All right fellas, an update for you.
I just got back from an 11 day trip to Montana P-dog shooting. We were located near Malta, MT - coined the "Prairie dog capitol of the world" We spent 7 days shooting on a 47,000+ acre ranch. The weather was favorable other then some speedy winds on a couple days, we had to get a log chain out for a wind flag those days. (we went fishing)
We shot from homemade swiveling shooting benches from the back of the truck or set on the ground. After getting setup we would usually get 2 or 3 shots inside 250 yards, then 3-4 shots inside 300 yards. The rest of the time was spent shooting 300-450 yards. These dogs were educated by other hunters. The fella I went with and I both have scopes that can be dialed for distance and we worked on ballistic charts and data all summer so longer ranges were welcomed. We used good range finders to range mounds and worked together as a shooter-spotter team calling shots. This area had a drought last summer and a very hard winter. Were finding a lot of pups this late in the year which is odd. The rancher said there were no pups in June this year.
I primarily shot the Ruger 22-250 that we worked on in this thread. I was paying close attention to perceived accuracy, change in accuracy with heat and change in accuracy with round count and cleaning. It was outstanding. The 22-250 was my primary long range gun. I shot almost 600 rounds through it and didn't see any change in accuracy. It was a hammer! I did minimal cleaning. I only oiled the bolt on day 3 and ran a bore snake through it at the same time. That was it. Never had to break out the brush and JB.
One afternoon we got into a fresh town where dogs were everywhere and in the 225yd to 325yd range. I shot 50 rounds in about 20 min. That 50 round box drove my barrel to high temps, my temp gauge on the barrel goes to 140 deg and that is what it read. I was trying to keep the temp to 122 or below most of the trip. I didn't see any change is accuracy at high temps, although it was shorter range than we were typically shooting.
I shot 331 P-dogs total (3 rifles). 75% of them at 300yds and beyond. The 22-250 was my primary long range gun. I had multiple kills past 450yds and a few over 500. My longest was at 540yds with a light wind in early morning. I got a first at 540yds which took several shots to walk the round in and a second dog at 540 with the first shot at it. Zeroed at 200yds it took 2.2 mils of elevation and 1/2 mil of wind to get that little 50gr V-max on the right spot.
All in all, a good trip.
Now the Ruger 22-250 will get a good cleaning again. I might hit it lightly with the JB to make sure a carbon build up has not started again. With the accuracy I had on this trip and no change or drop in accuracy I think I'll wait to re-barrel just yet. We have another P-dog trip to Nebraska planned for the first week of October (3 weeks out). I will see how it shoots there as well. If accuracy holds up I'm going to keep shooting this barrel.
Thanks everyone for you help on the rifle. The rifle's accuracy is way better and, as important, my confidence in this rifle is solidly restored. This made the trip and shooting a success. Special thanks to ackleymanII.
Some Photos now-
Typical Bench Setup.
The two of us.
On the bench
Hey!! I got a badger too... plus a rattle snake and 3 coyotes.
Here is my typical drop chat I use. These are printed 3x5 or 5x8, glued back to back and laminated.
