Varmint 2015

In the early morning light, a gray, ghostlike figure slowly moved through my calving pasture. It turned out to be a coyote that was hunting for an unsuspecting newborn calf as prey. I hustled out the door and to the edge of the field, took a rest and laser measured the distance with a Swarovski binocular at 442 yards. When the rifle cracked, the bullet impact was heard a moment later, and the coyote never moved again. The 6.5 Grendel and Alexander Arms rifle worked as expected. ...Read More >

The 6mm HAGAR started out as a target cartridge for AR rifles, winning several National High Power Championships and is currently showing great promise as a varmint cartridge. Hornady manufactured cases and reloading dies, and plenty of data is available, so shooters can readily handload this wildcat cartridge. ...Read More >

At the end of World War II, returning servicemen anxious for some varmint shooting with scope-sighted, bolt-action rifles found that the list of commercial varmint cartridges was still but four: 22 Hornet, 218 Bee, 219 Zipper and the 220 Swift. All were developed in the 1930s. The first three were rimmed cartridges and the latter, semirimmed. As arms and ammunition companies moved away from their wartime footing and were able to address growing civilian commercial needs, new cartridge development moved to the top of the list. In 1950 Remington Arms Company introduced what was both the first new commercial cartridge since the war and the first commercial rimless varmint cartridge, ever, the 222 Remington. ...Read More >

The 25-45 Sharps cartridge has been lurking in the shadows for some time. In the early 1970s, for example, John Wootters created a wildcat cartridge he called the 25-222 Copperhead. It was a 222 Remington necked up to .25 caliber. Wootters wanted a varmint cartridge that would fit in a lightweight bolt-action rifle and deliver more punch to varmints than the 222. The 25-45 Sharps is essentially the same cartridge and, for AR shooters, if the right magazines are used, it offers plenty of versatility. ...Read More >

The 250-3000 Savage turned 100 years old this year, and it has left an incredible legacy. It spawned perhaps the most popular varmint cartridge of all time, the 22-250 Remington. It was the first American-made round to break the 3,000 feet-per-second barrier back in 1915. It became so popular that all major riflemakers of the 1920s and 1930s chambered the cartridge. ...Read More >

The 223 Remington is certainly the most popular rifle cartridge in America – for good reasons too. The relatively light amount of powder the 223 burns propels lightweight projectiles at respectable speeds with bullets up to 90 grains when shot in rifles with the proper rifling twist. The diminutive cartridge needs all the help available, however, when shooting larger small game like marmots and coyotes at increased distances. Loaded to its true capability, the 223 Remington does produce some impressive velocities. ...Read More >

The 22-30-30 Ackley Improved 40 Degree (22-30) is of the cartridge type dear to the hearts of serious handloaders who would rather discuss muzzle velocities and trajectories than sports statistics. It exists in that murky responsible-to-no-one world of the wildcat cartridge; a house of mirrors where (before the advent of inexpensive chronographs) literally anything one could imagine was possible – and many shooters had very active imaginations! ...Read More >

Discussions concerning the terminal performance of big game ammunition are popular at gun shops, around campfires and in the sporting press. As far as rimfire ammunition goes, not a lot is said about it. Everyone seems to have their favorite load, but do they really know how it performs inside the target? Detailed information on the terminal performance of rimfire ammunition is nearly nonexistent, so a test was conducted. ...Read More >

Several years back the late Lenard Brownell built for me a classic-styled rifle on a Siamese Mauser action and chambered it for the 25 Krag Improved. The rimmed Krag case was ideal for the Siamese action that originally had been chambered for the Siamese military 8x52mm rimmed cartridge. ...Read More >