Handgunninng Groundhogs

[jmarriott]

One of my favorite early spring past times is the spring mushroom and groundhog walk in the woods and pasture fields.

Lately since the contender is light weight and very accurate i have been doing a bit of Handcannoning to practice for deer season since i will be using the same rounds in the deer woods.

What a .35 rem 150 grain core lock will do to a hog at 70 yards is not really red mist but i swear almost all the bones are broken.

Anyone doing this untill the soybeans are up and the shots are longer.

[Catfish]

I pack a handgun while working in the field. Carried a .22 rimfire for years but since the coyotes moved in I`ve been carring something bigger. Had a .222 Contender, but desided it was still alittle lite for coyote so I picked up a Striker in .243. I got a 2 1/2 x 8 X Leuopld on it and can`t wait to try it from the tractor.

[Jack]

I used to use a handgun for groundhogs, just for fun.
But I used what you'd maybe call 'traditional' handguns: a 22 RF autoloader, a 357 revolver, a 9mm auto, and even a 2" bbl 38, just for giggles.
Using those type, iron sighted handguns, hunting groundhogs is a short range proposition, kind of like bow hunting.

[HPBTMTCH]

jmarriot, i have a 20in barreled competitor pistol chambered in .357 max that will push the 150 psp remington to 2400 fps, and you are right, that bullet is very impressive on groundhogs. And i have killed many deer with it also. The pistol shoots less than M.O.A. past 300 yards with that bullet, but ONLY that bullet. I bought 500 of them when they were discontinued, so i don`t shoot as often as i`d like.

[jmarriott]

One of the guys I deer hunt with uses the 357 max for deer with good results also. His is the super 14 pistol barrel.

[Catfish]

The .357 Max. is a good deer round. I`ve taken 4 deer in the last 3 years with one, and 4 more with a muzzle loader. Just not carring a .44 mag. much any more.

[jmarriott]

The 7-30 waters is coming out today after used glass( a fixed 4 power swift)was installed and sighted in at 100 yards. Going to see if this round is as good as the old .35 rem.

Same guy who uses the .357 max loaded me up his pet 14 contender 7-30 rounds and I have had the barrel for a while but only shot it open sighted. I was 1 inch right of target glassed in a cross wind at 100 yards so i just left it alone. You would have had no trouble flying a cheap kite that day.

79 degrees and sunny today and will be in the garden most of the morning. I have a local gruond hog that will meet his match today cause he is under the neighbors barn and likes to eat my new planted grass. He will most liey fall to the 22 mag rifle as the shot should be about 25 yards ofhand.

Picked up a new barrel for the collection from a local dealer. 10 inch octagon 22 rem jet for 125 dollars. Have yet to get it picket up just bought it sight unseen. I guess it is some wildcat round so it will most likely not get any real use.

[Rocky Raab]

Nope, the .22 Rem Jet was a factory round - for a revolver! S&W chambered for it for a while, but the highly tapered case was almost impossible to fire in a revolver without the case setting back and jamming the gun. The case was formed from .357 Magnum, but was odd. The "shoulder" took up most of the case, tapering almost from the web to the short neck.

It's an odd bullet diameter, also. It requires .221" bullets, IIRC.

It's long dead, for good reason. I doubt you'd find factory ammo anywhere except from a collector, and forming the cases would be really a booger. It would require a multi-die form set - if you could find THOSE.

There was a blown-out wildcat (Super Jet?) that looked something like a necked-down .256 Mag, but it wasn't successful, either.

I think you bought yourself a tent peg.

[Jack]

I'm old enough to remember the 22 Jet chambered in a S&W revolver, although I never owned one.
As I recall, the S&W could be had with a 2nd cylinder chambered for 22RF, hence the reason for the bore diameter to be .221, rather than the .224 of most varmint cartridges.
I suspect you could still find the form die set from RCBS, but I would be afraid to look at the price-likely more than the price of the barrel.
Finding jacketed .221 diameter bullets may also be a problem.
I think I'd put that barrel in a drawer and consider it a collectors item.

[Rocky Raab]

I'd put it on eBay and consider it a lesson!

Jack is correct about the revolver and its .22LR ability. The gun came from the factory with aluminum inserts that would hold .22LR rounds, and the firing pin could be switched from centerfire to rimfire.

The revolvers themselves demand a very steep collector price. Not sure about Contender barrels, but there might be collector interest there, too. Ought to be a rare duck - but probably not a shooter for the reasons above.

Unless, it occurs to me, you could also come up with one of those chamber inserts, and then you could shoot it as a .22 rimfire in a Contender. But with regular .22LR barrels so easy to find, that seems like a half-azz plan.

[jmarriott]

I could stake out a few tents with contender barrels. I have several odd ( to say the least ) ones. The 6 and 7 mm tcu barrels. 218 bee, 300 whisper, 30 and 357 Herrett, 357 Maximum,
256 Win barrel, a couple of 12 inch octagons t/c collectors edition barrels,

[HPBTMTCH]

Rocky, could the brass be turned so as to seat .224 bullets? Would pressure be an issue with putting .224 bullets down a .221 bore? Or just pull 22lr bullets maybe.

[jmarriott]

Rocky I took your comment to heart.

Guess I got lucky, The rem jet 22 just got traded to a contender collector friend of mine in a deal that netted me a fine old Smith Special army Revolver in 32-20. At barrel plus 275 bucks for a 85 % new 100 year old revolver that really shoots well I think I got a good deal. The serial number makes it a 1907 vintage smith.

If i remember correct I now have something that shoots the parent brass of the 218 bee I have never shot.