I took my first groundhog of the season today. He was also the first critter I killed with a handload from my .22-250 barreled Encore. There is some satisfaction when your carefully developed handload finally fulfills it's mission.

332 yards (measured with my Bushnell rangefinder)
.22-250
52gr Sierra Matchking HPBT (#1410)
32.8 gr Varget
Winchester case
Winchester LR primer
2.355 OAL

Congrats!

Good shot, Congrats.

Joe

Very nice!!! Is it a TC barrel or a custom?

Well done HJ....one down...many many more to go.

Cheers, Vince

rdwllce wrote:

Very nice!!! Is it a TC barrel or a custom?

It's a standard profile T/C barrel.

And Thanks to the rest of ya!

We worked for a long time to get this load, and couldn't have done it without help from the Nuts here.....

Good shot! very nice one. congrats!

Nice !Congratulation on the kill.

How did I miss this ??? Anyways, job well done !!!

Have you tried the Blitz Kings, B-Tips or V-max bullets ? Hmmm, Did we have a thread about re-loading for this gun ???

chambered221 wrote:

:wtf: How did I miss this ??? ???

Ditto!

Damn fine shoot.

That second pic is a keeper.

Hunterjoe, How’s the groundhog thing going??? Get anymore with the Encore???

chambered...

I've not had the time this year to pursue killin' hedgehogs that I have had in years past. It seems like every time I try to set aside a day or two, some "emergency" creeps up. I think that for the year I've killed 12 or 13, mostly when asked to help someone eliminate a nuisance critter. The "best" year I had was in 2001 (before I bought my house) when I killed 87. That was before I had the Encore. Most of them fell to my Model 700 .243, the balance were killed by my Model 700 .308 (except for one I killed with the Benelli Nova 12 Gauge while turkey hunting).

I would guestimate that the Encore has killed 8 or 9 of this years total. It's a gun that I'm still working on "trusting". The .243 has always been my "go to" gun. I've not killed any at long distance with the Encore .22-250 (other than the one in the picture).

Have you ate any .

whittling wrote:

Have you ate any.

I consider groundhog as buzzard feed. Between the buzzards and the 'yotes, not much goes to waste. If forced (due to starvation), I would cook and eat one though.

A line from the movie "Pulp Fiction" comes to mind every time someones talks about eating whistlepigs:

"Sewer rat might taste like punkin' pie, but I wouldn't know, 'cause I wouldn't eat the nasty MF'er".....

Insert "groundhog" in place of "sewer rat", and you have my feelings on the subject......

I've been told that groundhog is pretty tastey, considering that they generally feed on the same things as beef cattle, but I've never tried it. I think being shot with a .22-250 or equivalent would not leave much edible there.