Making the Varmint Rifle Sing
By Glen Wunderlich
April 15th – that mournful day when we must reckon our financial gains in the form of “contributions” to the government so that it can” invest” in the future for us. The date is also well known in Michigan predator hunting circles as the last day to save a turkey poult or new-born fawn from the mouths of coyotes. After that, coyotes are free to raise another crop of killers for three months. And, effective killing machines they are!
In the third year of an ongoing study in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula by folks at Mississippi State University, coyotes topped the charts above wolves and bobcats as the number one predator of fawns. The study found that predators killed 73 percent of 80 radio-collared fawns that died of the total of 142 being tracked. Rabbits and hares have vanished, as well.
So, when I spotted a coyote den in an area where I hunt deer, I knew it was time to get a varmint rifle dialed in. This particular site was in a wide-open alfalfa field, with the best possible ambush site exactly 220 yards away.
I grabbed a true varmint rifle – a Remington 700 in .22-250 caliber – and headed to the sight-in bench. Because of a concern for wind drift, I selected the heaviest bullet – a 55-grain missile traveling at 3610 feet-per-second. The computer had me sighting in .22 inches high at 50 yards so that the tiny projectile would be perfectly elevated, zeroed if you will, at exactly 200 yards. After that, the long-range proposition would be up to faith in a computer-generated ballistic report. Read more
