Part II. SMALL GAME HUNTING RIFLES

Chapter 5. Small Game and Varmint Rifles. The Center Fires

At first glance the problem of selecting a small game and varmint rifle would appear a relatively simple undertaking. A hunter has clean killing in mind, which means hair splitting accuracy and fair ranging qualities.

Hunting rifle weight must be a good compromise for steady holding and portability, say eight to nine pounds, for a field rifle is carried much more than it is shot.

All these requirements are easily met, yet the selection must be approached with caution. Many hunting skills hinge on the type of rifle taken afield. For example, short range rifles are| very apt to be owned by excellent still hunters and stalkers, long range rifles by precision field shots. When a rifle is selected which has both qualities, you have an unbeatable combination on the make—the all-around hunter and field shot. Butthe selection is no push-over.

Maybe it is best to break down the problem of rifle selection into two categories for detailed study, even though the basic thing which should be studied is trends in small game center-fire calibers. Small game rifles are of two classes, wildcats and standard factory calibers.

Let's start with the wildcats. Experiment is the very life blood of progress, and modern day hunters owe a lot to the wildcat experimenter who was never quite satisfied with the performance of available rifles. While some of their products were off-beat from start to finish, they explored many blind alleys in their search for longer range and greater accuracy. The wildest of the wildcats are plenty wild indeed! All in all, however, many worthwhile improvements came from theory and experimentation. Results of these experiments are constantly being passed back to us lesser hunters in the form of better accuracy, ranging and killing ability.

Something else has also been passed along which is not on the right side of the ledger: a lot of misrepresentation about velocities and accuracy. An outdoorsman looking for a rifle with which to finagle a woodchuck in an upland pasture some early spring day, when the clover is first tarnishing the brown winter stubble with green, the dogwood is starting to bloom along the old stone fences, goes afield with a very poor wildcat rifle selec­tion—all because he didn't investigate carefully before selecting his small game rifle.

A 48 grain .22 caliber bullet can be driven close to 4500 feet a second in some of these privately designed rifles. That is a lot of velocity, but a rifleman gets it by paying for it with shortened barrel life, and in many calibers at the expense of hair splitting sniper accuracy.

Two requirements of woodchuck sniping have sent experi­menters along the path of high velocity: a desire for bullet breakup on impact, and a nipping off of bullet drop over ex­tended field ranges.

In settled farm communities it is essential for a varmint bullet to breakup completely when it hits the earth, otherwise you will have a ricochet buzzing like an angry bee out across the meadows, something not conducive to either safety or good farmer-sportsman relationship. To prevent ricocheting, velocities must not fall much below 2400 feet per second. Fortunately, this problem has been well licked in such wildcat calibers as the .219 Wasp the .240 Colbra, .22/250 Varminter in the wildcat calibers. In the standard factory calibers it is no problem in the .22 Hornet, .218 Bee, .219 Zipper, .222 Remington, and .220 Swift.

How about bullet drop over the longer ranges? Just to show how far we have come in licking this problem, let's make a direct comparison between a rather obsolete, though still ex­cellent small game and varmint caliber and one of the more successful wildcat calibers.

.219 Wasp Bullet Path Above or Below Line of Sight at:

The above ranging used the following powder charge and bullet weight: bullet, 55 grain spiral point Speer; Powder, 31 grains of Du Pont 4320.

.25/35 Bullet Path Above or Below Line of Sight at:

Above load using factory ammunition, 117 grain bullet.

Broken down into effective field shooting ranges it becomes obvious that the modern .219 Wasp has an advantage of one hundred yards on such small game and pest targets. In addition, it will shoot within a minute of angle for accuracy, giving three inch groups at three hundred yards. The .25/35 with the same careful handloading of ammunition will make four-inch groups at two hundred yards, six-inch groups with factory ammunition.

Out to three hundred yards, bullet breakup on impact is excellent with the Wasp, just as it is with the .220 Swift, a caliber which it duplicates very closely in bullet weight, accur­acy and velocity.

The .219 Wasp is a "standard" wildcat. Most custom gun­smiths are tolled up to chamber it, and most custom loaders can supply handloaded ammunition for it. This can also be said of the .22/250 Varminter, .240 Colbra, as well as several versions of "improved" factory calibers.

Improving factory calibers, such as the .222 Remington, .22 Hornet, .220 Swift, and the .257 Roberts is almost an indoor sport with the wildcat brotherhood. This improving is done by reaming standard rifle chamber to give a straighter taper and a more abrupt shoulder. In some calibers these "improvements" have produced better accuracy and higher velocity without in­creasing pressures beyond a safe margin. In others, results have been more apparent in the writings of rifle partisans for the specialized caliber than in the field testing.

Small game hunters should remember that in going for one of these improved chambering jobs, unless the improved chamber will accept factory ammunition, and the "improve­ment" is brought about by fireforming the cases, he is letting himself in for considerable trouble in resizing brass for his sniping rifle.

Improved versions are best when they are along the lines of the Ackley .257 and the Weatherby .257 Magnum, either of which will handle factory ammunition.

The trouble of resizing brass for a wildcat caliber, however, is sometimes well worth the effort. The .22/250 Varminter cartridge is made by necking down the .250/3000 case. The .219 Wasp requires resizing. Both are exceptional wildcat calibers. They are two of perhaps a half dozen wildcats which are destined to become better known over the years. There are many other calibers requiring manual resizing of brass with few field shooting virtues to recommend them.

Do plenty of sign reading before laying your iron men on the line for a wildcat.

Those which have enough virtues to be taken up by an increasing number of hunters each year all have one thing in common, regardless of caliber. Powder capacity of case, bullet weight and caliber, either through careful experiment or happy accident, are all in balance. There seems to be no critical bullet weight, velocity or powder charge. Case design and capacity give each caliber a flexibility which makes for hair splitting accuracy with a wide range of loadings.

A balanced load, such as the .22/250 Varminter has so many intangibles in its makeup even the most advanced experimenters can not place their fingers on all the factors. It is known that cases of medium capacity with only a medium powder charge often give higher velocity and better accuracy than larger size cases using heavier charges of powder.

Overlarge cartridge capacity in reference to bullet weight often gives high pressure readings without a corresponding in­crease in velocity. And when they are accurate, it is usually with one particular loading. The flexibility apparent in those balanced calibers is lacking. A rifleman using one for his sniping has a headache from start to finish. Flexibility in small game rifles is important. It is much more so in the rifleman himself. Just about any caliber will serve in the hands of a competent rifleman able to bring out its full ranging and killing potential.

Last July, while walking across my upland pastures, I came upon Al Wyman behind a red cedar tree. He was peering in­tently across a small draw. Seeing me, he motioned me down, then signaled me up to where he was lying. Inching my way to his position I studied the hillside where midsummer had began to tan the grass and burnish the greasewood with a swarthy Indian hue. I saw the object of his concern, a ground squirrel fooling around the base of a stump, eating dandelions.

Eventually it worked its way out into the opening, sat up and gave the hillside a careful searching before committing itself to any more foraging which might lead it any farther from the security of its burrow. Al eased up his rifle, steadied it, and at the report that squirrel dropped. Range? About 150 yards. Rifle? A model 64 Winchester, using a handload of 27 grains of Du Pont 3031 powder, a 100 grain jacketed softpoint bullet. It was my handloading, as a matter of fact, and my rifle. Al Wyman had borrowed it as he came by the ranch house.

We talked awhile before I left him to continue my walk across the pastures, after being cautioned not to cross certain hillsides he planned to hunt. "Put down them digger squirrels," he explained, a breach of hunting ethics even landowners should not commit. "Furthermore, you might tell Ethel to hold up dinner until about two o'clock. Won't get my diggering done before then. They have been barking all over the hillsides." So advised and cautioned, I left him.

That rifle he was using was certainly a long ways down the list from some of the super duper wildcats. It did exemplify one thing, however. Rifles of very modest velocities and killing power can be used for all small game and pest shooting. (Re­member Art Richardson and that old .38/40 Winchester hunting jack rabbits and ground squirrels, Chapter 1?)

My .25/35 Model 64, equipped with a Readfield Sourdough front sight and a Williams Foolproof receiver sights, has enough accuracy and enough ranging ability to make it an interesting sniping rifle in anybody's pastures. Of course precautions must be taken to see that all field targets have suitable background so there will not be ricochet.

Small game hunters are probably better served by selecting factory calibers. You can handload for them, and in addition use factory loads to obtain the necessary brass for developing just the right loading for any gunning situation you have. The .222 Remington is an excellent choice, especially in the Sako Mauser action, as exemplified by the Marlin Model 322. This rifle is built by the Marlin Firearms Company, using their Micro-Groove rifling, a shallow sixteen groove rifling which gives very little bullet deformation, and a consequent increase in accuracy of about twenty per cent over conventional deep, six groove rifling.

Another very good factory caliber is the .220 Swift. It is strictly an out-and-out long range varmint rifle, though at first appearance in the game fields, a lot of extravagant claims were made for its ability as a big game caliber.

The .257 Roberts started out as a wildcat, but it has been a standard factory caliber for several decades. It is very accurate with all three factory loadings: 117 grain, 100 grain and 87 grain bullets. Best accuracy, though, is with the two heavier weight loadings. The 117 grain bullet makes an excellent var­mint loading especially in the mountainous areas where there are apt to be constant thermal winds. Due to its good sectional density, there is much less drift with this bullet than there is with many of the lighter, higher speed ones.

For a hunter who cannot afford more than one rifle, the .257 Roberts, either standard or in Ackley's improved chamber­ing, would be an excellent all around choice. It is a nice deer caliber with its heavier loadings. For hunting tree squirrel or rabbit it can be midranged with handloads to about the velo­city of a .22 long rifle.

The 250/3000 Savage is a superbly accurate sniping rifle. A small game hunter with a liking for a lever action would find this an excellent choice. Factory loading gives the 87 grain bullet 3000 feet a second. In addition a 100 grain bullet can be driven 2820 feet a second. By careful handloading this caliber will duplicate the velocities of practically all caliber from the .22 long rifle to the .25/20, giving it a versatility in the small game field which makes it truly an all-around caliber.

Another lever action .25 caliber which must be considered is the before mentioned .25/35. How badly handicapped would a hunter be, armed with a .25/35 Winchester Model 64 lever action? Let's look at some of the adverse factors which can be ironed out. First is the fact that all tubular magazine rifles are not supposed to use Spitzer pointed bullets. It doesn't come under the head of pleasure to have a pointed bullet tickling the primer of the cartridge in front of it in a tubular magazine rifle. But Spitzer pointed bullets can be used in tubular maga­zine rifles just the same. It reduces magazine capacity to ex­actly one cartridge, and with one in the chamber, makes it a two shot repeater.

Snapshooting at running targets, acquiring skill for those big game covers, this limited magazine capacity has some ad­vantages. Emphasis is placed on individual shots, much more so than if a hunter has a full magazine to unload on his target.

As for ranging ability, 200 yards will cover most small game and varmint ranges, and the .25/35, with handloads, is suffi­ciently accurate to kill consistently at this range. On the heavier pests, such as coyotes, the 117 grain bullet is an excellent killer, with plenty of penetration to drive through from any quarter to reach die vital area. Ranges beyond 200 yards, when one is using a comparatively short range sniping rifle, are problems of stalking, an ability which always pays off later in big game hunting. All in all, the small game hunter using a .25/35 wouldn't be greatly handicapped for most off-season hunting.

The .219 Zipper in a lever action, along with the .218 Bee have tubular magazines, and if they are used with Spitzer pointed bullets, their capacity must be reduced to one cartridge in the magazine, one in the chamber. By using pointed 55 grain bullet in the Zipper at a muzzle velocity of 3120 feet a second, sustained velocity over 200 yards is much higher than with the poorly shaped factory bullet, just as it is with the .218 Bee using a pointed 48 grain bullet. Either of these calibers work well with midrange loads for tree squirrel. Both are highly portable and handy field rifles.

The .22 Hornet is never a mistake for small game and pest shooting. It hasn't the wind bucking ability of some of the heavier calibers, nor their ranging qualities, but within that critical 200 yard range it is highly accurate. It can be hand-loaded down to a velocity of 1400 hundred feet using a 43 grain gas check bullet and 3.5 grains of Unique Pistol powder. The .22 K-Hornet, an "improved" version of the standard factory caliber will drive its bullets at a full 3000 feet a second. It is the better selection for small game shooters interested in hand-loading. It will not only give higher velocities with maximum charges, all the midrange loads worked out for the standard .22 Hornet will perform beautifully in the .22K-Hornet.

When one takes a .270 down from the gun rack, it is quite possible that, measured from the standpoint of all around ver­satility, it is the best sniping rifle of the lot. It will reach out with the wildest of the wildcats. It will make groups as small. In addition, it is a good caliber on larger game, such as black bear and deer, with proper loads. Some hunters endorse it as an elk rifle, but I cannot string along on this—just not enough lead, even with the best handloads and heaviest bullets it will handle.

But for the one rifle man the .270 has many advantages over the .250/3000, the .257. And of course, when it comes to a com­parison with such short range lead slingers as the other rifles under consideration, there just isn't any contest—if your choice is a bolt action a .270, 100 grain bullet can be driven at 3500 feet a second. The 130 grain factory load is given a velocity of 3140 feet a second—both are superbly accurate.

Using the 100 grain bullet at a velocity of 3500 feet a second, a .270 sighted in to hit point of aim at 200 yards is very effective on woodchuck and other targets to a full 300 yards. That is something to ponder when one is tempted by a flat shooting wildcat. What a surprise it would be to a coyote lurking out around the 300 yard mark! Those sly predators seem to have the range of lesser calibers gauged to a nicety, but a .270 could give them cause for reappraisal.

A very versatile small game caliber is none other than the old reliable .30/06! Sure it is loud-mouthed, and not the best for settled farm country. But there is still a whale of a lot of small game and varmint territory where this old proven caliber is ideal. I know it is smart to consider it more or less a has been. But remember, more experimenting has been done with .30/06 loadings than any other caliber. More loading data have accumulated over the years in all velocity brackets and bullet weights than for any other rifle. There is extant over three hundred different handloads developed by riflemen using this caliber during the past several decades. Just about all types of field shooting and game have been considered by some rifle­man-hunter and a .30/06 load developed for it.

Want a good midrange load, something with about the velocity of a .22 long rifle for tree squirrels and cottontails? You have been anticipated by other .30/06 riflemen. A 153 grain gas check bullet driven by 12 grains of Du Pont 4759 will give you a velocity of 1100 feet a second. That would make a nice pot hunting load on a big game trip. It would also be a good load for practice shooting where range facilities are limited.

Maybe, though, you have woodchuck or ground squirrel in mind. A 110 grain jacketed bullet can be driven at 3310 feet a second with 53.3 grains of Hercules Hi-Vel. Of course a 110 grain, .30 caliber bullet hasn't the best sectional density for sustained velocities over extended ranges, but it has good accuracy and breakup out to 200 yards, and that is a lot of range in anybody's hunting territory.

This listing of rifles for small game hunting is incomplete. This is more a pointing out of trends in calibers and loadings which the small game hunter and varmint sniper might con­sider in selecting his equipment with big game hunting as the ultimate consideration. I often use my .348 with reduced loads for tree squirrel, finding it superbly accurate for this type hunting. I often use it on ground squirrel with a 150 grain bullet driven at 2835 feet per second with a charge of 58.5 grains of Du Pont 4064. All this off-season shooting adds up to clean kills on the deer and elk trails.

In selecting a small game rifle, you should canvass thor­oughly the type of hunting you will do, both in the small game field and later in the big game coverts.

All my rifles, from .22 rim fires to my heaviest caliber are practical stalking rifles—hunter sighted. Occasionally I like to pick up a rifle which is utterly strange to me, and go hunting, such as that .22 Mossberg I used diggering (Chapter 1). But for the most part I find it much more to the point to keep sights, trigger pulls, actions and weights very closely dupli­cated from small game rifles to large.

The build up of shooting habits—the confidence which comes of using familiar materials has something of a craftsman's or artist's desire for complete mastery of his medium. A rifleman feels the same thrill from proper mastery of his materials, and the same sense of achievement. When a shot is delivered at the end of a careful stalk which has brought out the best in wood­craft of which the rifleman is capable, and accuracy is crowned with a clean kill, that, it seems to me, is the ultimate in hunting satisfaction. And it starts with rifle selection, too.

Selecting a rifle is primarily a matching of that rifle to the hunter, a secondary matching to the game on which it will be used. After this careful matching of centerfire rifles, there is still a rifle problem to be answered. What type .22 rim fire should I use, a heavy target rifle, bolt action, single shot, lever action?