Gracie used one of her grandfather’s Freedom Arms Model 97s chambered in 17 HMR on one of the prairie dogs on the Spur Ranch. Since Gracie competes in the annual 1,000-yard pistol shoot in northeastern Wyoming, you can imagine the result of her shot. 2023 Lacey Polacek photo.
Dick’s Freedom Arms Model 97 and Hornady’s 17-grain 17 HMR ammunition excel at field work in Wyoming.
It was the mid-1950s when I became totally infatuated with handguns. At that time in California, there were open areas of land where a kid could shoot without being besieged by a dozen psychiatrists, grief counselors or career motivational speakers. A summer job allowed me to purchase (with assistance from my mother at the gun shop) a Ruger .22-caliber revolver with which I hunted just about every small critter that walked, crawled or slithered. As the years passed and I acquired more “disposable income,” the bore size of my handguns increased along with the size of the animals I hunted. Commensurate with that, felt recoil also increased – dramatically!
Bob Baker’s wife used this slightly shorter (5.5 inch) octagonal barrel 22LR topped with a red dot. I can’t say the octagonal shape improves performance, but I think it looks spectacular!
Decades later, I find myself contemplating the words of Carly Simon’s song “Coming Around Again” and I am happily planning my annual outing to Spur Outfitters in Saratoga, Wyoming, in search of prairie dogs and ground squirrels. I’ve been going to Spur for almost 20 years, and over that time, 80 percent of the firearms that accompany me have been rimfire handguns. The trips started as industry-sponsored shoots for gun writers, which means the guest writers use guns (and other gear) provided by the sponsors. One of the big players early in the game was Smith & Wesson (S&W), and while they were interested in showcasing their new rifles, they always brought some quality revolvers and semiauto pistols to the ranch, and most of them were chambered in 22 Long Rifle.
One of the earliest S&W 22s I recall was the Model 617 revolver, with 4- and 6-inch barrels. A couple of participating ranch personnel bought these and the competitions began! Whatever other guns we were shooting, we always had our stainless steel S&Ws with their excellent adjustable rear sight and the black front sight blade in the truck with us. If a prairie dog or ground squirrel appeared close enough to the truck, say something less than 50 yards, we did our reenactment of the O.K. Corral. Over time and with practice, pistol engagement distances extended beyond 50 yards with iron sights, and considerably further when we started using red dots.
The “camp cook” demonstrated her skills with an iron-sighted S&W M&P pistol chambered in 22LR. Her smile says it all!
Freedom Arms Chief Executive Officer Bob Baker’s choice of rodent handguns is this 10-inch barreled Model 97 in 22LR topped with a Weaver pistol scope. Between the scope and Bob’s shooting skills, he scores at ranges well beyond normal for a 22LR handgun.
On another early trip, I remember strolling a dirt road next to a fence with a rifle hunting editor who was carrying a S&W Model 317 Kit Gun in 22LR with a 3-inch barrel. There was some thick grass at the base of the fence that the ground squirrels favored, so there were targets popping up frequently during our walk. I won’t say she gave up rifle hunting for handguns, but there were a lot of hits and giggles as we progressed down the road, and a couple years later we did a big-bore handgun hunt for wild boars together that was successful for all participants.
In addition to introducing their M&P rifles at the Spur Ranch, S&W brought some M&P rimfire pistols on the trip. While I thought that the “K” frame S&W revolvers were a more suitable hunting handgun than the defensively-oriented M&P pistols, it was an opportunity that could not be ignored. The young lady who was doing the cooking for the Spur Ranch guests that summer had shown an interest in trying out this handgunning varmints thing. One afternoon, she broke away from the kitchen and ventured afield with me. Her success with the M&P polymer pistol was impressive, overshadowed only by her sheer enjoyment of the afternoon festivities.
Here is verification of Dick’s 22 Magnum Smith & Wesson’s capabilities in the field.
For me, the floodgate opened when the industry-sponsored events at Spur Ranch ended and I began visiting the ranch on my own time with my personal selection of handguns. Yes, there was a desire to find the most effective combination of handgun and sights for a handgun varmint hunter, or at least this varmint hunter. But even more, it was an opportunity to dig into my collection of rimfire handguns (both those already owned and those still dreamed of and yet to come) and explore how much fun I could have. First from the gun vault was a 40-plus-year old AMT copy of Ruger’s 22-caliber semiautomatic Mark series of pistols, the handgun that started the Ruger dynasty. AMT called it the “Lightning” and built it with a 12.5-inch barrel. I installed a Burris 2-7x variable power pistol scope. I vaguely recall reading something that said maximum velocity of a 22LR cartridge is obtained in something like a 16-inch barrel. Shorter than that and you don’t get to full velocity; longer than that and you start losing velocity. If all components worked well together, it looked to be a nearly perfect varmint pistol.
Dick Williams confirms that his new Ruger Super Wrangler with both 22LR and 22 Magnum cylinders is sighted-in on the magnificent rifle range on the Spur Ranch near Saratoga, Wyoming. 2023 Lacey Polacek photo.
If suppressors are legal in your state, putting one on Ruger’s Mark IV 22/45 Lite semiauto handgun might qualify it as the world’s most popular rabbit gun, particularly if you hunt anywhere near residences.
The Lightning worked well as equipped. Velocities were above those achieved in more typical length barrels. Groups at 50 yards ran from 1 to 2 inches, targets weren’t that much more difficult to acquire through the scope than with open/iron sights, and the field of view was reasonably manageable for a pistol scope, at least at the lower magnification levels like 2-4x. Above that, and the field of view shrank dramatically making it very difficult to locate your target. But the project was fun, and that longer barrel proved beneficial in an unexpected way particularly when working around a vehicle. The muzzle protruded beyond potential barriers like radio antennas and rear view mirrors. Really? You’ve never had a friend shoot your antenna or shatter some glass on your truck?
There was even something to satisfy the old bullseye shooter in me; a Kimber 1911 pistol in 22LR. It has great iron sights for the bright daylight conditions typically encountered on summer days in Wyoming.
My next venture was at the other end of the 22 rimfire performance spectrum. From a safe resting place in my safe, I liberated an old Smith & Wesson Model 34 Kit gun. The classically blued little “J” frame had adjustable S&W sights and a 2-inch barrel. Admittedly, 2 inches is a little short for precise sight alignment, but the sight picture is still crisp, and in my gun world, classic firearms like the Model 34 are not required to audition. The little Smith carries easily in a pocket or belt holster and meets Clint Smith’s requirement that it’s more important for a carried handgun to be comforting as opposed to comfortable. When the rats get better organized and storm my vehicle, the kit gun will be instantly available to repel boarders!
Somewhere during these many pilgrimages, I visited Gary Reeder’s Pistol Parlor in Flagstaff, Arizona, and fell in love with a Ruger Single Six that Gary had converted into an eight-shot 22 Magnum. Like one of Ulysses’ sailors, I instantly succumbed to the lure of the siren’s song. In the course of several trips to both the Spur and Tejon Ranch, the iron-sighted Ruger Magnum and I accounted for many rodents, including a couple who thought they’d be safe out beyond 75 yards. I couldn’t have been happier with the little magnum’s enhanced performance beyond that of the standard 22LR. Unfortunately, aging eyes and developing cataracts forced me to look for new visual aids besides simple magnifier inserts in my shooting glasses. Surgery fixed the cataract problem, and a visit to Spur Ranch with Bob Baker of Freedom Arms fixed everything else.
A current Model Single Six Ruger does its thing.
If you’re hooked on Ruger single actions and want to extend your range, Gary Reeder has an adaptor plate to mount a red dot like this Trijicon easily onto any Ruger Single Six.
Bob showed up with one of his Model 97 small-frame revolvers chambered in 17 HMR and topped with a Trijicon Red Dot optic. Most of my limited experience with the 17 HMR was in rifles, not pistols. Bob’s 7.5-inch barreled 17 HMR produced muzzle velocities 600 to 700 feet per second (fps) higher than a comparably barreled 22 Magnum and 800 to 1,200 fps higher than a 22LR. The red dot greatly simplified the sight picture: no close range focus issues, no light intensity measurements required, and no precise alignment requirements. Everything is visible in the “window” and everything is in focus. Regardless of where the dot is located in the optic window, simply put the dot on the target and pull the trigger. It was like a miracle! As you might imagine, negotiations can get very intense when you’ve just witnessed a miracle. Yes, I own that Freedom Arms 17 HMR today, and as suggested in the famous commercial, “I don’t leave home without it!”
Under the watchful eyes of his Dad, Garrett Trevino verifies the sight settings on a Bobbie Tyler customized Ruger Super Bearcat for the day’s outing. A little extra tutelage from Gunsite Rangemaster Lew Gosnell (left) paid dividends once the trio hit the open prairie.
In my formative years as a gun guy and the early days of my gun writing career, I was both intimidated and impressed by the perceived requirements of joining the fraternity of varmint shooters. Bull-barreled rifles wearing monster scopes and shooting cartridges that approach or
Dick’s custom eight-shot, 22 Magnum Ruger built by Gary Reeder gladly harvested rabbits in addition to prairie dogs when the opportunity presented itself.
even exceed the 4,000 fps mark: rifle stocks and accessories that looked like they were designed by the engineering team at Lego; cartridge cases from military canons necked down to fire knitting needles. I don’t begrudge the serious varmint shooters their love affair with their specialty equipment. Like all shooters, I wish them joy in the pursuit of their passions.
My roots are firmly anchored in the 22LR handgun, and I’ve always been interested in any hunting opportunity that can be fulfilled by digging into my gun safe and coming out with a ready-to-go, reasonably compact handgun. If the mission can be accomplished with one of my many Ruger guns of different rimfire calibers, great. If there’s a role for my adjustable-sighted, 2-inch Model S&W, even better; that’s reinforcement for my original decision to buy the discontinued little beauty. My collection of three Colt New Frontier 22-caliber revolvers began with a casual stop at a gas station/gun store on my way to the Spur Ranch, where I saw a 7.5-inch barreled model for sale (see Varmint Fall 2022 edition). Over the next few years, the other two barrel lengths were acquired and subsequently joined me on varmint shoots. You don’t need to spend a fortune to hunt rodents. In fact, if you can use a “hand-me-down” from your Grandfather or the present from your Dad on your 16th birthday, the trip will be even more satisfying.
Smith & Wesson’s Model 648 in 22 Magnum put a few cottontails in the frying pan during this Texas deer hunt.
Jason Burke, the hunting operations manager at the Spur Ranch showed his first kill of a rockchuck with his new Freedom Arms 17 HMR.
