204Ruger

Yes sir, Skippy did indeed fly recently, with the proper motivation provided by Nosler 32gr BT's.

We spent five great days afield with our 204's, HMR's, and my 20 Vartarg here in Oregon. Weather was about perfect, rats were everywhere on about every field we shot. Here's a few pics of the adventure.

My Cooper 20VT taking a break during the action.



Pretty simple setup: Park truck, set up bench, teach squirrels to fly. Ruby my Basset Hound puppy goes in the truck during firing, but throws a fit is she doesn't get to come. So now she goes virtually everywhere with me.



As this pic shows, it was "mound city" in this field. I think that morning, I fired just over 200 rounds downrange. Hit ratio was right at 96% thanks to little or no wind.



My buddy "Rat Force One", or Dan as he's known to others, working over the rats with his M700 in 7.62 at just over 600 yards. Seems he had a bunch of 150gr A-Max that just needed shooting up.



I took my custom M700 11-twist with me, but had so much fun shooting the 20VT, it never came out of its case. But THAT will be remedied next trip out.

Oh, almost forgot....Ruby's little sister finally came home last week. Lily is 8 weeks old, and her big sister is now 8 months old. What a hoot watching these two play together!



What fun, hound dogs running about the place once again!

There's a pile of fired brass on my bench now, ready for the vibratory tumbler. I'm pretty sure that brass will stay empty until the snows of winter descend upon me once again. Nothing like a good cup of morning joe on a cold winter day to help the reloading process in the warmth of my gun room with my pups. With the current temps here around 95* lately on the high desert, winter is starting to sound purty good to me!

Great photos and it sounds like a great time. Most of the squirrels around here have taken to their burrows so I guess that wraps up this year. I build a .204 on an AR platform this year and what a shooter it is. It sports a 24" stainless bull barrel from Shilen, 2 stage trigger and all on an Anderson lower and upper. The adjustable gas block helps some on the recoil but even though it weighs in a tad over 12 lbs it's still hard to see some of the hits. I've been loading 31 grains of CFE223 and 32 grain Varmageddon bullets. Sure does make them fly. Thanks for the photos. Randy.

Good report, sounds like a great trip. What's with Dan wearing a winter coat?? You said the weather was great. LOL Thanks for posting the pics.

jpx2rk wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2017 2:26 pmGood report, sounds like a great trip. What's with Dan wearing a winter coat?? You said the weather was great. LOL Thanks for posting the pics.

Good detecting there, jpx.

The weather was great, but somehow I failed to mention that the trip happened in early May this year. Mornings were a bit crisp when the breeze kicked up. Like randyman mentioned above, all the rats are pretty much down now, the temps here have been hovering at 90*-95* for two weeks. We're pretty much done for this season too (dangit!)

With Photobucket (ugh) doing their terrorist thing and holding millions of everyone's pics hostage, I just now got around to loading some of this years pics of outings to a more friendly photo sharing site. Sorry for being so tardy!

Hah, didn't think about the PB thing and posting pictures. Looks like it was still a good trip, cool mornings, then warming up is perfect IMO. We've had lows in the upper 60's to low 70's with high humidity here in E TN for most of July, highs in the low to mid 90's. AC is working OT and will be for next couple of months.

I just process brass and stuff during this time of the year. I do make a run to the gun range early in the am and pack up by noon to beat some of the heat & humidity.

Thanks for sharing the pics.

Been warm, during the daytime, but cool in the early am's also. However some squeeks are still out and about. Will be some better shooting, when they make the third cut on the pivots.
Been taking a few jack rabbits, as they come out in the evening and mornings to feed in the alfalfa, so it is still decent shooting, so far. Also have taken a couple coyotes, that showed their little bodies.. Bonus critters, I guess. Thanks for sharing your story and photo's RIO. Bill K

What photo sharing site are you using? I was trying to post a couple photos of this years hunts but didn't have any luck. Thanks, Randy.

Randyman.. I still have been unable to load photo's onto this site, however on Saubier, under community and albums, I have some photo's of some of my shoots and areas. The latest two, show the pivot and how high the alfalfa is, right now, so when the third cut is made, I will have some more squeeks to play with, at least for awhile. Bill K

Thanks Bill. Maybe someone will have a way to post photos and will let me in on the secret. Meanwhile, I'll be at Eagle Lake this coming weekend and hope to get out and see if any squeekers are still out there. Randy.

You should find some out around the Grasshopper/Adin areas, even with the high grass, some are still showing and running around. Let me know how you do. Bill K