I would also go for the 17 Hornet, mine is very impressive, lots of speed and splat on squirrels. If you go with the .22, definitely get it reamed out for the "K". Probably the easiest wildcat cartridge there is to get into.

Beauty! Hopefully my next caliber.

darn, lookin/soundin good!

Awesome! Theres nothing like taking a nap in the shade in the summer with no one around for miles.

Great write-up as always. Those dark coats on the pelts are cool. I saw some almost red dogs up in the Black Hills this summer.

Its gonna be a long winter....

Yup....that'll do! Thats a nice field.

Get a 20 Vartarg and your 204 will move to 2nd place!

That Fiocchi ammo is so fast that the bullet doesnt have time to drop! I chrono'd it well over 4000 fps if i recall correctly.

Definitely something not right, even factory ammo should get 1-1.5" groups. Did anyone else try shooting it besides you?

Nice, you got some shooting in before the cold front hits. Another VT "clean" kill!

Good inspiration! We're sitting in Merrill waiting to shoot Butte Valley tomorrow. Getting in before the inch of snow that is supposed to drop Sunday. The young 'uns are already out around Dorris area. Glad I brought my rimfires!

I use a Lee neck sizing die for my 204 and it works great. You should be able to get those groups to 1/2" or less with some hand loads. RL-10x and 8208xbr are my favorite powders.

I find that I rarely use more than 12x in the rat patch. I also don't plan on shooting my hornet past 150-200 yards therefore I went with a 4-12 Leupold. So far it works great!

Its definitely a caliber on my short list. Wonder how the smaller bullets would do on the 8-twist? I'd like to shoot the whole range of sizes.