PD Hunting with 22 Rimfire?
- Thread starter mrbill2
- Start date
mrbill2,
I have a $470 CZ 527 in 204 Ruger with a $200 scope on it.
It would scramble a P-Dog at distance.
Your 22LR may kill them but all they are going to do is bang, crawl into the hole to die a slow death, or wait for the breeze to blow them over more times than not. In some close shot cases the Dog may fall over backwards but the "show" just wouldn't be there.
Half the fun of blasting a rat is turning it inside out in the fabled "Red Mist" with plenty of aerial acrobatics!
Most of the guys here are paper punchers, nothing wrong with that, but the fancy rifles you see here are rare on a Dog Town.
I have a $470 CZ 527 in 204 Ruger with a $200 scope on it.
It would scramble a P-Dog at distance.
Your 22LR may kill them but all they are going to do is bang, crawl into the hole to die a slow death, or wait for the breeze to blow them over more times than not. In some close shot cases the Dog may fall over backwards but the "show" just wouldn't be there.
Half the fun of blasting a rat is turning it inside out in the fabled "Red Mist" with plenty of aerial acrobatics!
Most of the guys here are paper punchers, nothing wrong with that, but the fancy rifles you see here are rare on a Dog Town.
CatShooter
mrbill2 said:
You can kill PDs with a 22 rimfire, but you will need to get close in - and most PDs are pretty smart after the first thaw of spring.
You don't need a $5,000 rifle and scope to kill PDs... a $500 used Rem 700 Varmint Special in 223 and a $200 scope will kill all the PDs you can load in a truck.
Don't let the glitter of expensive rifles blind you to the fun of shooting.
.
You guys are going about it the wrong way. I used to shoot PDs in NE Montana in the glory days, before our government started poisoning them. 1960s and 1970s. I'd always take along a 22 RF, but not a rifle. A scoped Contender pistol. Shots out to 100 yards were a real test of shooting skill. And yes, there were a LOT of shots within 100 yards back in those days. For the intermediate distances I used a Remington XP-100 in the original 221 Fireball. The rifles were only for 200 yards and further. Without the pistols, shooting would become boring after a while.
Ray
Ray
A 22 long rifle cartridge will work fine on prairie dogs if you use a good high velocity hollow point bullet. Try a few brands and see what groups best in your rifle. You will probaly need to be inside 75 yards and hit the boiler room or head. I have killed hundreds of woodchucks with the above ammunition. Not a problem with good hits inside 75 yards.
John Roberts
John Roberts
Ackman
Gold $$ Contributor
A 22lr doesn't have much power. There's enough to kill a pd but why bother.....all it'll do is go plop and knock the thing over. That's fine if you want to eat it, but the whole idea is to make them explode. Shoot one with a 22lr then shoot one with a centerfire and see which you'd rather do. The 22lr is a plinker. Even on groundsquirrels I use at least a 22Mag. A 22lr just isn't enough power to be exciting. If you don't have a .223, get one. It'll be a lot more fun on critters.
I've shot pg with a .22LR and as stated unless you get a 100% perfect shot it won't kill them outright,point being you shouldnt let any animal suffer even if it's a PD/RAT/HOG ect.
I like to use a .17 fireball,centerfire)accu-tip,good for 250 yards +, if i get them under 130 yards it will rip holes in the target,small bullet but amazing and super cheap to reload.
My 7mm magnum and .308 are great PD rifles too but for longer range
I like to use a .17 fireball,centerfire)accu-tip,good for 250 yards +, if i get them under 130 yards it will rip holes in the target,small bullet but amazing and super cheap to reload.
My 7mm magnum and .308 are great PD rifles too but for longer range
memilanuk
Gold $$ Contributor
I sent many, many prairie dogs to the great pasture in the sky courtesy of a .22LR. Started out with an old single-shot Remington 510T w/ iron sights - my 'magazine' was the other five rounds I held in my lips... pre-lubed w/ spit, I guess 
Later moved on to a little Browning BL-22 w/ a Bushnell 4x on top. Eventually, I stepped up to a Remington 788 in .223 Rem w/ a Tasco 6-24x range-finding scope, but kept the .22LR handy as teenage funds were limited, and even back then buying .223 Rem could break the ole' piggy bank in a hurry.
It's amazing what you can accomplish with a .22LR when you don't know it's 'not enough gun'.
Yes, I spent part of the time on my belly doing the low-crawl across the prairie to sneak up close enough - 50yds and a good head/upper-torso shot and it was usually lites out for the little buggers. There were some exceptions... had one that I had to do two to the chest, one to the head because he kept getting back up,armor plated prairie dog? post mortem revealed good dead center shots that normally would have dropped one in their tracks and kept 'em there). Then there was that time crawling thru the pasture and coming nose to nose w/ Brer Snake - as in 'rattle' snake.
As mentioned, you don't need a fancy rig. One of the old boys I learned from had about as redneck of a setup as I've seen... and old Ruger #1 w/ a straight stock, barrel band front sight, etc. in .223 with,by our best guess) 20k+ rounds through the barrel,at least) - he'd fill up an ice cream pail full of loaded rounds, put 'em in another once they got fired. An old Bushnell 3-9x scope on top, and a rolled up sleeping bag on the hood or the cab of his little Mazda pickup was his 'rest'. And that guy just killed the hell out of the 'dogs every year.
Still kept a .22 LR, even if it's just a pistol like a Ruger MkII or Browning Buckmark, handy for the occasional p-dog determined to commit suicide by popping up about 50 feet off the end of the bench. They work dang good on snakes at about 20 inches, too.
Later moved on to a little Browning BL-22 w/ a Bushnell 4x on top. Eventually, I stepped up to a Remington 788 in .223 Rem w/ a Tasco 6-24x range-finding scope, but kept the .22LR handy as teenage funds were limited, and even back then buying .223 Rem could break the ole' piggy bank in a hurry.It's amazing what you can accomplish with a .22LR when you don't know it's 'not enough gun'.
Yes, I spent part of the time on my belly doing the low-crawl across the prairie to sneak up close enough - 50yds and a good head/upper-torso shot and it was usually lites out for the little buggers. There were some exceptions... had one that I had to do two to the chest, one to the head because he kept getting back up,armor plated prairie dog? post mortem revealed good dead center shots that normally would have dropped one in their tracks and kept 'em there). Then there was that time crawling thru the pasture and coming nose to nose w/ Brer Snake - as in 'rattle' snake.
As mentioned, you don't need a fancy rig. One of the old boys I learned from had about as redneck of a setup as I've seen... and old Ruger #1 w/ a straight stock, barrel band front sight, etc. in .223 with,by our best guess) 20k+ rounds through the barrel,at least) - he'd fill up an ice cream pail full of loaded rounds, put 'em in another once they got fired. An old Bushnell 3-9x scope on top, and a rolled up sleeping bag on the hood or the cab of his little Mazda pickup was his 'rest'. And that guy just killed the hell out of the 'dogs every year.
Still kept a .22 LR, even if it's just a pistol like a Ruger MkII or Browning Buckmark, handy for the occasional p-dog determined to commit suicide by popping up about 50 feet off the end of the bench. They work dang good on snakes at about 20 inches, too.
Being an old PD shooter,,I'm old, not the PDs) I really enjoyed this thread. One thing I found interesting and amusing - it's not OK to wound a PD with a 22LR but it's OK to turn them to red mist with a CF. Reminds me of the Geneva Conventions. You can't shoot a guy with a soft point bullet but you can blow both his legs off with a land mine.
This isn't aimed at anyone or anybody so don't take offense. Just a passing observation from an old guy.
Keep those PD populations under control. It'll help solve Global Warming. Or is it flatuating cows that are the problem?? I forget.
Ray
This isn't aimed at anyone or anybody so don't take offense. Just a passing observation from an old guy.
Keep those PD populations under control. It'll help solve Global Warming. Or is it flatuating cows that are the problem?? I forget.
Ray
Don't tell PETA but it's just out right fun!!
mrbill2
Silver $$ Contributor
Thanks for all the feedback to my question. I live in southeast PA. where there isn't that much wide open space left. I can look in most any direction and see housing developments. I do most all my varmint hunting with 22 lr just to be safe. If I limit my shooting to 100yds. and head shots only with hollow points do just fine hunting groundhogs. Land owners like the idea of the smaller gun also and are happy to let me hunt. We don't have PD in Pa., but thought I'd ask about using the 22 on them critters anyway.
Thanks again
Mr. Bill
Thanks again
Mr. Bill
The winchester 22 LR 40 Gr HP PP bullet has about 100 ft/lb of energy at 60 yards. I started with a Rem 121 pump 22 rifle with a Weaver J 4 X scope to shoot prairie dogs out to about 70 yards. As best as I can remember I used Remington 22 HP back in 1949 when I started shoot them . I have used a Anschutz bolt action and a Ruger 10-22 T semi auto 22 rifles since then for shooting prairie dog pups. With an accurate 22 rifle 50 yard head shots are not that hard to do. When the shot will be into length of the body I would take shots out to about 70 yards. Now that I have a 17 HM2 and 17 HMR most of the time I let the 22 LR and 22 WMR at home. For groung hog shooting you my move up to a 17 HMR with a 17 Gr bullet which has about 100 ft/lb of energy at 150 yards but limit the shots to 100 yards where the bullet has about 140 ft/lb of energy.
AckleymanII
Gold $$ Contributor
I carried a 22 Mag one year, what a waste of time. I shot thousands of 17 HMR one year. I would not even consider a 22 RF, and I have a very accurate one!
Ok it's settled - no more PD hunts unless your carring a 7mm Rem Mag or 300 Win Mag. The only problem is how do you know if you hit one? There should be nothing left to identify. And if you miss, they will drop over dead from fright. Problem solved!!
Now if I could just stop laughing so hard. :lol::lol::lol:
Now if I could just stop laughing so hard. :lol::lol::lol:
For someone out shooting dogs for sport the 22lr might seam a little Ho-Hum but it sure works good for cheap control. The biggest advantage to a rimfire is that even in a spookie town they seam to stay out better.
The 22lr is along on every trip to a dogtown, always handy and cheap to have along. But again the main use is cheap control on privet ranches, do a drive-by through the town with a dark colored truck and set up where the rancher wants them controled the most.
The 22lr is along on every trip to a dogtown, always handy and cheap to have along. But again the main use is cheap control on privet ranches, do a drive-by through the town with a dark colored truck and set up where the rancher wants them controled the most.
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