Need some information on hunting crows.

My usual quarray are pigs but I always take a varmint rifle along. What I do is put a bit of pig or kangaroo meat under a small tree out on the open plain. The crows come down into the tree and every now and then one is brave enough to hop down on to the meat and at about 200yds he is in a lot of trouble. My question is this, what does it take to blow one up? On my last trip I shot them with a 220 Swift with Hornady SX, a 25/06 with 75g Sierra HP, and a300WIN Mag with 110g Sierras at 3400fps muzzle velocity, all were killed very dead but no blow ups, just a thumb sized hole on the exit side although the 25/06 did a bit better than the others. Is there a pill or caliber around that will really send the feathers flying? Incidently we have two species of crow around here, the ones where where I live near the coast have feathers that are black only on the tips. The desert crows which are the ones I mostly shoot have feathers that are entirely black. I have quite a good set up, I use my vehicle as a blind, put sandbags on the roof and stand on an Esky so it is nearly as steady as a bench rest. Hope we have some crow shooters out there. Regards Murphy. ;D

I would think that the smallest lightest varmint bullet would do the trick (Maybe a lightweight .223 load - 45 grain V-max maybe?) . You are looking for something that expands immediately in a very small light target. You might want to try slowing down your loads. At those ranges, you don't need all that speed and a slower speed might give the bullet more time to expand/explode. Not sure, just thinking out loud. I am sure that more experienced varminters will provide you with a good answer.

If I may be so bold as to translate for the rest of my Mates in the USA: Esky is short for Eskimo - a brand of cooler - probably looks something like this Igloo cooler, except with footprints on the top:
http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pub...4OCNNOQazy733g

when I shoot them with my 25-06 75gr vmax at 3900fps wings go seperate directions.

Hi the problem is crows don't really have enough mass to them to expand a bullet, what you have to do is when ever you are shooting varments or crows, and want that red mist effect you need to have that bullet "screaming" and just on the verge of flying apart on it's own, my 220 swift 4500 fps with 40 gr bullets they all seem to work well, my 25-06 likes 70gr blitz kings good for 4000+ and my 300 win mag sends those 100gr lapua's well over 4000 fps also, they all have that explosive effect that you are looking for and give you that warm and fuzzy feeling ;D
Thanks Dean

yeah not much meat on them for perfect bullet expansion. one of the new instant frangibles may work but i would say a lighter round maybe a .17 or .223 with the Vmaxx poly tipped round. on a jackrabbit here some weigh 5-8 pounds they blow up pretty nice. fast and explosive when it hits. maybe nice green tracer in .223!

My uncle owns a pecan house and has 13 orchards and pays me to kill crows. Its a tough job but someone has to do it.lol

There's that place in minnesota that has literally millions of them swarm, now that's a murder of crows.

a 40gr V-max from a 204Ruger makes magical feathers fall from the sky, and the crow has vanished!

To Thomae and others, Yes an esky is indeed a cooler and mine does have foot prints on top. When propped up against my Toyota Hilux the fibre glass canope is just at the perfect height. Seems that most folks get good results from Hornady VMAX, also I may need to step up my velocity a bit, 3600 fps is about all I am getting from my 24" barrel 25/06. Might get some 40g VMAX for the 220 Swift, have not tried them yet but can get 4275 fps and good accuracy with Sierras. Some of the places described on this thread sound like crow paradise. They are not that thick out in the desert but they must have good eye sight. Just one will fly over like a speck up in the sky and spot the bait. He will start coring to his buddies and the whole gang arrives.They get very upset when one gets shot so I have to go and recover the carcass straight away so if I get it right I may need a dustpan and broom. ;D

Murphy-I got into crow-shooting with a friend from Indiana in 1975-he had a laser-like 22-250, I had a equally great Rem 700 223 HB with reloads. Then I found a Savage M12 26" HB Single shot 220 Swift! I zeroed it with Norma 48gr factory ammo @ 4110 fps. It mounted a 24X Tasco Target scope much like the famous Unertle scopes, but bigger. The first crow I busted with it after great range results was in the top of an AL pine tree at about 150 yds. That crow literally exploded! It came down in 5-6 chunks around the tree! I have gone on to delevope loads for deer(55gr Sierra SPBTs) and a favorite uses a Sierra 52gr HPBT @ 3900 FPS(@ Speer #8 Reload Manual). That rifle is pushing 40 yrs of service w/a Bushnell 10X fixed power scope. The last animal it solved a problem for me was an unwelcome dog bothering my registered females that unwisely stopped to look back after he fled. 355 yds away, with a 40 yr old gun AND LOAD-seriously-the 55gr Sierra I loaded 100 rds in 1979!- was flop/dead! I love that rifle-not a single thing done to it except barrel cleaning and metal oiling attention.

To bubbinator, From your experience and the experience of others the Swift should definately blow them to bits. My Swift is a Ruger MK2 with Leupold VX3 6.5 to 20x40 and I am amazed at just how accurate this rifle can be as it will group 5 shots into better than 1/2" at 100yds with three different bullet and powder combinations. The load that I used for the crows is a fairly mild one using 36.5g of varget Rem9 1/2 primer and Hornady SX 50g. Have not checked it for speed but would take a punt on 3700fps which may just not be fast enough even though the warning on the packet says not to drive them past 3500fps. I have a rather hot super accurate load that uses Win 748 powder that might be just the ticket so I will try that one next. Seriously though those desert crows are tough bony critters and I am not entirely convinced that anything can do a number on them especially after I shot that one with 300 Win mag. Can remember shooting one years ago with a 270 at about 25 paces and it was fairly spectacular, but it was a costal crow and they are a lot more plump. ::)

A 1/4 stick with a short fuse should do the trick. hehehehehe

Murphy-please email me or notify me via this format- I have some intersting info I have learned about your countrymen and New Zealanders which may be amusing to you and your mates. Bubbinator