What is your favourtie varmint calibre

It was a model 700 Remington and yes the recoil and muzzle jump were very limited. Was it quiet...it went bang is all I can really say. I wearing electronic ear protection at the time. I was pretty impressed with it...more than any of the other 17s have impressed me.

Just curious Sheephunter, why does the Fireball set the new standard for 17's? The fireball will drive a 20gr pill at 4000, but not the 25 gr one. The 17 Remington exceeds the Fireball in every category, I was just curious if you had actually compared the 17 Fireball(mach IV) to the 17 Remington. When you talk about 17's, the 17 Remington is really hard to beat.

Okay you have me totally confused here. Are you talking about the the new .17 Remington Fireball????????? I think we are talking about the same thing here.

Hey Sheephunter we're not talking about the same thing.
The 17 Remington Fireball is different than the 17 Remington, which has been a factory offering since the early 70's.
In essence, the 17 Remington Fireball is a necked down 221 fireball.
The 17 Remington is a necked down 222 Remington Magnum.
Hope this helps.
If you liked shooting the Fireball, try the 17 Remington, they're a lot of fun too!

Shot them many times Guest.....

www.predatorxtreme.com/ar...ticleID=68 this is the link i think that started alot of the buzz...took me a bit to find it but there we go, the fox guys will be all over this one...would be awesome for reloaders who love shootin gophers too....a bit more of a niche round for the more experienced coyote caller who is fussy about the holes in his fur and therefore a stickler for shot placement...

I have just been re-reading "THE RIFLE BOOK" by Jack O'Connor.
In his chapter on "Varmint Cartridges" he gives a lot of praise to the .22 Hornet (more for an eastern chuck and western prarie dog round). He also has great praise for the .22/250.
Then he discusses .25 cal cartridges (more with coyotes and jackrabbits in mind) and says of the .275 Roberts "If I were pinned down I'd probably admit that it is just about my own favorite varmint cartridge."

Of course we have a good handful of "new" cartridges" since he wrote this book in 1949.

Ronin in Rocky

Think a 270 would mess up a coyote too much? I guess it would be fine if you had no intention of selling the pelt. Wonder if that little 100 g. bullet you can get in 270 would help?

All great rounds. I use a .243 and a .22mag. Definatelly my next gun though is the .17!

Any opinions on the. 280 as an all-around? I'm looking at ballistics compared to recoil energy. The .280 seems to have similar ballistics to the 7mm but with much less recoil.

tree guy, my boy uses a 280rem, personally i feel that it is a 'useless' caliber the difference between it and a 270 is insignificant (.284-.277=.007"). big whoop,either one could be discontinued in favour of the other.
the only way i would buy this on purpose is if I had a lifetime supply of 7mm bullets and suitable powder.
not every retailer carries a box of 7mm express either.
if i only had one gun it wouldnt be a 280, its just plain awkward

if youre going to buy a 280 you may as well learn to shoot guns with more recoil and have more knock down power with the 7Mag

You guys are crazy....the 280Rem is a great round, and if I had to choose, I'd choose it over the 7 Rem Mag ANY day of the week. If cartridges were 'useless' because they were too close to others, then there wouldnt be 1/2 the cartridges out there that exist today....

280 Rem and .284 Win are two that trump the 7 Rem Mag any day......unless you NEED "mag" in the title....but that only benefits yourself...

Sorry...post limit reached!!

BTW,
Knock down power is hitting an animal in the vitals accuratly....

Kinetic energy is a moot debate when you're talking 280Rem vs 7Rem Mag

Thats just my opinion though.....

Thanks Rack. I spent alot of time looking at ballistic tables and found that the .280 seemed very, very close to the 7mm on paper. The big difference was in recoil energy. I mention recoil for two reasons. First, I have bad shoulders. I am a big believer in spending alot of time at the range getting to know my gun, heavy recoil definately takes its toll on me. Second, when I was 8-9 years old, and the only gun I had ever shot was a .22, my buddy's bonehead brother let me shoot his 12 gauge loaded with a slug! So I'll be the first to admit that I have a flinch. It's taken years and thousands of rounds to kind of get it managable, but I have kind of had to learn to shoot around it. That's why the .280 appealed to me. My only hesitation is round availiability.

Won't find much at your local Canadian Tire or Walmart, but if you have the opportunity to frequent a hunting store of any size, like Wholesale, they seem to have plenty of variety and stock. Just stock up. As long as what's manufactured meets your needs.

Go 204. If you like your dogs with as little damage as possible the 204 is second to none. Plus 4100fps isnt bad either. If you are strictly a gopher man you may find it a little rich in the shell department.