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biggest 5 shot group size for prairie dog shooting.

Really, 1/2"?? That sounds nice, but there have been more dead dogs created by far less accurate rifles than 1/2" guns. Everyone loves that 5 in a half inch, but very few have them. I would bet that 90% of guns shooting pd's are out of the box guns. a 53 grain Vmax that leaves the barrel at 3300 fps., will have .9" of wind drift per m.p.h. of wind. From 275yds to 300 yds., that same bullet will drop another 1.9", or basically .1" per yard, ya I know, not quite. My point is, if you can't judge wind to that last 1 m.p.h., and with swirling winds in the pastures, I am guessing not many can, and if you don't have a rangefinder that is always accurate to within a yard, the advantage of a 1/2" gun compared to a 1" gun pretty much go out the window. Increasing the velocity to 3500 fps will in effect make a 3/4" gun equal to a 1/2" gun at 300yds in the same wind conditions. This also makes low e.s. loads more important at longer ranges, and in some cases will again be more important than the last 1/8" in the group. Flame ON!! FYI all my guns will shoot under 1/2" all day long!!!!!, well not quite, but a few do,.... sometimes.
 
6 BR with H335 or AA2230 using 55g-62g bullets at 3900 is unbelievable at 300 yards, no kidding. I shot ground squirrels with Gene Harwood in the late 80's and early 90's, he chewed me out for using H322 with a 60-62g bullet, said to use H335 with this bullet weight. Gene had been NBRSA Director and had sat a world Record with his own 60g bullets in the late 80's with a 6 BR using 335 at 3700 fps out of a Heavy Varmint rig with a 24" barrel.

Next trip to the gun smith was a zero freebore 6 BR for use with a 60g Sierra. First trip to the rifle range with a 22" re chambered used up benchrest barrel, I was shooting groups in the 1's and 3/4" at 300 yards. ON the dog towns, head shooting dogs at 300 yards with only a head showing, was accomplished with boring regularity.

Now, we have the 55g Nosler and the 58g V max with better bc...

H335 gives unreal accuracy with very long barrel life compared to H322 or 8208. You can shoot a 100 rounds, pull the bolt, look down the bore and it does not look to have been fired...no kidding!
 
I've got some pretty accurate rifles, and there's been a lot of p dogs duck back in their holes because mother nature was between us.....at least I'll blame here and not me
 
12-14 twist

zero freebore

aa2230

Thick cup primer

3900+ on a 27" barrel

Web sizer needed,

What the heck is a web sizer?

Hotter you shoot it, better it shoots!!!
 
moorepower said:
Really, 1/2"?? That sounds nice, but there have been more dead dogs created by far less accurate rifles than 1/2" guns. Everyone loves that 5 in a half inch, but very few have them. I would bet that 90% of guns shooting pd's are out of the box guns. a 53 grain Vmax that leaves the barrel at 3300 fps., will have .9" of wind drift per m.p.h. of wind. From 275yds to 300 yds., that same bullet will drop another 1.9", or basically .1" per yard, ya I know, not quite. My point is, if you can't judge wind to that last 1 m.p.h., and with swirling winds in the pastures, I am guessing not many can, and if you don't have a rangefinder that is always accurate to within a yard, the advantage of a 1/2" gun compared to a 1" gun pretty much go out the window. Increasing the velocity to 3500 fps will in effect make a 3/4" gun equal to a 1/2" gun at 300yds in the same wind conditions. This also makes low e.s. loads more important at longer ranges, and in some cases will again be more important than the last 1/8" in the group. Flame ON!! FYI all my guns will shoot under 1/2" all day long!!!!!, well not quite, but a few do,.... sometimes.
Click to expand...
The smaller you can get the rifle to agg at 100 yds (in different conditions one can reasonably expect to encounter) chances are the greater the stability which will pay dividends at longer ranges. Testing in various conditions is the important part....too many only do their load development in dead calm.
 
Leiboy said:
Hey guys, I love shooting Prairie Dogs. It's my favorite thing to do in the summer. What is your maximum acceptable group size for a P dog load? pics welcome!
Click to expand...

Interesting thread. I do some PD shooting but my main attraction are ground squirrels which are more numerous, and quite a bit smaller therefore even more challenging than PD's. My shooting distance on them varies from 50 yds to a self-imposed limit of 250 yds since they are so small that the miss percentage goes up dramatically past 250 yds.

A few times last year I took 3 guns and rotated them as they got hot so all were shot about the same amount, the average days shooting was right around 700 rounds, so approximately 230 per rifle each day, I did this three times. I had good loads developed for all 3 rifles and OFF THE BENCH for 5 shot groups they would average 5 shot group sizes of - Cooper 223 - 1/2 inch, Remington 700 Varminter - 3/4 inch, Remington 700 Sporter - 1 inch. Now mind you these are all off the bench aggregates. I did not try to shoot mostly short range or long range with any one gun, I just took the shots as they were presented (50 - 250 yds) with each gun.
I kept track off hits and misses each time I was doing this and at the end of it all the average number of hits (or misses), if you prefer to think of it that way, with each rifle was virtually the same.

So the moral of the story is that when out in the field shooting they are a lot more important things than the difference between a 1/2 inch and a 1 inch rifle.

drover
 
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A half inch rifle will hit more pdogs than one that shoots worse. Spend the time and energy to make your rifle shoot. The wind is usually going to make you look silly anyway. We shoot squirrels out here that are way smaller than those big pdogs back east. Ours are about the size of a pepsi can standing up, 2"x6" or so. That will wake you up right away with a 1 minute rifle at 400 yards. I see it all the time. I shoot a lot at a ranch that flood irrigates, so all of the fields are surrounded by a big berm to keep in the water. Those berms are 440 yards away as the fields are 160 acres each. Perfect! Until the wind comes up. Then the shooters are separated by their ability to read wind and mirage, the rifles are separated by their ability to shoot half minute or not.
 
My standards must be lower. To me a 3 shot groups tells me how well those 3 shots grouped. When I develop loads, I use the OCW method to get started. Then I come back and fire 5 shot groups. From those I fire 10 shot groups and those are what I call how my rifle shoots. I'm happy when my PD rifles group under 1". Some shoot better, some a little worse. The rifles I use on PD's aren't my best or most accurate.

When in the field, accurately ranging the distance and if the wind isn't a significant factor, my hit percentage is really good. My best day was 214 dogs with 218 shots. Yes I missed more than 4, but a few double and triples helped out. When the wind really picks up, I'm closer to 50% on hits. And when I shift rifles between one that groups 0.625" or 1.250", I don't find any difference in my hit percentage. I shot over 4300 PD's last year, so I do shoot a few.

I wish my rifles grouped like those I read about. Maybe I use a different basis to call what my rifle groups?
 
jepp2 said:
My standards must be lower. To me a 3 shot groups tells me how well those 3 shots grouped. When I develop loads, I use the OCW method to get started. Then I come back and fire 5 shot groups. From those I fire 10 shot groups and those are what I call how my rifle shoots. I'm happy when my PD rifles group under 1". Some shoot better, some a little worse. The rifles I use on PD's aren't my best or most accurate.

When in the field, accurately ranging the distance and if the wind isn't a significant factor, my hit percentage is really good. My best day was 214 dogs with 218 shots. Yes I missed more than 4, but a few double and triples helped out. When the wind really picks up, I'm closer to 50% on hits. And when I shift rifles between one that groups 0.625" or 1.250", I don't find any difference in my hit percentage. I shot over 4300 PD's last year, so I do shoot a few.

I wish my rifles grouped like those I read about. Maybe I use a different basis to call what my rifle groups?
Click to expand...

214 dogs on the best day. That's a lot of dogs, better than where I hunt. Can I go with you sometime?
 
I go buy 10-12 cans of soda and place a couple every 100 yards out to 600 and try to hit them. If I can hit all 12 out of 20 rounds I call it a good pdog gun! My old 223 w 75's 7 twist I could hit 12 for 12. Suprisingly my 17 fireball i can clean house out to 400. Past that its tough. Both those guns would one ragged hole at 100 if that helps. Either way pdogs are fun as hell haha
 
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