Varmint Rifl es: Past And Present Frank Jezioro
were when varmint hunting was in its hey day. For one thing, especially in the East, much of our hunting has moved from groundhogs, (Eastern woodchuck) and crows to coyotes. In the ’60s and ’70s we had outstanding populations of ground- hogs, to the point that farmers would call known hunters to invite them out to shoot the ’hogs so they wouldn’t have to gas them. If we couldn’t control them with rifl es they would run a hose from a vehicle’s exhaust pipe down the holes and kill them in the burrows. The reason was the groundhogs would undermine the meadows, resulting in livestock injuries and tractor damage. Understand that the Northeast down through Appala-
T
chia, from New York south through Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and eastern Ohio was the hotbed of varmint hunting. Because this was the varmint hunting country of the eastern United States it was only natural that here is where much of the varmint rifl e experimenting took place. We had the barrel makers, Shilen and Hart in New York and Douglas in West Virginia. Stock makers in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Hampshire. Bullet makers in Virginia, New York, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. It was only natural that this was where many of the gunsmiths, varmint scopes, bullet makers, barrel makers, and custom stockers sprang up. It was here that the varmint hunters took their rifl es to the next step to see who had the most accurate rifl es. Make no mistake. I am listing only those who were very infl uen- tial in the East. Several in the West and Midwest were just as important in bringing us to where we are today. People like Sam Wilson from Washington state was just as much a wildcatter and experimenter as anyone I have known. As a matter of fact, Sam brought some bullets to the National match in 1967 that he turned from solid copper. While we are mentioning early innovations that are very popular today, I’ll mention that at that National Benchrest match in 1967 at the Hart Range I won the Heavy Varmint Grand Aggregate shooting a new cartridge called the 223/35 GC. This was one of the fi rst attempts to put a sharp shoulder and a little longer neck on the 223 Remington cartridge. The reamer was ground by Homer Culver and was chronographed by Mike Walker, noted Remington engineer, at 3,600 fps with 52-grain HP bullets in a 26-inch barrel. Just anther point that not many ideas today are really new. The very nature of varmint hunting called for tack
driving accuracy. During this period it was believed that for a rifl e to be truly accurate, consistently delivering that tack driving accuracy, it must be big. By this I mean it was thought the stocks had to be rather big and heavy with some sort of beavertail fore-end. The barrels had to be long and heavy. This was because it was thought if several shots were to be taken in a short period of time it should be heavy to distribute the heat. But then we started shooting rifl es called Light Varmint Class rifl es that weighed only 10½ pounds. To
In years past, varmint hunting in the East included long- range shooting of crows with scoped varmint rifl es. Now, many Eastern varmint hunters pursue coyotes.
our surprise they were shooting groups just as small as our heavier rifl es. The difference was that they were more of a challenge to hold and shoot. So when our serious varmint hunters took to the
fi elds and meadows they believed they needed a rifl e with a 26-inch barrel, heavy with a straight taper to anywhere from 0.600" to 0.800" at the muzzle. To sell their “varmint” rifl e models Winchester brought out their Model 70s in varmint models with 26-inch barrels, about 0.750" at muzzle, and with a varmint-type stock that was heavy with a beavertail fore- end. The size and weight of these rifl es posed no problem as they were usually delivered into the shooting area by means of a vehicle, such as a pickup truck. Back then it was legal in many places to shoot from the vehicle and people would drive to the fi eld, put a couple of sandbags on the hood, and proceed to shoot ’chucks. This sort of tracked with the state-
he rifl es our varmint hunters carry into the fi eld to- day are in many instances a far cry from what they
Varmint rifl es began the trend toward stocks with wide fore-ends and long, heavy barrels. Also, note the double set trigger on the rifl e in the foreground.
www.varminthunter.org Page 191
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