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

Experiences and effectiveness in hunting with the .204 Ruger.
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Rick in Oregon
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Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part I)

Post by Rick in Oregon »

The Eastern Oregon Raptor Feeding Society (EORFS) spent a large portion of May in the field with our 20's. Our 204 Ruger and 20 Vartarg barrels got a good warming, even though we experienced about every weather conditon known to man. Skippy and his pals did lots of flying, and the crew had a dang good time of it at the ranch.

The squirrels have had their first hatch, so there was LOTS of targets. Here's some young, dumb ones out of their den to see what all the fuss is about: (You could call this the "BEFORE" shot ;) ) (200mm lens)

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One of my sons, Dave, was with the crew with a couple of his supressed weapons. Some of you may remember Dave from the "Fun with Helicopters" post a while back at the Sniper Challange, and is employed by Glock as the Western Law Enforcement Manager. Here he is giving Skippy worries with his supressed M700 in .223 Rem:

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And of course the All-American HDR, Dave's tricked out "Taliban Special":

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We shot both at field level from the bed of our ranchers semi truck, and on a nice hill that overlooked three fields below. The elevated positon allowed shots out to as far as your rifle and the shooter was capable, and the rats were out in full force. Here's my favorite spot on the hillside, with my "office" all set up:

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A view east to "Badger Gulch" from my bench and a load of squirrel mounds out at the 350 to 520 yard marker:

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This is what we all should have for an "office". All my cwap needed to support a good day-long ground squirrel shoot:

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The "Silver Princess of Death" (Pac-Nor 3-groove 11 twist) got a good workout shooting 40gr Nosler BT's at 3,850 fps on the longer shots:

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Yours truly working over the upper east field on a nice sunny May morning:

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Rat Force One (Dan) enjoying his cigar and the fact that he had just fragged a rat at 709 yards waaaay down on one of the lower fields:

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To keep my bench safe from sappers inside the wire, my Kimber CDP-II at the ready with the .22LR conversion installed and loaded with Winchester Power Point HP's. It really gives Skippy a good thump! CRT's (our buddy Brad) bench tray with 20VT rounds on the bench to feed my Cooper M38 Varmint:

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Performance all out of proportion to it's dimunitive size. Nosler 32gr BT over 18.5grs of RL-7 at 3,680 fps:

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This is what we awoke to one morning without warning...the "weather-guessers" missed this one:

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No matter at all. We just left our bench guns cased, jumped in the truck for "drive-by" shooting with our 10-22's. We each went through 1,000 rounds of ammo too! Yep, TWO bricks apiece, that's how many rats infest the ranch.

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On the way back out to the field after lunch, some deer decided to hop the fence....."what fence?" A bit blurry, as it was taken through the windshield:

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If you're not asleep by now and ready for more abuse, there's more in Part II. :mrgreen:

END OF PART ONE
Semper Fortis
Rick in Oregon
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The Reloader
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Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part I)

Post by The Reloader »

Nice Camera And Great Picture taking! Each Going Through 1000 rounds is a lot of shooting sounds like you guys had a blast!! Great Post!
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Rick in Oregon
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Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part I)

Post by Rick in Oregon »

Thanks, but keep in mind that we each fired about 200 CF rounds each day, but the 1,000 round count each was fired through our custom 10-22's using WW Power Points out the truck windows using dog-gone-good window bags - legal in Oregon if on private property. My truck floor was awash in spent .22 brass....not a bad thing. :D

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When the wind or rain came up, it was "drive-by" shooting to stay warm and dry. We'd drive 50 yards, stop and shoot the alfalfa munchers for about 15 minutes, then drive another 50 yards and do it all over again. It seemed like a never-ending shooting gallery with replentishable targets. An excellent way to burn up 22LR ammo and make the rancher happy in the process. ;)
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Rick in Oregon
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Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part I)

Post by majcl5 »

Dog gone good bags are great and the maker of them Don is a great guy. Anybody needing some shooting bags should check his bags out great product and a better guy.
May Your Barrels Be Hot & Your Smiles Plentiful
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Rick in Oregon
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Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part I)

Post by Rick in Oregon »

Right you are, Mark. Don is a retired Portland K-9 cop and a rabid varmint shooter and friend. His wife Arlene did all the sewing, but passed away last year. But Don is still making his bags and shooting squirrels and chucks every time he gets. He's a great guy, and another I can call "one of us".

http://www.dog-gone-good.com/index.html

Where legal, his window bags are great for "drive-by" shooting in the rat patch. ;)
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Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part I)

Post by futuretrades »

Hey Rick, How the heck do you keep those empties out of your defroster vents? :eek: Every time I turn on the defroster, a few 22 empties hit the floor, or just rattle and make one heck of a noise. :lol: Every once in a while my defroster flapper thingie gets jammed, and defroster doesn't even work any more.
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Rick in Oregon
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Re: Skippy Flies Again on the 20 Cal Express (Part I)

Post by Rick in Oregon »

Yeah, same here. WHEN I remember....I put a couple of hand towels over the vents, otherwise I've got 'em clanking about down inside the dash for a few years.

On the last couple of shoots when the weather prevented good bench time, the "drive-by" shooting was so hot, we literally swept out the empties....to the tune of about 600 on the floor mats. Now, THAT'S some hot shooting!

(Kids, don't try this in downtown L.A., okay? ;) )
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Rick in Oregon
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Oregon, East of the Cascades - Where Common Sense Still Prevails

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