Just got back from a short New Mexico prairie dog hunt. Please dont ask me where for I am sworn to secrecy. 
I took along my Tubb 6X loaded with 70 grain Sierras, Two 22 BRs, one set up for 40 grain bullets and the other set up for 55 grain Hornadys and 69 grain SMK loads. Last I took 2 of my 223AIs. One 223AI was set up for the 40 grain NBT and the other 223AI is a 1/8 twist gun. I took along to try some 80 grain Federal Gold Medal Match to try on the dog towns out of the 1/8 223AI. The 80 grainers displayed great 1-200 yard accuracy (the farthest I shot them on paper) and I wanted to fireform a few more cases and see how the heavier bullets performed on the prairie winds. I am well aware the SMK bullet is not a game bullet. Lets not go there....
A word on the wind. I live on the Gulf Coast and its almost ALWAYS blowing pretty good here. So all this chatter about how bad the wind is and how much better one caliber is than the other in the wind means very little to me. It is what it is. Adjust. Adapt. All calibers are affected by the wind. Just shoot the rifle! ;D
I fired about 400 rounds in 2 days. Ranges from 150 yards to 650 or so. I am basing the 650 yard figure on my scope settings as LED display in my laser went away and I was forced to use the ole crooked eye technique to guestimate the ranges I shot. Im sure had the Laser been up and running I would have seen more first round hits but as I said above I just shoot the rifle and adjust as needed. Just my formula for success. Besides, one could always stay home and just watch TV.
Now to the meat of the matter, I firmly believe that for me the 223 AI has no peer in the prairie dog fields. I shoot the 40 grain NBT bullet @4000 and find it to deliver the explosive teminal performance I want to see. Even running the 40 grain NBT at 3800 fps while fireforming AI cases I am perfectly satisfied. I dont see that as long as your wind reading skills are up to snuff that the bigger 22's matter that much more. As to the 80 grain loads, yes, I like the way they fight the wind, but on this trip without my Laser I found that they required more "guess" shots than the 40s. They certainly hit hard, but I also saw several long range dogs crawling back to their holes for lack of terminal performance of the heavies. I hear the 75 AMax does better but I have not tried them. For now, my plan is to see how my 1/8 223AI handles the 40s or even the newer 53 grain Hornady.
I tried the 6X with the 70 grain Sierra to get an idea of how the standard 6BR would do for me. Clearly the 6X had a bit more blast than a 6BR would display and the 70 grain bullets at 3500 did in fact "golf" a few dogs well off their mounds but I remain unconvinced that it would do "better" for ME than the 223AI. Perhaps with the lighter than 70 grain bullets??? I dont have a 6BR so I just dont know. You are welcome to educate me.
The 22BRs did well, but again, did not outrun the 223AI by a significant margin. I am going to try 50 NBTs and see what I see. I might mention my 55 grain 22BR Vmax bullets were running 3600 and my 69 SMKs were running 3400. I was impressed with the 22BR running the 40 grain bullets tho! What a whacker it was. My current hope is to see if I can run the 50 grain NBTs or Sierra Blitzkings at 3800 out of my 22BRs.
The other thing I dont have is a 20 caliber. I read alot about it, just not sure again how much if any the various 20s will out run my 223AIs. Especially since with Data 2200 I can run them 40s at 4200 fps out of my Hart barreled rifle. Please tell me why I need a 20???
Last comment. My 223AIs are set up with CDI bottom metal and I use the AI 223 magazines. These are pretty handy when the town is hot and one can wipe out a dog down in short order. I have also adapted the AI 223 magazine to my 22BR guns so that they cycle nicely and hold 6 in the magazine.
We had a blast!!! Ok, before you fire away, let me get my sun screen on!!!
I took along my Tubb 6X loaded with 70 grain Sierras, Two 22 BRs, one set up for 40 grain bullets and the other set up for 55 grain Hornadys and 69 grain SMK loads. Last I took 2 of my 223AIs. One 223AI was set up for the 40 grain NBT and the other 223AI is a 1/8 twist gun. I took along to try some 80 grain Federal Gold Medal Match to try on the dog towns out of the 1/8 223AI. The 80 grainers displayed great 1-200 yard accuracy (the farthest I shot them on paper) and I wanted to fireform a few more cases and see how the heavier bullets performed on the prairie winds. I am well aware the SMK bullet is not a game bullet. Lets not go there....A word on the wind. I live on the Gulf Coast and its almost ALWAYS blowing pretty good here. So all this chatter about how bad the wind is and how much better one caliber is than the other in the wind means very little to me. It is what it is. Adjust. Adapt. All calibers are affected by the wind. Just shoot the rifle! ;D
I fired about 400 rounds in 2 days. Ranges from 150 yards to 650 or so. I am basing the 650 yard figure on my scope settings as LED display in my laser went away and I was forced to use the ole crooked eye technique to guestimate the ranges I shot. Im sure had the Laser been up and running I would have seen more first round hits but as I said above I just shoot the rifle and adjust as needed. Just my formula for success. Besides, one could always stay home and just watch TV.
Now to the meat of the matter, I firmly believe that for me the 223 AI has no peer in the prairie dog fields. I shoot the 40 grain NBT bullet @4000 and find it to deliver the explosive teminal performance I want to see. Even running the 40 grain NBT at 3800 fps while fireforming AI cases I am perfectly satisfied. I dont see that as long as your wind reading skills are up to snuff that the bigger 22's matter that much more. As to the 80 grain loads, yes, I like the way they fight the wind, but on this trip without my Laser I found that they required more "guess" shots than the 40s. They certainly hit hard, but I also saw several long range dogs crawling back to their holes for lack of terminal performance of the heavies. I hear the 75 AMax does better but I have not tried them. For now, my plan is to see how my 1/8 223AI handles the 40s or even the newer 53 grain Hornady.
I tried the 6X with the 70 grain Sierra to get an idea of how the standard 6BR would do for me. Clearly the 6X had a bit more blast than a 6BR would display and the 70 grain bullets at 3500 did in fact "golf" a few dogs well off their mounds but I remain unconvinced that it would do "better" for ME than the 223AI. Perhaps with the lighter than 70 grain bullets??? I dont have a 6BR so I just dont know. You are welcome to educate me.
The 22BRs did well, but again, did not outrun the 223AI by a significant margin. I am going to try 50 NBTs and see what I see. I might mention my 55 grain 22BR Vmax bullets were running 3600 and my 69 SMKs were running 3400. I was impressed with the 22BR running the 40 grain bullets tho! What a whacker it was. My current hope is to see if I can run the 50 grain NBTs or Sierra Blitzkings at 3800 out of my 22BRs.
The other thing I dont have is a 20 caliber. I read alot about it, just not sure again how much if any the various 20s will out run my 223AIs. Especially since with Data 2200 I can run them 40s at 4200 fps out of my Hart barreled rifle. Please tell me why I need a 20???
Last comment. My 223AIs are set up with CDI bottom metal and I use the AI 223 magazines. These are pretty handy when the town is hot and one can wipe out a dog down in short order. I have also adapted the AI 223 magazine to my 22BR guns so that they cycle nicely and hold 6 in the magazine.
We had a blast!!! Ok, before you fire away, let me get my sun screen on!!!
