The Annual 2024 Rat Rodeo

[Bill K]

I have and do use some of Calhoon's 33 grain 20 cal, HP's, flat base in some of my 20 cal rifles and have not noticed anything like them welding or stick in the neck. But maybe due to some of them only sitting around for less than a couple months prior to giving flying lessons.

[hemiallen]

Thank you Rick for an exceptional summation and pictures of another great trip. The longer event makes the 500 mile one way trip even better, hint hint.

The 204 had been taking a back seat to my smaller calibers ( actually staying in the vault for our trips), but the opportunity to empty the old ammo and realizing she shoots very well made the extra recoil worth the trip as my big caliber flight lesson tool. I really love the look of the gun, one of my 4 -204's purchased before the 17HH came out, plus learning the fireball cases burn less powder for near the velocity. I do have a couple thousand more of the Z-Max to refill the spent cases.

Thank you again for the fun times, can't wait for what future trips have in store, especially if the weather cooperates like it did this year.

BTW, our 2 friends that shot Greg's ranch are now 20 VT folks. Troy already has his shooting half inch at 300 yards, and Mike just got a defiance to build a 16# shooter with. Your influence continues to make smiles on friends, and they gain more toys. They both shot my Cooper by Goose lake several years ago and finally caught the bug for a new toy(s) . Troy borrowed 10 rounds of ammo a few months ago to verify feeding before taking the plunge. He had to modify a ruger magazine, I believe. They both like AIC mags on their other Skippy tools.

Thanks Rick

Allen

[Rick in Oregon]

Well there, Allen, glad you were able to make the trip up to Orygun for more fun this year again. Thinking about your 500 mile drive reminded me of shooting PD's in WY, MT and SD and those long drives that shooting them involves. With the price of fuel now, having great rat shooting right here at home makes me wonder if I'll ever make any of those long drives again. Add to that squirrels are much dumber than a PD and will tolerate shooting without bailing down their holes is another bonus.

And I hear ya on the FB case and the reduced powder consumption too. I love my 204's, all four of 'em, but in the past few years my 20VT and 221FB have been getting much more action. The rats don't seem to mind either. The only downside is flying lessons are experienced at lower altitude compared to a solid thumping from a 39gr SBK from a 204R, which really launches the little rascals.

Good to hear you're promoting the 20VT there too. Once experienced, the allure of this great little caliber catches on with it's stellar accuracy, zero felt recoil and miserly powder consumption compared to other rat calibers currently in use. I doubt the caliber will ever gain commercial success, and that's a pity as we're a small microcosm in regard to the overall varmint shooting fraternity.

I took a morning walkabout yesterday with my Cooper M38 Phoenix 221FB and sniped a couple of rockchucks with it. That synthetic stock is the hot setup for work in the lava rock where gooning up one of my nice Claro walnut stocks would be a horrible incident. The chuck in the pic was shot right under his chin from about 220 yards, and part of the jacket exited out near his poop-chute.



I shot two chucks, but one that was headshot and was DRT, but just slithered down a deep rock cravaas and only a couple of tail hairs were visible, and my arm was not long enough to reach down to retrieve him. The telltale blood and skull matter on his rock confirmed a solid hit from the Nosler 40gr Varmageddon and eliminated any guessing as to his final outcome. The 221FB is another under appreciated caliber for varmints, quiet compared to the 204R, wicked accurate (1/4" @ 100 yds), and just a great little field companion.

Looking forward to next year's annual Rat Rodeo, with you in attendance of course!