Well, actually it was a prairie dog pup the size of a chipmunk. There is a heck of a lot of difference between a chuck at 1000 and a PD pup at 1000!
I built the gun for my friend in Washington state. I drove out from Michigan and met him to deliver it in Wyoming. It is a BAT MB action with a Jewell trigger, a Krieger 8 twist heavy varmint barrel (chambered in 6BR) in a Boyd's varmint thumbhole stock. I had to get the stock partially cut and hand cut the action area because no one makes it pre cut for the MB action. I aluminum pillar and epoxy bedded it. It sports a IOR Valdada 6-24x FFP scope. The only drawback to that scope for 1000 yd PD is the thick crosshair, but I told him he could do it using the edge of the crosshair. He could not afford the 12 - 50X Schmidt and Bender PMII like mine, but after seeing it he admitted that I had an advantage with the fine crosshair and better scope clarity.
For the doubters among you, my friend had been PD hunting before, but never killed anything beyond about 300 yards with his factory guns. When he saw me consistently killing them at 500+ yards with my custom .243, he wanted to get a custom gun. I recommended the 6BR because the 105 A-max does not know the difference when it is launched at the same velocity from either gun. I told him to buy a sinclair front rest and a good rear bag, which he did, and then I taught him how to shoot a gun like that. I told him to forget everything he knew about how to hold a gun the way he did his factory guns. He quickly learned not to touch the bench or the gun except to touch the trigger to fire.
After he slaughtered several dozen dogs out to about 350 yards, I moved him to 5-600 yard dogs. I spotted for him and within a few minutes he had a confirmed a 615 yard kill. I then moved him out to 1000 yards. We put stakes in the PD field at 1050 yards so we would know when we saw a dog far enough. We had a steady 15 mph wind, but we set up the bench with the wind at our backs, so the drift at 1000 yards was about 2 feet instead of the 8 - 10 feet it would have been as a crosswind. After shooting a couple of dozen rounds at several different dogs and scoring some very close misses, he had acquired the knack of holding over for wind and drop. I spotted one on a mound close to one of the stakes. The first shot gave him the range and windage. He adjusted and I thought he nailed it with the second shot, but we were not sure. The hole in the mound looked like a dead dog. He fired again and hit the mound right in the same hole. It was not a dead dog. Darn! A few seconds later the dog popped back out of the hole and he nailed it with the fourth shot. I drove the van down to the mound and confirmed the kill. He lasered the van with my Leica CRF 1200 at 1071 yards.
He was thrilled with the gun I built for him and said that he thought anyone could do what he had just done with a gun like that and a bit of instruction like I had given him. I agreed. He then spotted for me while I tried for my 1000 yard kill wth the .243. I made a couple of hits but they both got into thieir holes and we could not confirm the kills.
Needless to say, we will both had a ball and will be doing it again this fall.
I built the gun for my friend in Washington state. I drove out from Michigan and met him to deliver it in Wyoming. It is a BAT MB action with a Jewell trigger, a Krieger 8 twist heavy varmint barrel (chambered in 6BR) in a Boyd's varmint thumbhole stock. I had to get the stock partially cut and hand cut the action area because no one makes it pre cut for the MB action. I aluminum pillar and epoxy bedded it. It sports a IOR Valdada 6-24x FFP scope. The only drawback to that scope for 1000 yd PD is the thick crosshair, but I told him he could do it using the edge of the crosshair. He could not afford the 12 - 50X Schmidt and Bender PMII like mine, but after seeing it he admitted that I had an advantage with the fine crosshair and better scope clarity.
For the doubters among you, my friend had been PD hunting before, but never killed anything beyond about 300 yards with his factory guns. When he saw me consistently killing them at 500+ yards with my custom .243, he wanted to get a custom gun. I recommended the 6BR because the 105 A-max does not know the difference when it is launched at the same velocity from either gun. I told him to buy a sinclair front rest and a good rear bag, which he did, and then I taught him how to shoot a gun like that. I told him to forget everything he knew about how to hold a gun the way he did his factory guns. He quickly learned not to touch the bench or the gun except to touch the trigger to fire.
After he slaughtered several dozen dogs out to about 350 yards, I moved him to 5-600 yard dogs. I spotted for him and within a few minutes he had a confirmed a 615 yard kill. I then moved him out to 1000 yards. We put stakes in the PD field at 1050 yards so we would know when we saw a dog far enough. We had a steady 15 mph wind, but we set up the bench with the wind at our backs, so the drift at 1000 yards was about 2 feet instead of the 8 - 10 feet it would have been as a crosswind. After shooting a couple of dozen rounds at several different dogs and scoring some very close misses, he had acquired the knack of holding over for wind and drop. I spotted one on a mound close to one of the stakes. The first shot gave him the range and windage. He adjusted and I thought he nailed it with the second shot, but we were not sure. The hole in the mound looked like a dead dog. He fired again and hit the mound right in the same hole. It was not a dead dog. Darn! A few seconds later the dog popped back out of the hole and he nailed it with the fourth shot. I drove the van down to the mound and confirmed the kill. He lasered the van with my Leica CRF 1200 at 1071 yards.
He was thrilled with the gun I built for him and said that he thought anyone could do what he had just done with a gun like that and a bit of instruction like I had given him. I agreed. He then spotted for me while I tried for my 1000 yard kill wth the .243. I made a couple of hits but they both got into thieir holes and we could not confirm the kills.
Needless to say, we will both had a ball and will be doing it again this fall.
