Best target medium to simulate effect on prairie dogs (video update)

[Mike402]

Greetings,

Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas!

Planning up another prairie dog trip in June and currently working up loads. Last year when I went I was surprised by how different bullet/barrel combinations performed on the dogs. I may be a sadist, but if I'm to be honest, I do enjoy the acrobats/extreme carnage. I was shocked to see the 53gr vmax perform significantly better than the 40gr vmax out of the same 24" .223 barrel. I would have thought the opposite given the higher velocity of the 40s. The most destructive combo I had last year was a 6BR with 58gr vmax's.

Getting to my question, I have 5 different rifles I'm bringing and want to test out various permutations between the different vmax weights, and was wondering what the best target would be to demonstrate the effects. Water bottles, fruit? Kinda leaning towards larger grapefruits as they will be liquefied and mimic the weight of a PD. My plan is to film say like 5 or so different shots on the same type of target for each bullet, and analyze the results back at home so I can determine the most destructive option.

Any thoughts?

 

[std7mag]

Probably just a bottle of drinking water.

 

[CJ6]

Impact areas will have WAY different effects. Mid belly will give the best effect vs a between the shoulder or head shot regardless of caliber or bullet weight.

 

[Mike402]

Impact areas will have WAY different effects. Mid belly will give the best effect vs a between the shoulder or head shot regardless of caliber or bullet weight.

Yea I've seen that. If they are upright, I usually try to aim lower to mid belly to get them to jump. Sometimes they don't cooperate and only show their upper half, as we all know.

 

[effendude]

Wow,
I've shot probably 100,000 prairie dogs and really never noticed much difference in the performance of different weight V-Max or Nosler Varmagedden bullets in .223 Rem/5.56mm from both bolt and AR-15 rifles. I use 40-55 grain V-Max bullets for the most part. Point of impact has much more to do with the acrobatics than a few grains of bullet IMHO, at least within a caliber.

As far as testing, I guess I would try squash or gourds? Tougher outer skin than most fruit, not as much liquid. I think water bottle will simply explode with whatever is shot at them. Keep us posted!
Scott

 

[20 TAC]

I used a Body Armor bottle filled with water for this pic. These bottles have a tougher outer layer than a standard water bottle. This was a 75 grain v max shot out of a 25-06. The bottle flew about 10 feet from where it was placed.

 

[SSL]

Maybe try a few plastic water bottles filled with Jello and kept chilled? Other posters are right...even a .22 LR will blow a bottle of water pretty impressively.

 

[snert]

latex glove filled with jello

 

[Gary in MD]

Given the same cartridge/bullet/speed, I think you will find that a faster twist barrel will cause more destruction at the target due to the higher rpms of the bullet. A varmint bullet spinning faster really comes apart and makes small varmints explode. YMMV
Gary

 

[NZ_Fclass]

latex glove filled with jello

Use yoghurt. I hate yoghurt.

 

[drover]

I doubt that you are going to find anything that will truly replicate the effect of a bullet on a PD, there are just too many variables involved - distance of shot, bullet construction, rate of twist, velocity, etc.

I am going to throw another variable into the mix. I too have shot PD's for decades and one thing I noticed years ago is that when you have PD's that are feeding on green plants (grasses, etc) seem to retain more water within their body give the solid PLOP when hit and more of a disruptive explosion. Whereas the ones are feeding more on dryer forage do not usually give the PLOP sound when hit and do not give as much of a disruptive explosion.

drover

 

[CT10ring]

16 oz can of crushed tomatoes, hit in the lower third.
53g V-maxes are exciting in a faster twist .223, agreed.
Here's a cartridge that gets it done, also.
Good in the wind, too.
OP -Post your pix or thoughts on what worked out, sir. It's all good.

 

[Tommie]

I’m liking the concept of a container filled with jello. Maybe add some sticks in there to simulate bone.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

A stiff container is a poor substitute for skin/fur, need a container with a bit of stretch/flexibility.

 

[muleystalker]

Balloons filled with gello, put in fridge and let set up

 

[1raggedhole]

Common tree squirrels are the best simulation.

 

[Mike402]

Given the same cartridge/bullet/speed, I think you will find that a faster twist barrel will cause more destruction at the target due to the higher rpms of the bullet. A varmint bullet spinning faster really comes apart and makes small varmints explode. YMMV
Gary

Yep I've learned quite a bit since my first outing. I'm using all vmax bullets, both in .223 and .243, and trying to get as close as possible to the 290k rpm limit of them. I have found that my fast twist 6mms are too much and blowing up the smaller weight bullets.

 

[Mike402]

Balloons filled with gello, put in fridge and let set up

Interesting, I like that idea...

 

[rebel]

Cats work.

 

[Mike402]

I understand it depends on where you hit prairie dogs, but if I use the same medium in this test, and hit in the same relative vicinity, I should be able to see which will be more explosive. I guess I'll find out. Hell work is slow right now, will be fun to kill some time.

I'll be sure to post up the video of whatever I end up going with.