Prairie Dog Cartridge

[drover]

223 - 40 or 50 gr bullets, Hornady V-Max can be had a reasonable cost and are more than accurate enough. They don't drift as much in the wind as many folks would have you believe, and it isn't difficult to hold off.

Lee Whitsel gave advice worth taking about other things to consider.

Good binos that don't cause eye strain are a good thing, they don't have to be overly expensive just make sure that they are clear and distortion free.

Scopes - whatever brand you have or like but in reality you will find that 15X is about the top magnification you will use without heat distortion becoming an issue.

A lot of folks are talking about longer range shooting but in reality you will find that the majority of your shooting will be inside of 300 yards. Yes, it is possible to make hits longer than that but after 300 yards the numbers of hits drop quickly. If you are like most new PD shooters you want hits, not just shooting.

Enjoy yourself and give a report when you get back

drover

 

[Lee Whitsel]

Lots of good thought on here already. A bull barrel is as they say better than a skinny barrel. And as an added thought I've never had it happen but remember your out in the open plan's and home to raddle snakes. I like to have as a 38 revolver with bird shot for that. Never had it happen, but some people have.

 

[B23]

Put me in the straight 223 shooting 53gr Vmax camp as well. My Rem LTR, before I rebarreled it, was a 9tw 223 and it shot the 53gr Vmax very well. That same gun now wears a Hart barrel chambered in 223AI but I stayed with the 9tw and it shoots those 53 Vmax exceptionally well. I'd probably skip doing an Ack Imp 223 but I think a 9tw is very universal.

 

[Lee Whitsel]

Drover has it correct most times we set up to shot a safe direction and most the time shooting into a sloping hill side rare to shoot over 300 for us. I like killing 6 gopher inside of 300 yards and not missing 6 way out there. We are planning about next late May a trip ne across Montana shooting our way to Sydney and cross over into North Dakota and shooting around and visiting Teddy Roosevelt ranch shoot our way down into South Dakota and shoot over to Sheridan and visit Weatherby Factory and back home.... 4 states of shooting in one trip. I have all kinds of scopes to use. I think right now my best one is a Sightron it has a fine cross hair better than a Weaver with fat cross hair that cover's to much of a small gopher at a distance. It's fine for deer hunting but not a good gopher scope in my opinion. Leupold is aways good. I got a 71 model in 12x been using all these years and still great and very clear.

 

[Lee Whitsel]

I looked at best places to shot dogs in the west it brought up a map of this huge part of the west and shows the good places and the o.k. areas. It's amazing how much of an area these dogs cover. and remember there where a whole lot more of them I think in the covered wagon days ....

 

[snert]

Straight 223. You are going there to shoot, not spend a bunch of time necking and loading. As it is you will have to take the military crimp out.

Shoot whatever bullet you can find that shoots well for you, from 40-55 grains. The important thing is to have a variable scope, a means to cool the barrel (towel with wate rworks) a mean to clean and a good hat, sunscreen. I like a trpod but a bench works.

I shoot a 222 with a 6-18 Leupold VX2 target turrets and plex scope. You can learn to adjust magnification and use the plex for hold off in the wind.

Enjoy!

 

[RabbitSlayer]

Everyone says 15x scope max. I dont find that at all true. I do almost all shooting on the dog town from 15x to 25x. Maybe its cuz it is so dry, but I don't usually have much problem with mirage.

 

[long40shot]

Good old plain 223. 50grn v-maxs are hard to top, 60grn v-maxs are great too. I subscribe to the 15x scope idea. I've got a 8.5 x 25 on my 223, I never turn mine up past 15x when I'm in p-dog town.

 

[ebb]

Hotshot has made and excellent point about pricey bullets. When I spoke about shooting 600yds it was with Berger 73 grain bullets and as he said way to pricey for dog town. I still think the 223 has to be the one for your first gun, but with a 40 or 50 grain bullet. The ground hogs Ive shoot were no more than 12 or 15 shoots per trip, I could live with Bergers for that kind of shooting.

 

[dantiff2]

22 ARC with their new ELD-VT 62 gn bullets! Looks promising!

 

[coldboreshot]

Good old plain 223. 50grn v-maxs are hard to top, 60grn v-maxs are great too. I subscribe to the 15x scope idea. I've got a 8.5 x 25 on my 223, I never turn mine up past 15x when I'm in p-dog town.

Agreed here. Back when, I too used the 50 vmax in straight 223 with the exception of cheating alittle with a Horus H25 reticle. Mine was built on a DPMS AR platform with a 20" heavy barrel. Never had to go past 300 yd.

 

[17VLD]

When I take my next trip to dogtown at least one of my guns will be a 9 twist PSS in 223 and definitely some 20VTs a few 204s and a heavy hitter like my 6.5 WSM for long shots.If I was limited to one gun and was new to this like the OP I would most likely have a 223 that could make use of the 53 VMax, they shoot flat and make range estimation a little less critical, in other words more fun and hits. If you can swing it take a rimfire in 17 HMR along as well. For me my favorite is the 20 VT as it allows shooting long strings without getting to hot or dirty and they reach out for 90 percent of your shooting. I would seriously consider if you are not building a completely new gun,get a Tikka 223 with an 8 twist to take advantage of the new 62 ELD-VT bullet.Sounds like a great trip, have fun.
Matt

 

[powderbrake]

I have an opportunity to go prairie dog hunting with a buddy next year in Montana. I currently don't have a suitable rifle for high volume blasting, so I would plan to build a rifle for the job. I am wanting to build something based around the .223 simply because of the affordability of 1000 pieces of once fired processed Lake City brass. I

I believe this is the correct choice for the first time prairie dog hunter. reasonably priced, plenty of ammo, and you can get used to the wind, the difficulty in estimating the range, the actions of the dogs, and when the close ones go back down into their holes, and if they are coming back up.

Don't waste too much time on the long shots until you have had the first experience. Enjoy the shots you get with a 223, out to around 300 or 350 yards. No, I am not saying a 223 can only hit at 300 yards, I am saying the wind is a bitch.
Spend your first trip experiencing all of this so for the next time you can refine your equipment. I can practically guarantee that you will have a different concept of equipment after the first trip.
I highly recommend ranging binoculars to find and range the dogs, and some sort of ballistics program to give you the scope corrections.

I progressed over the years, from 223's to a 22-250 ,to a 6BR, and I now use heavier, higher BC bullets, wind meter, ballistics programs, and I went through three different rotary tables. I use a joystick front rest, and look to the longer range shots because I am now old, slow and lazy. I let my young, eager hunting buddies shooting 204's blaze away at the closer ones. It works out well for all of us.

 

[Bottom Fodder]

I believe this is the correct choice for the first time prairie dog hunter. reasonably priced, plenty of ammo, and you can get used to the wind, the difficulty in estimating the range, the actions of the dogs, and when the close ones go back down into their holes, and if they are coming back up.

Don't waste too much time on the long shots until you have had the first experience. Enjoy the shots you get with a 223, out to around 300 or 350 yards. No, I am not saying a 223 can only hit at 300 yards, I am saying the wind is a bitch.
Spend your first trip experiencing all of this so for the next time you can refine your equipment. I can practically guarantee that you will have a different concept of equipment after the first trip.
I highly recommend ranging binoculars to find and range the dogs, and some sort of ballistics program to give you the scope corrections.

I progressed over the years, from 223's to a 22-250 ,to a 6BR, and I now use heavier, higher BC bullets, wind meter, ballistics programs, and I went through three different rotary tables. I use a joystick front rest, and look to the longer range shots because I am now old, slow and lazy. I let my young, eager hunting buddies shooting 204's blaze away at the closer ones. It works out well for all of us.

What he said sound like a good plan for 1st. Timer
someday I hope to go and I will use this advice/plan

 

[B23]

I believe this is the correct choice for the first time prairie dog hunter. reasonably priced, plenty of ammo, and you can get used to the wind, the difficulty in estimating the range, the actions of the dogs, and when the close ones go back down into their holes, and if they are coming back up.

Don't waste too much time on the long shots until you have had the first experience. Enjoy the shots you get with a 223, out to around 300 or 350 yards. No, I am not saying a 223 can only hit at 300 yards, I am saying the wind is a bitch.
Spend your first trip experiencing all of this so for the next time you can refine your equipment. I can practically guarantee that you will have a different concept of equipment after the first trip.
I highly recommend ranging binoculars to find and range the dogs, and some sort of ballistics program to give you the scope corrections.

I progressed over the years, from 223's to a 22-250 ,to a 6BR, and I now use heavier, higher BC bullets, wind meter, ballistics programs, and I went through three different rotary tables. I use a joystick front rest, and look to the longer range shots because I am now old, slow and lazy. I let my young, eager hunting buddies shooting 204's blaze away at the closer ones. It works out well for all of us.

Well said and that's probably about as good of advice as you're going to get.

Spot on with the wind. Gravity and adjusting for elevation is a constant so that's the easy knob on your scope. Wind, now that's a whole different animal and as any LR shooter can attest to, accurately, reading wind is a skill set all on its own and much more difficult.

 

[snert]

I believe this is the correct choice for the first time prairie dog hunter. reasonably priced, plenty of ammo, and you can get used to the wind, the difficulty in estimating the range, the actions of the dogs, and when the close ones go back down into their holes, and if they are coming back up.

Don't waste too much time on the long shots until you have had the first experience. Enjoy the shots you get with a 223, out to around 300 or 350 yards. No, I am not saying a 223 can only hit at 300 yards, I am saying the wind is a bitch.
Spend your first trip experiencing all of this so for the next time you can refine your equipment. I can practically guarantee that you will have a different concept of equipment after the first trip.
I highly recommend ranging binoculars to find and range the dogs, and some sort of ballistics program to give you the scope corrections.

I progressed over the years, from 223's to a 22-250 ,to a 6BR, and I now use heavier, higher BC bullets, wind meter, ballistics programs, and I went through three different rotary tables. I use a joystick front rest, and look to the longer range shots because I am now old, slow and lazy. I let my young, eager hunting buddies shooting 204's blaze away at the closer ones. It works out well for all of us.

There is a lot of wisdom in this post. Especially about getting your feet wet with a simple set up. No need for fancy. Big need for gaining experience. Every area and shooter has different interests and desires and challenges. Build your equipment after you get a little shooting time under your belt.

My first time I took a 222 with a 6-18 VX2, a H and R Handi in 17HMR with Bushnell 10X CDC, and a Contender carbine in 22 K-Hornet with a 10X Weaver T-10. All shots were inside 400 yards. My kids shot the first two guns, I shot the TC. We shot about 300 combined in 7 hours. It was a lot of fun.

When I went the second time I added a 17FB to the Contender for when the other barrel got fouled.

Third time I had a BAT 20 VT built. I also took the 222. Ironically, I shot the 222 the most. Again, I had plenty of shooting in 8 hours and knocked off 156 PD and a buzztail. I liked the VT a lot, but in the end decided that if I were to wildcat again (not sure I would) I would do a 20/222 or even another straight 222. I have the brass...

This experience reflects me, the surroundings (Oklahoma) and my budget. In the end I concluded that I liked lots of shooting over shooting far, and I liked the economy of the smaller cartridges. I love to shoot groundhogs very far away and have several rifles for that game. THE ONLY REASON I do not have a 223 for either PD or groundhogs is beacuse everyone else has one and I am curmudgeonly about such stuff.

Spend your money on a simple 223, load all the brass with an accurate bullet and powder (I am a fan of Xterminator and 50 grain TNT again for the price point and my interests) and get a variable scope of decent quality that can dial up, but has at least a plex or some means of consistent hold over, windage hold, and a good tripod or shooting bench. That will make or break your fun factor.

 

[dusterdave173]

And...the only wind " reading" you do is watch the dirt fly on a miss and there is the correction or hold off for the next shot--
You are in for the time of your life!

 

[ricco1949]

20 Practical and/or straight 223 both with 40 VMax and minimum Rem Varmint/ Sendaro contour to enable seeing impact.......I prefer LV contour for additional weight.

I'll switch gears with with some additional observation from 40+ years of PD shooting. You'll most likely enjoy it to the point of wanting to go out at dawn and stay out all day......that's what I did. Trouble is the sun and heat are exhausting and you're apt to not make it to dusk.

I've graduated to sleeping in and going out mid morning and shooting to midday and coming back to camp/town for lunch and a nap and going back out in PM and shooting till dusk.

I believe you will find your best shooting in that last hour before dusk. Dogs stay up longer and just seem less wary in their need to eat and the wind will usually die down considerably......sometimes to still air.

The wind is your enemy.

 

[Infrequent Shooter]

For first timer with possible return, I would run the straight 223 rem, light varmint-varmint contour. 40 gr -55 gr bullet, TNT,vmax, BK. Have a barrel wrap/cooler, 20-24x top power scope. If you can afford the 53 gr vmax bullet, build for it. 40 gr bullets are a lot of fun, especially under 200 yards. Wouldn't hurt if the rifle weighs 15+ pounds (can be added/removed from stock) and has a brake/suppressor, so you can see hits(whether you dial the scope or not). Montana dog towns topography vary a lot, some places 300 yards is max.

Remington Accutip in 223 is super accurate. It has a vmax bullet.

 

[JSH]

Lotsa good info I wish I had years ago.
First morning we are all wound up and ready to go, so there earlier than need be.
The rest of the time, eat breakfast BS with friends, take off. Start about 0930 maybe. Shoot till noon unless there are a lot of volunteers. Go eat lunch, go back to the room and wash the dust off a bit, maybe take a nap. Grab a snack and head back out, stay as long as decent light allows.

Past few years I have arrived between 0800-1200. I go do my driving around to get it out of my system. Lol, sounds kind of funny saying that after 7-8 hours of hard driving.