Sure, its too much gun - however, if you are using matchkings or other FMJ, the meat damage is minimal -

i bagged a couple this past week, and with backhills matchking loads, which are sub moa in my ar, was able to bag 3.

1 head shot, 1 shoulder shot, and 1, well, gut shot - in my defense, it was HUGE and 125 yards.. the buck was 3 times the size of the does.

yeah, the guy shot wasn't pretty,(just guts - meat was fine) but the others, they actually looked like 22 mag hits, with very little evidence of expansion, and zero over expansion.

We were it calling last Wednesday, I was carrying a 260 Rem with 100 grain Ballistic Tips. I have it just in case a mt lion comes in. (I can dream)
Walking back to the truck I see a jackrabbit, bang! It doesn't even blink. My buddy starts giving me crap and I shoot again, nothing, not even an ear twitch. More noise from beside me as I jack number three into the chamber. The rabbit falls over. The side up has not a mark, he flips it over and two exits an inch apart and 1/2" diameter.
The 260 did way less damage than the Stingers I normally use.
Not enough critter for expansion, work great on deer though.

Mark

A head shot with a 458 Lott. No meat damage.

Interesting thread! I switched from a 22 rimfire to an airgun because I found it ruined too much meat with a body shot on hare.

Grumulkin: next time, use enough gun, why dontcha?

Expensive wabbit....!

Back in the mid 1990s my deer camp was inundated with rabbits. We culled every predator we could legally and the rest I can't comment on. Rabbit population explosion in just a few years! I head shot a dozen or so with a 22Hornet 86gr HP at ranges of 10ft to 40yds. Camp cook was pissed once when I made a body shot and made a real mess. I think I ate more rabbit that year than deer!

and the wife is making "drunken rabbit" - which is like cock co vin except with rabbit!! oh YEAH

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
and the wife is making "drunken rabbit" - which is like cock co vin except with rabbit!! oh YEAH

Er . . . might your better half be willing to, you know, share her recipe?

I shall see ... one of her tricks is no roux .. but we drag the vegs and rabbit in whipped eggs, then flour with black pepper and then sear/brown in a hot iron skillet with either bacon or sausage grease ... there's the roux.

one big rabbit or 2 small ones... quartered, carrots, leeks, itty bitty taters, some thyme, tarragon, couple bay leaves (i have a yard full of red bay trees) little black pepper, whole bottle of a decent cab, if you need more juice, chicken stock...

then in the crock pot for 2-3 hours on high, or all night on low, until the rabbit falls apart

serve with
some heavy cream, crema, or sour cream in the bowl... mebbe a drop of russian vinegar

some sourdough bread and irish butter....

very low fat, very darn tasty

Thanks. Appreciate it!

I shot lot of rabbits my favorite is a 22lr solid head shot. If eating them.

If pest shooting who cares what they look like.

The most damaging load I use was a 32 cal gold dot pushed out of my 308 at 2600fps.

Hide left on entry side nothing left on exit side.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
I shot lot of rabbits my favorite is a 22lr solid head shot. If eating them.

If pest shooting who cares what they look like.

The most damaging load I use was a 32 cal gold dot pushed out of my 308 at 2600fps.

Hide left on entry side nothing left on exit side.

Hi. How'd you come up with that load?

Thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by Sevastopol:

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
I shot lot of rabbits my favorite is a 22lr solid head shot. If eating them.

If pest shooting who cares what they look like.

The most damaging load I use was a 32 cal gold dot pushed out of my 308 at 2600fps.

Hide left on entry side nothing left on exit side.

Hi. How'd you come up with that load?

Thank you.

Well I had a box of .312 gold dots laying around I wondered what would happen if one shot them out of a rifle so I load some up in some 308 cases.

They are very accurate out to 100 yards they start tumbling after that.

I tried shooting some longer range Pdogs with them one could hear them whistle as they tumbled through the air.

When they hit they just vaporize.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

Originally posted by Sevastopol:

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
I shot lot of rabbits my favorite is a 22lr solid head shot. If eating them.

If pest shooting who cares what they look like.

The most damaging load I use was a 32 cal gold dot pushed out of my 308 at 2600fps.

Hide left on entry side nothing left on exit side.

Hi. How'd you come up with that load?

Thank you.

Well I had a box of .312 gold dots laying around I wondered what would happen if one shot them out of a rifle so I load some up in some 308 cases.

They are very accurate out to 100 yards they start tumbling after that.

I tried shooting some longer range Pdogs with them one could hear them whistle as they tumbled through the air.

When they hit they just vaporize.

Cool.

Thank you.

Reloader Magazine a while back had a article on down loading the 223 and the 22 hornet to 22LR speeds between 1300 to 1800fps.

Getting a 22 hornet down to that speed with a 55gr bullet is a real nice squirrel round.


Al

Reduced loads for the 223.
Reduced loads for the 223

Ive tried some of Calhouns loads, some with Trail Boss, and after much experimentation ended up with one recommended by a friend....12.5 grains of IMR4198 and a 50 grain bullet ( 55s work too....) Goes over the chrono at 1950 fps and very much approximates a .22 magnum in performance and noise.

Strictly culling jackrabbits used a 58 grain cast bullet in several centerfires, all about 2200fps velocity, works great.

I spent a lifetime shooting Jack Rabbits with big game rifles, if you want to be a good game shot and a excellent running shot artist, and the best of off hand shots, then Jack Rabbits in the SW deserts will make that possible in a short time..

Jack O'Conner taught me that many years ago, and he was the best rifle shot I have ever known, and I have known many..He kept keen on rabbits, he loved to hunt them...

Rocks chucks and P-dogs, don't do much for teaching one to shoot, they do however teach one trigger control I guess..A Jack flying though the sage or cactus is the ultimate challenge to becoming the best of riflemen.

Shot placement - I find that a centrefire will just chop a hole across the top of the shoulder blades and not destroy much meat at all on a big hare (big Jackrabbit) and head and neck shots are good of course.
With the bigger calibers the bullets don't have time to expand much. If you don't get him through the middle or the guts, he wont explode and the bullets will just chop a calibre sized hole through, doing less damage on average than a Power Point in a .22LR.
I have eaten a lot of hares shot with even .30/06's and .270's.

Heres a few taken with reduced loads...55 grain Hornady bullets, all head shots....as the previous poster mentioned, its all about shot placement, especially if you are like me, and like to eat them!

Anybody using anything like Trail Boss to create reduced loads for the .223?

quote:

Originally posted by Bren7X64:
Anybody using anything like Trail Boss to create reduced loads for the .223?

Yeah. The rabbits in the post above yours were all shot with 8.0 grains of Trail Boss and a 55 grain Hornady soft point. Getting about 1850 fps

I have since found a load I like better in 12.5 grains of IMR4198....FWIW

You New Zealanders better be careful about eating those Jack Rabbits, first thing ya know you'll be howling at the moon and chasing the cotton tails!!

Texans mostly don't eat Jack Rabbits, just cotton tails after the second frost.

Thanks Nyalubwe,

Seems like an avenue worth following up on.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
You New Zealanders better be careful about eating those Jack Rabbits, first thing ya know you'll be howling at the moon and chasing the cotton tails!!

Texans mostly don't eat Jack Rabbits, just cotton tails after the second frost.

Ray, I'm curious, why don't they eat the jack rabbits?

Far West Texans ( commonly referred to as Trans Texas) don't eat Jacks, Javalina, as a rule for what ever reason. That being West of Devils River or the Pecos River to El Paso..Jacks are left for the coyotes.
We have lots of cotton tails..Best answer I can come up with..I don't much care for Pronghorn antelope for the same reason, and most locals don't care fo them, but they all love fried deer meat, with biscuits and gravy, maybe Flour tortillas, mashed potatoes, pinto beans and hot pico de Gallo..
I have tried a Jack Rabbit and Javalina in far West Texas as a kid, wasn't good! and locals do not eat them. I think it may be the animals diet, as the Javalina eat mostly Sotol and pear, and dead stuff. I have eaten Javalina from Del Rio East and they tasted pretty good if you shoo a young one. We bar b qued them over Mesquite coals, tasted a lot like Spanish goats.

Cotton tails are hunted there with shotguns while hunting quail or with a .22 and head shots..Cotton tails are not eaten until after the second hard freeze that kills Tularemia or spotted lung fever..

I don't know all the whys and wherefores and am only speaking from the local ranch communities from about Sanderson to El Paso, where I grew up, and what Ive been taught since birth. May be simply geographical..Hell I hear some folks eat opossum and coon..I have skinned enough of both to not want to eat them, just too greasy.

I was wondering if it might have to do with diet. I've got some Jackrabbit back straps that came from the Brady area I'm going to torture into submission. I was surprised how much darker the meat was than cottontail.

What did I miss? Or am I just to old to get it?
loaded up .312 gold dot bullets in 308 cases and shot them real accrite too?
I alway thought a 308 was 30 cal and took 30 cal 308 dia. bullets?

Al

quote:

Originally posted by marshmandan:
I was wondering if it might have to do with diet. I've got some Jackrabbit back straps that came from the Brady area I'm going to torture into submission. I was surprised how much darker the meat was than cottontail.

I have never tried black tailed jackrabbits but wouldn't hold out much hope for them....I ate some white-tailed jackrabbits in northern Montana when I was young and poor and just out of college. Couldn't find a way to fix them that made them good....

Snowshoes are on the dark side as well but I've heard those western jacks are inedible.....and loaded with francisella to boot. Tularemia used to kill people but pretty readily treated early with antibiotics now.

Ive had good .luck with snowshoes, parboiled and fried just like cottontails. Taste like them too!
Cut myself wile gutting a cottontail ( early rabbit) He had tularemia, so it was off to the Doc I went, immediately on antibiotics ( like you said...) and all went well. I remember killing 36 rabbits that day, and six of them had it.....

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
Sure, its too much gun - however, if you are using matchkings or other FMJ, the meat damage is minimal -

i bagged a couple this past week, and with backhills matchking loads, which are sub moa in my ar, was able to bag 3.

1 head shot, 1 shoulder shot, and 1, well, gut shot - in my defense, it was HUGE and 125 yards.. the buck was 3 times the size of the does.

yeah, the guy shot wasn't pretty,(just guts - meat was fine) but the others, they actually looked like 22 mag hits, with very little evidence of expansion, and zero over expansion.

I often 'snipe' over very large warrens here in Australia. I usually use my 22-250AI, but often, my 222Rem comes along too.
I have found head shooting them with either produces MORE bloodshot meat down through the backstraps than body hits. In which, in either case they are not fit to eat.
We use 22rf with sub sonics for meat hunting, all head shots.

Cheers.

quote:

Originally posted by alleyyooper:
What did I miss? Or am I just to old to get it?
loaded up .312 gold dot bullets in 308 cases and shot them real accrite too?
I alway thought a 308 was 30 cal and took 30 cal 308 dia. bullets?

Al

Just looked at this thread again It is not hard to shoot a small some what over size bullet through firearm.

They are sized to the proper size at high velocity.

Ruger did a lot of research on this when the chambered the Mini 30 they found shooting the .311 diam bullet through 308 bore didn't matter.

As far as accuracy how does one argue with ragged hole groups.

I don't hunt small game much anymore but get to thinking about it now and then. First though has been my 410 SxS but new idea today. I have a mod 16 Smith in 32 long that is a really good shooter. All I shoot in it is 93gr cast bullet's somewhere under 750 FPS, should make a great rabbit round. Thinking a H&R single shot chambered in one would be nice but then Carrying my 32 long and 410 would work great for rabbits and squirrels. 410 for squirrels in a tree!

Some years ago a chap with forum name of Seafire posted qute extensively here about reduced loads with Blue Dot to accomplish ome of the things people are searching for.
MILD to Max for several, but starting as I remember with 223.
I have used the method in 222,223, 7.7X58, 06, 338 Mag.
Worked for me, but you may blow yourself up according to the legal beagle warning.

quote:

Some years ago a chap with forum name of Seafire posted qute extensively here about reduced loads with Blue Dot to accomplish ome of the things people are searching for.
MILD to Max for several, but starting as I remember with 223.

Some of Seafire's Bluedot 223 loads:
http://www.24hourcampfire.com/...php/topics/5703236/1

I've used everything from 45-70 to 22 air rifle. I prefer the 22lr from either my Marlin Model 60 or Ruger MK-II Govt Model if i'm after cotton tail.
If Jack Rabbit are the main quarry then i'll use pretty much anything. Preferred weapon of choice is my 16" AR with Aimpoint red dot. I use 55gr Vmax over a charge of BL-C(2). Don't care if the rabbits come apart or not.

I'm taking the wife out for her first bunny hunt. She will be using her new Remington 870 in 20ga. I will have her put down the Jacks and i'll use the 22lr for when we run into any cottontail.

I decided a long time back if I needed supper Id save my 22 ammo and go buy or steal a chicken, same for rabbits, quail, and pheasant!!

I like cotton tails after a hard freeze, they are as good as chicken, a solid 22 long or Long Rifle or even a short in the body cavity does not ruin any edible meat on a cottontail, a H.P. does., but again Im not big on eating small game...I prefer deer, elk, sheep, goat. but not pronghorn antelope or Javalina, but a young Javalina is good over a mesquite grill. The majority of my total meat diet is deer and elk. Jack Rabbits are almost black meat as are antelope to a lesser degree, maybe that has something to do with it...Ive eaten horse and burro and don't care at all for that, its akin to cannibalism to this old cowboy..Roadrunner is good if one is starving to death.