as seen from my bench. The pipe in question is at the extreme left side, barely visible here:

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A closer view of "the pipe":

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Skippy ("The Pipe Squirrel" as he will forever be known) in his hiding place, safe from the weasel, but NOT from the 32 grainer:

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Talking about different things, ever seen a cow bit by a rattlesnake? Here's a momma cow that got snake-bit in the neck last fall while out on the open range feeding. She still has a growth that the vet removes, then grows back in a month or so at the bite location. No explanation from the vet, just 'wierd stuff' that happens. She would not hold still for a better view: (The reason we all carry .45 snake loads as the first two rounds in our pistols while at the ranch.)

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Speaking of .45's, we usually do some pistol practice in the evenings while at the ranch. Here's Dan with Garth getting ready for the steel:

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Look closely and you can see both the muzzle flash and the pistol in full recoil with the slide back in this blurred shot of Dan's Kimber Ultra Carry .45:

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Setting back up on the semi trailers for another go of it the next day. My Cooper M38 Vartarg and M700 11 twist 204 Ruger were my rifles of choice for this trip, along with the usual "truck gun", my carbon fiber barreled Lam stocked 10-22 for the "drive-by" stuff:

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Captqc warming up the barrel of his Cooper M21 Phoenix in 204 Ruger:

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Another 32gr Ballistic Tip victim. This is typical terminal performance all the way out to as far as we shoot. This fellow had his last meal of alfalfa at 328 yards:

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Parting shot of my Cooper 20VT on the bench on my favorite hillside looking north out into the alfalfa fields. For perspective, the white tank at the wellhead is just a tad over 300 yards. The crop is so long right now, all we could see of the squirrels was heads most of the time. A rat head at 300+ yards gets very interesting; even more so when the wind puffs at all......

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Last pic of our 'cooperative' squirrel' pups....the one on the right is scolding me and telling me to "buzz-off":

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Despite rain, hail, snow and the ever-present wind, it was a great Rat Season for 2011. Now the alfalfa is too long to see the little buggers, and by the time it's First Cut time, it's usually too hot for both us and the squrrels, so now it's time for summer rock chucks and more .20 caliber fun. Man I love this stuff! Hope you enjoyed the ride. :wink:

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 12:44 pm
by Ray P
Rick as always great story with pics. So now your a pipe painter, your adding that to your bio when your right it yes? What cal did Dan use on his 700 yard shot?
Thanks for sharing and keep up the good shooting........"Dead Eye"
later
Ray P

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 1:58 pm
by Rick in Oregon
Ray P wrote:What cal did Dan use on his 700 yard shot?
Thanks Ray.....Dan used his M700 VLS in 223 Rem with my old standby handload of 50gr Nosler BT over a max load of H335.

Not sure how much need there is for my newfound skill, but I'm getting the hang of it. :wink:

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 2:37 pm
by Clint E
Rick great write up and pics. Between you and SF it is always like we tagged along when we read it.

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 5:25 pm
by Trent
Awesome write up and photos Rick!! You all sure have one heck of a nice "ranch" to shoot on. You're a lucky dog!

I do a lot of hike in pDog shooting here in Colorado at a few secret pdog towns. I do a lot of shooting from the prone position which comes with a host of problems, mainly dealing with shooting through grass and always needing to be on higher ground. You guys need to harden up a little. Looks like you are all a little pampered! :wink:

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 9:13 pm
by ryutzy
enjoyed it RIO!

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 3:25 am
by Joe O
Great trip Rick.Thanks for posting.Say Hi to Garth for me.

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 10:33 am
by Rick in Oregon
Trent wrote:Awesome write up and photos Rick!! You all sure have one heck of a nice "ranch" to shoot on. You're a lucky dog!

You guys need to harden up a little. Looks like you are all a little pampered! :wink:
Trent: Yep, you're right, we ARE lucky, and we ARE pampered at this place. BUT do remember that for many years, we shot prone (with stiff necks later), off the hood of the truck, off the tailgate, stayed in motels or travel trailers during these shoots. It was many years of doing this "rough style" until we finally hooked up with these folks about ten years ago. I paid my "varmint dues", now it's the High Life in the Rat Patch for us! :wink:

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I'll keep postin' it as long as you guys want to see it.

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 10:51 am
by Ray P
Rick.......love the pic of the Three Ameegoes!! Don't ya hate it when your packing up and all the rifles are packed away and you get three guys flipping you the bird. Definately worth a load of snake shot!!
Thanks again great pics. Thanks for reply on the rifle cal for 700 yard shot. It's great some packs along a rifle /cal for just such a shot.
Later
Ray P

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 10:57 am
by ryutzy
I think a 709 yard shot on such a small target like skippy is incredible!! especially with the little 223! RIO---how many shots till he got it? or did he jus flat out smash it the first time?

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 1:43 pm
by Rick in Oregon
ryutzy wrote:I think a 709 yard shot on such a small target like skippy is incredible!! especially with the little 223! RIO---how many shots till he got it? or did he jus flat out smash it the first time?
ryutzy: Dunno for sure, as that rat, or a couple of his buddies and him would hop up on the mound for just enough time to acquire a decent sight picture through the scope, them jump off and play grab-a$$ with his buddies in the alfalfa. Getting one of them to sit there long enough to get the right sight picture, get the wind dope, release the trigger and have enough time-of-flight for the bullet to get there is the trick.

Here's Dan with his "kill face" on, working on another squirrel mound complex:

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Dan probably fired 15 shots over a half hour period working on that mound. Sometimes he'd fire, and the rat would move before the bullet got there. They're really skittish critters and don't hold still for long. You'd be surprised what a good 223 or 204 will do in the hands of a good shooter with enough practice. I know the rats sure are. :eek:

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 6:39 pm
by GlennGTR1
As always, good writing makes for good reading. Thanks for sharing your most recent hunt with us all. I will be going down to Lake Billy Chinook at the begining of june, a family camping trip with some flyfishing and hopefully some rat and chuck killing . I always wondered what kind of camera your using to take all your pics?

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 8:22 am
by Rick in Oregon
Hi Glenn,

Thanks bud,.......nothing real special.....I'm using a Nikon DSLR Model D40X with 28-55mm lens and 55-200mm lens for all my shots shown here on the forum.

I hope you have a great time at the Lake. The rats are still out if you can find a place with short grass/alfalfa, and the rock chucks are out in force right now, so have "fun with rodents" while you're here......with lots of trout too of course. ;)

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 9:43 pm
by Sidewinderwa
Very nice Rick. This has been such strange spring weather. Glad to see that you are getting out with such good success. Thanks for feeding our sage rat needs! :w00t: I have been trying to get to Idaho for some sage rats but rain has kept us away so far. I will try to get some pictures but not sure they will turn out as well as yours. Keep them coming for us trigger deprived soles!

Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part II)

Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 3:27 pm
by majcl5
Great pics Rick i love the pipe kill and the little school of rats. I love when mommas around and they just cling to her in clumps of targets.