Which Rifle For Foxes.???

[Skull Hooker 185]

.204 Ruger all the way, but you should reload to get the best from it.

.223 is a great calibre though, and deer legal for smaller species. Loads of choice in factory ammo.

.22-250 I heard was a bit of a barrel burner, but I have never owned one

[shropshire dan 467]

They reckon the .22-250 is a barrel burner. But apparently if you use 55-60g ammo its no worse than any other CF. So I was told anyway

[jacknife 2,005]

Since getting my Hmr the .223 hasnt been out the cabinet

 

I don't shoot foxes at 200/300 yds I like them upto 150 at the max when shooting from a vehicle under the lamp

[celticrusader 78]

Yeh I was thinking of .223 but wayed up my options and thought you know what?..

I got a 22lr semi auto for rabbits and ratting in close, a 17 hmr for longer ranges and now a .243 for fox and aolq so all my bases are covered.

Dont think I need another rifle at the moment but only time will tell .lol

 

My thoughts on the .223 are the same as most of the other rifles

..cracking round for a rifle permitting the users circumstances.

Edited July 29, 2014 by celticrusader

[Dumpling 23]

Cheers lads thanks for the advice, I only want a rifle for foxes only as deer are few and far between where I shoot and rabbits the same so I will shop about now in the next few

days as I have a nice budget of £700, so I should get something pretty good for the job.

 

ATB Steve.

[Deker 3,478]

This crops up all the time, and the OP is about as sensible as saying I want a car to drive, what is suitable!

I use shotguns, 3 different calibre rimfires and any of my selection of centrefires on fox.

Currently there is a thread just below this that has a .22lr for fox approved by the police, and they work, so why are people saying a HMR is no good and you need a centrefire......... as always, you select the right tool and ammo for the specific job.

I don't take my .308 when I am leaning out of a bedroom window shooting foxes at 10 metres in a pocket handkerchief, terrace house garden, likewise I don't take my rimfires when I'm knocking them down 200 yards away on the farm.

If you expect all your shooting to be 100-200 yard foxes then a small centrefire will be fine, if they are up to 100 yards, (and other than opportunist foxes I work/train/track virtually all of mine to be 100yards or less), that is definitely HMR territory if you can shoot!

So, what do you need for fox...a lot of different rifles/shotguns if you get around a bit.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Deker

[shropshire dan 467]

Great advice Deker

[DeerhoundLurcherMan 997]

Deker, genuine question, where would you use a 17hmr over a .223

 

I can understand you would obviously use the .22lr in gardens and anything 50/60 yards but when you move out to 100 yards plus, surely you would rather pick up a centre fire?

 

If not, why?

 

Just curious really...

[shropshire dan 467]

Id imagine using a hmr over a .223 in areas where houses are near bye when noise can be an issue.

[celticrusader 78]

I think its more about the circumstances, being that whilst out rabbiting etc or in close proximity to built up areas like dan said then yeh the hmr would be a choice more suitable maybe.

[Deker 3,478]

Deker, genuine question, where would you use a 17hmr over a .223

 

I can understand you would obviously use the .22lr in gardens and anything 50/60 yards but when you move out to 100 yards plus, surely you would rather pick up a centre fire?

 

If not, why?

 

Just curious really...

 

And where would I use my WMR... every site has its own characteristics and I run a business, I need to select the most appropriate tools and ammo I sensibly can for every site, distance is far from the only consideration, just the same I am easy to stretch the HMR and WMR to 100 yards, maybe a little further on the fox, but that is because I use them, and the ammo a lot, including regular target (zeroing) work with expanding ammo at the range. The HMR often takes the place of the .22lr in small gardens with 17g V-Max, the noise isn't a problem, all my rifles have moderators and the extra one off crack of the HMR isn't even noticed, even in the most built up areas generally. The WMR rarely gets used in gardens, that may well be used on the chicken farm etc., where I simply wait in ambush and take them out from anything close to about 100 yards. The 30g WMR V-Max flies very nearly as flat as the 17g HMR V-Max out to about 100 yards (fractionally less accurate), but when it arrives it does a little better than the HMR!

 

Every site gets surveyed and then the decision is made., and as I have mentioned above, many situations can be turned to my advantage with a fox, they are easy to track and train, and I rarely actually have to shoot them in the next county!

 

The vast majority of my fox work, everywhere, is with Rimfires, farms, Golf courses, stables etc etc, there are only a few sites which present individual issues of layout, location and distance that the centrefires get used for.

 

Of course some people have challenging large flat fields/moorland/whatever that may involve longer work, but even there you can soon find the foxes routes and bait/train him if you want, there are truly very few sites where the fox cannot be brought in close by various means with a little planning.

 

 

Edit

I have just remembered another site we used to take fox and deer, out to 420 yards, it was a serious grassy knoll, actually a hill with a copse on top, we could see land for a long, long way, and we were of course aiming down, we established deer and fox routes and would simply lie in wait. Before you all launch in about distance, I can shoot a bit and have access to 1200 yard ranges and quality range finding equipment for the field, my regular shooting partner at this site is also now a member of the Team GB F/TR Squad, and I will be shooting with him again on the range at 1000 yards at the end of August. I very rarely find the need or the challenge to shoot at these distances at anything live, but it all came together at this site, and I don't deny it did produce some serious grin factors and High 5's...and we tended to use centrefires, .243 was the tool of choice I seem to recall!

Edited July 31, 2014 by Deker

[shropshire dan 467]

Fair play Deker

[charlie caller 3,654]

.204 Ruger all the way, but you should reload to get the best from it.

.223 is a great calibre though, and deer legal for smaller species. Loads of choice in factory ammo.

.22-250 I heard was a bit of a barrel burner, but I have never owned one

Why would a .22-250 shooting a bullet at around 4000fps be any more of a barrel burner than an even smaller barrel diameter round I.E .204 shooting a bullet at around, and probably over 4000 fps? Let me say it again, you would have to empty a county of foxes to burn out the barrel on a .22-250, yes paper punching, I am sure it can be done, but foxing and deer stalking, forget it.

[ianm 2,594]

I was speaking to a chap in the gunshop yesterday who was going to have his 22.250 rebarrelled as the groups had started to open up. Apparantly he has only had it 24 years.

[Deker 3,478]

I was speaking to a chap in the gunshop yesterday who was going to have his 22.250 rebarrelled as the groups had started to open up. Apparantly he has only had it 24 years.

You can destroy virtually any new centrefire day one if you work at it, the fact this is 24 years old is meaningless, he may only have used it for 24 shots, one a year!