Monday Flying Lessons (For Skippy)

[Rick in Oregon]

On Monday my nephew Matt called me to see if I wanted to go shoot some sage rats for the day. So we headed for a ranch near here, him with his M700VS in .223 Rem and I took Black Death, my .223 Ackley.

To call this an excellent Monday would be an understatement. Skippy and his pals were everywhere, perfect weather, sunny, not too warm, no wind. The rats were very active, so shooting was brisk. Those of us who forgot their sunshades soon were wishing they'd taken the extra time to go to a buddies house to get theirs (initials: Matt).

Here's a few shots of the perfect way to spend a Monday, looking over my "desk" into my "office":



No sunshade? No problem......just use a wet towel over your hot barrel and keep shooting:



Point of impact change? Well, here's Skippy at about 275 yds getting launched from the 'wet barrel':



Black Death cooling her barrel in the shade after a particularly good, brisk 19 round session:



This shows a good overall view of our field of fire of about 90 degrees. My longest shot was a head shot at 468 yds on a rat just low of the tree line to the left, in the blonde grass area just under the treeline, directly under the left sand spot on the hillside. I love it when the wind forgets I'm outside.



If you look closely, you can see a rat flying above my dust signature at about 260 something yards:



Matt's position set up for both rats inside 100 yds using his 10-22T, and his 223 for the ones thinking they're out of range:



A mound at about 130 yds that was over my right shoulder on the hillside had a rat that kept popping up and checking us out. Every time I'd rotate my bench to him, he'd bail down his hole. I'd been shooting far up the hillside at about 240 yds for about five or six shots, and had just placed a fresh .223AI round with a Nosler 50gr BT (WS2 coated) in the single shot loading tray, when low and behold, little shy boy popped out and stood up:



Coolin' in the shade:



Damage Report: 50gr Nosler BT impact at 342 yds (note 'twisted' effect from spinning while you're flying 10' in the air watching your guts depart in the other direction):



Our elevated position on the hillside offered both uphill, downhill, and long range opportunities to stretch any 204's or 223's legs. Next time I head to this place, I'll take my 11 twist 204 (SPOD) with 39 SBK's for those rats at the 500 yd mark and run a direct comparison to my 223AI with 50gr BT's (I knew I shoulda taken two rifles!):



Now if ALL Monday's were like this one, it would be a perfect world. For us that is.....NOT for Skippy.

[Keith in Ga]

You've made my day!

[Schrutester]

I believe I have started to live vicariously through you and your adventures with Skippy!!! I really enjoy the pics of your rifles too.

One day I will be as cool as you

[bullfrog]

That beats the fanciest corner office I've ever seen.
Like the looks of those 223 ackley shells. Very cool.
Awesome pics Rick!

[surfclod]

As always, a great report Rick!!

I was out a week ago and got a dozen early risers with my .22 but its snowing right now so our season has yet to get really started. But that leaves me time to refine some of my loads this weekend.

I also used your BR Pivot as the main idea behind a bench I built myself this winter, I'll throw some pics up this weekend of it in its final form.

[Captqc]

Rick, Stop the torture! I can't wait for Saturday I'm already packed and ready to head your way! Gary

[Rick in Oregon]

surfclod: Winter is really hanging on up there. Your rats are probably going to come up through the snow soon if the spring greenup doesn't happen soon. Red fans on the snow.....very cool.

Looking forward to seeing your bench when finished....in the field of course.

Update:
I've had some inquiries as to the 223 Ackley known as Black Death, so here's the scoop on the rifle:
Blueprinted M700 action, Holland lug, Pac-Nor Stainless Super Match barrel, fluted, bead blasted, 11*/60* crown, 12 twist, 24" long, all glass & pillar bedded in a McMillan Winchester Marksman glass stock, Jewell HVR trigger, Leupold Vari-X III 6.5-20X 40mm scope with Mil-Dot reticle and target turrets. Shooting Nosler 50gr BT's over 28gr of H335 in WW detailed cases, Fed 205M primers at 3,680 fps. It shoots into the mid .3's now, as after ten years, throat erosion is making me chase the rifling with longer seating. She's still MOS though (Minute of Skippy). Darrell Holland built the rifle as the twin to my .243 Ackley.

That rifle has shot rats in Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, California, and of course zillions here in central and eastern Oregon, with more to come.

Thanks for the encouraging words from the others too. Always neat to share the field fun, and more coming in another few days.

[Gube]

As always nice story and pics. Was supposed to head out yesterday and today but the weather has turned out here (wind, and a bit of snow) so alas, I have to once again wait.

[Ray P]

Rick wat to go!! I glade to see you got out and burnt a little powder. Great pics and story. Nice look ford tk. You retire your chey?? Still giving skippy some fling lessons!!
Your the man and hope your feeling better every day.
Later friend
Ray P

[Silverfox]

Great Report Rick!!!I'm glad to see you are all healed up and out there flipping skippy all over the hills!!! Keep the good reports and photos coming. It will be about another month before I get out and do some prairie dog control.

Right now, I'm busy working up loads for my freshly rebarreled .17 Remington. I had PT&G make a reamer for me with a .1945" neck and had them shorten the free bore up to .010" for the barrel setback and used this same reamer on my new barrel. The throat on my first 24" long stainless steel super match grade 1 in 9" twist three-groove Pac-Nor .17 Rem barrel was ripping the hide off of bullets with J4 jackets after only about 1,300 rounds. I had that barrel set back 2 full inches and rechambered, but that was money poured down the drain as J4 jacketed bullets still were exploding once in awhile before hitting the 100 yard target.

So, I just happened to have a 26" long stainless steel super match grade 1 in 9" twist three-groove Pac-Nor .17 Rem barrel on hand just for this emergency. My gunsmith got it chambered and installed about a month ago and I had it out at the range for the first time on Easter Monday. So far, I have 90 rounds down the pipe and it is a shooter, but I still need to find the best load for it. I had a custom contour barrel made that is a bit heavier than the regular Remington Varmint barrel. The shank is about 4" long, so I should be able to set the barrel back if the throat gets rough again.

[Melvin Eades]

Thanks for sharing your shoot with us Rick. I wish we had something around here we could shoot a lot of bullets at. The only thing we have around here in the summertime to shoot is moles, which I could do without.

Enjoyed the pictures too. It's always nice to see the counrty where others here on the board hunt.

[Racr350]

Jealous?...Yes. Keep them coming Rick!!!