Moving on from .17 Rem

[Mikej]

Gosh dang this is cool having you, and your perspectives from the other side of the world, here @Aussie1 ! Not a hunter myself but really enjoy the stories, and pictures. Says you're from Brisbane, so I get on google earth and go there. Some beautiful territory out of the city! What general areas do you go to take care of these terrible beasts?

 

[Aussie1]

Gosh dang this is cool having you, and your perspectives from the other side of the world, here @Aussie1 ! Not a hunter myself but really enjoy the stories, and pictures. Says you're from Brisbane, so I get on google earth and go there. Some beautiful territory out of the city! What general areas do you go to take care of these terrible beasts?

G'day Mike.
My hunting territory extends from Central Queensland to the New South Wales border region. It is a decent area giving good diversity in terrain and conditions. The wild dogs cover the whole of Australia and thrive in all areas if given the chance. They are not stuck with the need for a selective diet and will consume whatever they can get in their mouth. I have examined the stomach contents of many that I have shot and found everything from insects to grass to animal fur/hair. They consume a lot of the smaller mammals and will wipe out whole regions of native fauna, pretty much the same way as the feral cats are doing. One good thing about the wild dog is that they do kill and eat feral cats. I often feel the need for Swede too and use my 6.5 x 55se whenever I get the chance. Albeit it has not seen much work since I had my old M55 re-barrelled to .204 Ruger. I am still learning the real capabilities of this incredible little cartridge.

 

[Aussie1]

You forgot about the jellyfish and koala.

I have a certain fly reel case made of elk skin that is particularly notable. When I am in Alaska with guests I often have someone ask me what its made of. I tell them "Koala".

E

The koala is the "drop bear" they lurk in the gum trees waiting for unwary victims to come under them, then they drop down and rip out the jugular vein. And the jelly fish are easily defeated by wearing panty hose and a t-shirt. Just have to watch your back though. It might not be the jelly fish you have to watch out for as there are a lot of tourist from the San Francisco area holidaying in those warm tropical areas.

 

[Aussie1]

Good stuff Aussie1! You are a lucky man to be able to hunt as much as you do.

I love my 204's. I have a pair of them currently and considering a third. I have a Ruger MK II Varmint/Target model that is a 1:12 twist that likes 35 grain Berger bullets but shoots 39 grain Sierra Blitz Kings pretty well also. My other is an AR-15 with a 1:10 twist barrel that really shoots the 39 gr SBK well. I use Benchmark powder for my 204 loads.

I mostly use them for punching paper lately but have killed more than a few coyotes with them. Really need to find some ground squirrel hunting opportunities one of these days.

Now that's what I wanted to hear. Great info. I am considering the 39 gn SBK, but to be honest I find the 32gn Hornady V-Max is incredible, both for accuracy and for absolutely lethal stopping power. Not that I would even think about taking on my next buffalo hunt, the 6.5 swede is brilliant for that with the right projectile in the right place. The M55 that I had re-barrelled has the 1:12 twist which appears to be extremely well matched to the 32gn pill. I am going to look at dropping loads down a couple of hundred fps to make the wear and tear on the barrel a bit less. Most of my kills are in easy ranges up to 200yds so a couple of hundred fps should not make a great deal of difference, providing I can maintain the single hole 5 shot groups that the 29gn Pro Var loads give. I would like to try some lighter projectiles, something that will expend all energy in the head of a fox and not punch a big exit hole. The old .17Rem was perfect for that but I am finding foxes are damaged badly in that valuable area behind the head with the 32gn V-Max punching a huge hole after travelling through the head, and that is at all practical ranges. It looks like it is just carrying that little bit too much energy. But the foxes are not my main quarry so the 32gn is ideal for the heavier wild dogs with very explosive impacts. I have some BM8208 loads made up at the moment and will be running them over the chrono next Monday. Loaded 29gn of that also as it reads as the equivalent of the Pro Varmint. We shall see what we shall see.

 

[Aussie1]

Awesome, welcome!
I follow huntingwithstu on YouTube for my down under fix.

I have not seen that.

 

[Aussie1]

You forgot about the jellyfish and koala.

I have a certain fly reel case made of elk skin that is particularly notable. When I am in Alaska with guests I often have someone ask me what its made of. I tell them "Koala".

E

Now you can tell them how ferocious the koala "drop bears" are. They leave those Grizzles for dead in the fearsome stakes. Silent assassins we call them.

 

[Flymph]

Growing up we always had more problems with domestic dogs that we did with coyotes or feral dogs. In 1979 we lost 37 lambs in a single season to domestic dogs. Finally after shooting dog number six did we get one with a collar that had I.D. tags on it. That owner got a large bill.

E

I don't doubt it, I was run up on by a rotwheiler(?) last night getting home from work, around 2am. Luckily the dog stopped in the yard to stare, and decided to bolt down the street instead of continueing his advance.
Not sure if the dog was feral or just missing...

PS:
Welcome to the forum Aussie, so far I love the content you are sharing with us!

 

[Mikej]

And the jelly fish are easily defeated by wearing panty hose and a t-shirt.

Ah....We need to get @Stomper here and find out if he uses the panty hose and T-shirt trick when he visits Australia with his Aussie wife to see her family every year or so.

 

[Stomper]

Ah....We need to get @Stomper here and find out if he uses the panty hose and T-shirt trick when he visits Australia with his Aussie wife to see her family every year or so.

Nope, no swimming in natural bodies of water for me while over there... I don't do crocs or sharks.

 

[wp4]

Nope, no swimming in natural bodies of water for me while over there... I don't do crocs or sharks.

What about shark crocs? Jajajajajaja!


Sorry, O/T!

 

[Mikej]

Nope, no swimming in natural bodies of water for me while over there... I don't do crocs or sharks.

Chain Mail Panty hose?
https://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Battle-Ready-Chausses-Leggings/dp/B00YHYR1LG

 

[Member 5605]

Here I opened this thread thinking of hearing about the .17 Rem but ended up getting the life story of @Aussie1 instead. I guess it's a win either way!

These little calibers intrigue me coming from a centerfire cartridge.

 

[Aussie1]

Here I opened this thread thinking of hearing about the .17 Rem but ended up getting the life story of @Aussie1 instead. I guess it's a win either way!

These little calibers intrigue me coming from a centerfire cartridge.

Well I did say "moving on from the .17", but I have to be courteous and reply to questions. But now that I have moved on from the Sweet .17 (who else remembers the by line in the M16 manual? "Sweet 16") I try to find the experiences of others using the .204 Ruger round. When I bought my 1st. .17 in '75 I truly appreciated the incredible lethality of it, even on wild boar it was devastating. Learning about the effects of hydraulic shock explain why. Now I am finding an even more emphatic lethality due to that same principle. The hydraulic shock delivered by the .204 Ruger is incredible. Having said that I do emphasise the bullet placement is crucial to instant kills. Compared to the .17 Rem. the .204 Ruger delivers that lethality to longer range and is less affected by wind to those longer ranges. But the .204 is still just as badly affected by small obstacles such as thick grasses. I have watched several projectiles explode on grass before the target, just the same as the .17 did. That was one attribute of the .17 that I found pleasing, being able to take the shot and watch the bullet strike the target, and the same attribute holds true with the .204, the recoil is minimal and the target can easily be observed during the whole process. My life story is actually on QRZ.com.

 

[Aussie1]

Chain Mail Panty hose?
https://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Battle-Ready-Chausses-Leggings/dp/B00YHYR1LG

Mike, is that Portland Oregon? When I was in Borneo and Vietnam I had a young lady pen-pal in Portland. We actually starting writing to each other in 1962. She was a beautiful lass, often wonder how different my life would have been if I had not wasted it running around the bush getting shot at. Sort of changes perspectives a bit.

 

[Mikej]

Mike, is that Portland Oregon?

Oh yes Mate! Portland, Oregon is where our grand poo-bah resides. The one who thought up and runs this fine site. The one and only @Joe Link

 

[Aussie1]

HAs Stomper arrived down under yet? Just that we had a bit of an earthquake and I thought it might have been his feet touching the hallowed soil of paradise.