Caliber decision for a prairie dog rifle - need a little help please!

[RJinTexas]

Folks I've owned about every popular varmint caliber at one time or the other. I enjoy everything from my 17 MachIV to my 6mmAI and 6.5X284 long range rifles. I truly believe that the great 20 calibers have replaced my need for a .223 or 22-250, but I still love my 22BR. I agree that the 20's are very enjoyable to shoot, my 204 has served me well for the last five season but I enjoyed my new 20 VarTarg so much that I never even took my 17 MachIV or 204 out of their case this pass trip. If your a 221FB fan you really owe it to yourself to try a 20VT out to around 350 to 400 yds they shoot almost as flat as your 204 with much less powder. But if I could only own one rifle make mine a heavy 14lb to 18lb rifle wearing a 29' to 30' full bull barreled 6mmBR in 12 or 14 twist, with a 3' wide forearm. With any decent scope you'll be able to watch your hits and misses, even the ones in close if you'll turn your magnification down, there's no need for a spotter. You can push a 75gr Vmax at over 3400 and 58gr Vmax's right at 3750 fps without burning up a barrel and the maximum splatter factor is so much more impressive with those 75 grainers. With a 50 yard zero,YES I SAID 50 YDS) you can shoot your x-hairs out to 300yds and never be more then 2' high or 3' low, after that you just start clicking. So what's not to like.

Regards
RJ

 

[j_22250]

Larry,

I agree the 6BR may not be a high volume round,cost of brass for one thing). Everyone should have a 204, 223 range gun for volume.

I agree the 8 tw 6BR with heavy bullets, has a trajectory like a rainbow. But it sounds like you have not tried a 6BR in 14tw. Mine will run a 70Gr blitzking at 3600 f/s. My 204 will run the 39gr Bk at 3750 f/s. It does not take long before the 70gr bullet to catch the lighter bullet in drop and have nearly twice the engery. I have kills on Va groundhogs past 600yds.

Mark Schronce

i'm interested to know what powder and how much you are using in your 6br? how long is your barrel. 3600 fps is very impressive for a straight 6br.

 

[Phil]

Barrel life on the 6.5x47L will be better than the 6-6.5x47L.

My prarie dog arsenal consists of........

.17HMR

.20VT

Tac.20

.20PPC

.221 Fireball

.223

.223AI

.220Swift

.22BR

6mmBR

6.5x47L

6.5x284

Hopefully a 6mmAI will be replacing both my 6.5`s here shortly...

 

[cliffy]

.223 Remington for VOLUME shooting: Since I can pick-up VOLUMES of .223 Remington brass after most shoots, brass cases to reload equals ease of FREE brass. Turning this discarded brass into viable cartridges remains a no-brainer. Recently I have discovered that most 9mm Luger shooters don't reload, I've picked-up lots of same. Yea, 9mm reloading is barely worth the effort since 9mm Ammunition is so cheap, but someday it may be worth something. Hardly anyone leaves .243 Winchester brass lying around, so what is the signal HERE? Recently .45 ACP brass begins as few cases left behind. Am I the only scrounger? cliffy

 

[cliffy]

If a .223 Remington cannot quell a prairie rat in style, look to your bullets. A 36 grain Barnes Varmint Grenade should place your adversary at high altitude. 3900 fps is a standard regarding these light-weight bullets. If all else fails, try Alliant Reloder 10X powder. This combo is deadly accurate, as your chronograph will indicate. Of course, you use small rifle Magnum primers, I'm sure. cliffy

 

[treeman]

Actually, that's not right.
The 6BR is very much a volume round. With light bullets it burns about 32-33gr powder, only about 3-4gr more than a .204 and it's going through a much larger hole. The 6BR is NOT a barrel burner.....barrels have comparatively long life and probably a whole bunch longer than a .204. I shoot 55/58gr bullets through mine, velocity is equal to or better than the .204 with 40's.....trajectory and windage are identical. At the same velocity a 6mm/55 will hit a whole lot harder. The 6BR has accuracy no 204 can match. Recoil isn't a factor, that's what muzzle brakes are for.

actually acuracy is not what is different. it is b.c. I have 3-6brs and used to own a 204 . the 204 is just as accurate given same barrel/chamber quality as the 6br,but past 3or 400 yrds the wind deflection/ bullet drop is much more on the 204.
You are correct on barrel life though as a 204 won't make it much past 2500 rounds with peak accuracy.
just my observations.
treeman

 

[Obtunded]

I am blessed with hundreds of hay-rat infested fields just outside my door,Columbia Ground Squirrels is their 'official' name). In a season I shoot easily 3000+ rounds.

What are my cartridges of choice?

6mmBR and 204 Ruger.

The 204 has a point blank range that is unreal. From 10-300yds you can aim at the top of its head and hit it. A little kentucky windage and you can poke them even further. I have no issue making kills out to beyond 500 yds, in fact with some experimentation and a few cooperative,clueless) hay pigs, I have made hits at 700 yards. That takes some work and some good low-mirage, low-wind conditions.

The 6BR is so incredibly accurate that I have made many 1-shot hits at 900-1000 meters and can even hit beyond that with some work. I am lucky in that these fields have enough known-distance landmarks that range estimation is fairly simple.

The BR is not anywhere near as flat shooting as the 204, but as far as I'm concerned nothing beats velocity for entertainment value. The 204 wins hands-down in that department.

The down-side of the 204 is barrel life. It opens up as early as 500 rounds and it is basically shot-out at just over 1200. I have shot-out Remington SPS Varmints in a weekend of serious shooting.,That leaves a new action to play with later.) I find that buying a whole new SPS is cheaper than re-barreling and with load development, trigger tweaking and some bedding, these guns are very adequate shooters.

The BR is good for about twice that number of rounds before it starts to open up and wear out, but it wins for long-range accuracy.

 

[P1ZombieKiller]

The down-side of the 204 is barrel life. It opens up as early as 500 rounds and it is basically shot-out at just over 1200. I have shot-out Remington SPS Varmints in a weekend of serious shooting.,That leaves a new action to play with later.) I find that buying a whole new SPS is cheaper than re-barreling and with load development, trigger tweaking and some bedding, these guns are very adequate shooters.

Is this true? I have not heard barrel life being that short? I have approx 750 through my 204, and it's still shooting very well for a complete factory everything. Could it be that I am getting better barrel life as I clean after every 25-40 rounds. Except the weekend I took it to the P-dog fields, and I cleaned at the end of the day,most I shot was 88 rounds).

I went on my first P-dog shoot this year, and the 204 was amazing. Sighted at 1' high at 100,almost 50 dead on like RJ said) I can hold from knee cap to eyebrow on those little buggers, and it will take care of business out to 350 yards. There were plenty of acrobatic escapades with that 204 FO' SHO

 

[gube]

The down-side of the 204 is barrel life. It opens up as early as 500 rounds and it is basically shot-out at just over 1200. I have shot-out Remington SPS Varmints in a weekend of serious shooting.,That leaves a new action to play with later.) I find that buying a whole new SPS is cheaper than re-barreling and with load development, trigger tweaking and some bedding, these guns are very adequate shooters.

Is this true? I have not heard barrel life being that short? I have approx 750 through my 204, and it's still shooting very well for a complete factory everything. Could it be that I am getting better barrel life as I clean after every 25-40 rounds. Except the weekend I took it to the P-dog fields, and I cleaned at the end of the day,most I shot was 88 rounds).

I went on my first P-dog shoot this year, and the 204 was amazing. Sighted at 1' high at 100,almost 50 dead on like RJ said) I can hold from knee cap to eyebrow on those little buggers, and it will take care of business out to 350 yards. There were plenty of acrobatic escapades with that 204 FO' SHO

I have 3 204's
My VLP has just over 3000 rds through it and accuracy has opened up a bit. I can still group em at 1/2'.
My BTVSS has just over 2000 rds and accuracy is still just fine,cloverleaf).
I also have a T3 lite, but has not had a shot fired through it yet. New glass put on last night, elite 6500 2.5-16X42 mil-dot.
As long as you don't go crazy out in a p-dog field, a 204 barrel life should be just about on par with the 223.
The 20's are fabulous p-dog rigs. Point and shoot from 0 to 300 and watch the action through the scope. Here is a small example of what I see through my scope. Enjoy,graphic)
http://www.204ruger.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6770

 

[Ackman]

actually acuracy is not what is different.

Either your .204 was extraordinarily accurate or your BR's could use some tweaking, or both.

 

[NorthFork]

I use a 204 a 6br and a 6mm ackly.

 

[cliffy]

I use a .223 Remington and a .243 Winchester exclusively! Color me old-fashioned, but color me viable downrange. Hole touching hole makes me feel I'm doing something correctly. Half-inch groups are not dime-a-dozen luck shots. I have off-days when the moon is out-of-sync, but mostly I shoot sunny days that connect my 100 yard connections. Tomorrow, I shall shoot again, weather allowing. I will shoot some .243 105 Speer Softies backed with a virile load of 46.0 grains of RL-22 stoutness. These are no new news, since these are my bolt-action aggression loads from way back when. Also I shall attempt one round of NEW-TO-ME .243 85 grain Barnes all-brass bullet at 45.2 grains of H4350 super powder. VELOCITY WILL BE POSTED! Cliffy, the experimental eyeballs regarding SPEED.

 

[cliffy]

Prairie Hounds,RATS) do not require 6mm fare. With 24.0 grains of RL-10x and a stout 55 grain bullet from a .223 Remington load, the deed is done, toot-sweet. However, for more 'modern' application of high-flying explosiveness, the 36 grain Barnes VARMINT GRENADE with 27.0 grains of 10x in a bolt-action .223 rifle creates a new high in blood-spattered carnage; plus these bullets rarely ricoquocette,I'm not good with French words without spell-check). Cliffy

 

[Phil]

ricochet............i believe???????????:,

 

[Dgd6mm]

Sold my .223 and don't own a .243, guess I'll either have to use the 10/22 or the .300 ultramag for the BIG ONES!!! Seriously I'll take the 6CM .

 

[j_22250]

i think you may be jst a little undergunned with a 300 ulra. a 50 BFG would be better for p dogs; but i'd keep it under 200yrds jst to be on the safe side. i'm jst kidding guys. i don't like to use to big of a gun on them or even explosive bullets for that matter. it really cuts down on alot of the meat left to eat. :thumb:

 

[Erik Cortina]

What about a 6BRX, mine gets 130fps more than my 6BR with a 24' bbl and 105 Berger VLD. 600 yards no problem, and can do it with less powder and better barrel life than the 6x47L. Also can use 6BR dies, great caliber. 2900 with 105's and 3100 with 87 VMax.

I just went out and shot mine about 3 hours ago and it shot a 1' group at 300 yards off a bipod from a barrel with about 3000 rounds through it, what's not to like about it?

-X3M

 

[gatewood]

With a safe full of benchrest quality varmint rifiles chambered in everything from 22lr to 243ai and a couple 6.5 variations. the gun I always grab is a 22br that i thew together one day in the gun shop. its a cheap rem adl action, some random barrel with who knows how many rounds through it, and an old wood adl stock with two pieces of walnut laminated to the forarm to make a nice little semi beaver tail forarm. I duacoated all the metal od green and with 52gr berger,32.2 gr of some old 2230c will shoot in the .1s any day of the week. in my opinion this is the perfect run and gun varmint rifle out to 5-6 hundred yards. If your gona be shooting farther than that your gona need a good bench anyway thats when it worth geting the big 6mm out with a good rest and start trying 600-1000 yd dogs and hogs. just my two cents try em all stick with what you like.

 

[AckleymanII]

You guys that want long barrel life, the 6 BR with the 55-60g bullets will get you barrel life that you may find hard to believe using H335 with the 55-60g Bullets.

I was shooting a 22' barrel 6 BR at the same time as I was doing a test on a 6PPC with a 1-14 Hart Stainless barrel throated for the 68's.

I was shooting a 6 PPC with 29.5g of H335 and the 6 BR with 33.0g of H 335 with the 60's at 3600 out of the 6PPC and got 10,000 rounds down the tube before I retired it.

It would still shoot groups in the high 3's and had only been cleaned on 300 round intervals for the previous 8000 rounds.

At 8000 rounds, I shot 18 five shot groups that agg'd .282 with various loads of 335 and the 60's in the 6 PPC. On the last p. dog hunt, I put 2000 really hard rounds on this barrel, and copper fouling was starting to take an effort to get out. So, at 10,000 rounds, I gave the barrel to the gunsmith who made muzzle breaks out of it.

At 4500 rounds down the 6 BR, a very good friend wanted to buy the barrel, which was a fluted H & S Stainless Cut rifled. Leade had grown very little in the 4500 rounds, and was shooting 3/4-1 inch groups at 300 yards.

H335 is magic in these small cases with the light bullets with 7 1/2's and cci 450's.

 

[Clark]

I download the 223 with 15 gr Blue Dot and 33 gr Vmax.
This makes 3500 fps, which is like a 218 Bee.
That is perfect for out to 180 yards.
The barrel stays cool and clean at 100 rounds per hour.

When the only targets are way out there, that is when the big guns need to come out. The 243 is the best round I have used.

When the shooting is 1000 rounds per hour inside 100 yards at ground squirrels, everyone switches to 22 rimfire.