Nosler Factory Seconds

Frustrations and turning a page

A few days ago, a reader called to invite me to thin down his population of woodchucks. Prior to that, another reader called and offered to share his private range with me.

It was very difficult, but I had to turn down both kind offers because I don't think I am physically able to take advantage of both opportunities at this time. I don't think I'm too far away, but just not quite there yet. Darn, but it is frustrating.

The summer before my stroke, I added a very nice little Cooper Jackson squirrel in the varmint version, and chambered for the hot, new .204 Ruger cartridge. I gave it a good workout on Uniontown area chucks, most witnessed by my usual chuckbusting partner, Wayne Albaugh.

This experience resulted in the turning of a page in my varmint hunting book, because I fell head over heels for this little, speedy, .20 caliber. In fact, it all but replaced the great .220 Swift as my favorite varmint cartridge. The Cooper connected on every groundhog it was pointed at, except for one. I laser measured the distance at 250-plus yards and held a few hairs high.

The chuck was standing, in front of a power pole, and I saw the bullet impact a few hairs high, into the pole. I was shooting a .39 grain Sierra Blitzking bullet loaded to just under 4,000 feet per second. I should have known better and held dead-on.

Anyway, that was the rifle's only miss all summer. At an earlier range session at the Dug Hill Rod & Gun Club, I used the factory Hornady load utilizing the fine .32 grain v-Max bullet to knock off four chucks that were unwisely wandering around under the 200-yard target. Four shots; four late chucks.

The Swift accounted for my last chuck before the stroke and I'm glad that Wayne saw it, because I think it was a pretty good one. The rifle was a beautifully stocked Cooper and I was using a hand-load consisting of Winchester/

Nosler .55 grain ballistic-tip bullet pushed to around 3,900 fps.

The chuck was a small pup that we measured at 355 yards. I made the shot in the prone position, using an excellent Harris bipod. When the range extends beyond 300 yards, the .220 Swift is still the king of the Varmint Fields. For everything else, hand me an accurate .204.

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