Prairie Dog Caliber for 1,000 yards and beyond

[TheOtherZilla]

HTH can you even see a PD at 1000 yds??

Yeah.. 600 is looooooong ways. Me? I drive closer..

 

[waterfwlr]

Berger105 hybrid just zip through them no expansion at all

Not out of 6-284. I would have thought so but they expanded.

 

[bobcat1506]

Just got back from my hunt, used the 105 Berger Hybrids. They were accurate, but man they didn't anchor those guys like I would have liked, went straight through like many said. I shot many of them but the majority made it back to their holes. Hit a ton of dogs from 800 to 1000 but never found any past 900. We had great conditions the first day with only about an 8 mph wind. The mirage was too bad the next day to shoot the longer ranges.

Any suggestions on a bullet that will do a better job putting these guys down?

 

[KY_Windage]

The bullet was not your problem, it was that you were not hitting the vital area, which on a pd is about the size of a domino. I'll bet you can't hit a playing card consistently at 800 yards, much less a domino. Shooting beyond your ability and creating a bunch of crawl-offs is an inhumane thing to do, and the occasional lucky hit means nothing. Sorry to be so blunt.

 

[DogBuster]

HTH can you even see a PD at 1000 yds??

A very trained experienced eye......

My first was a heavy P-N 260 AI....then a heavy P-N 6XC....

Only one left is this 6.5x55

Longest kill was out to 1400....with the 260AI

 

[284winner]

The bullet was not your problem, it was that you were not hitting the vital area, which on a pd is about the size of a domino. I'll bet you can't hit a playing card consistently at 800 yards, much less a domino. Shooting beyond your ability and creating a bunch of crawl-offs is an inhumane thing to do, and the occasional lucky hit means nothing. Sorry to be so blunt.

At those ranges, only a pencil hole is expected on a prairie dog. Head shots anchor them but that's rolling the dice. They crawl in their holes on body shots at those ranges typically. Chest or head hit dogs may be anchored but any body hit dogs crawl away.

 

[Nature Boy]

I'm sure there are plenty of shooters out there "bullseyeing womp-rats"

Did they do it in their T-16?

 

[Evan]

We shot out to 3500 yards with out benchrest rigs. We could pound the shit out of the mounds but never hit a dog out past 2318 yards. We were using 300 wsm. The scope mounts were all custom stuff that we either made or modified to work. I have an article over on Longrange hunting about it. It was written before we had the 2300 yard kill. Lots of kills between 1000 yards and 1 mile. We even had a women and a 12 year old girl set up on 2 mounds at 1018 or so yards and they killed I think it was 12 or 13 dogs in less than 3 minutes. I have paper pictures of our rifles out west but I don't know if I have any on the computer anymore I will check.

For those of you who doubt this please keep it to yourself. I'm not going to argue with anyone.

What loads in 300WSM? I'd heard a guy say he got the 125 Noslers going 4300fps (!!!) from a 300WSM and that is really not bad ballistically at 1000yards with some 2200fps still hitting a pdog. Aren't getting crawl-offs with that much speed and energy!

I'd think a 155AMAX/ELD would do well at 3600 or so, too.

 

[7315br]

bobcat1506, got back from my annual Wyoming PD hunt the first week of July. I've tried the 107 gr Sierra MK in the 6/284 in the past. Did okay, but didn't show much expansion at a 1000 yds +. The 20 cal 55 gr Berger does not give good expansion at 1000 yds + in the 20-22/250. The Sierra 77 gr TMK does fair at 1000 yds + in the 22/243 Imp. The best for me has been the Hornady 75 gr ELD Match in the 22-243 Imp. At 7-800 yds with the Hornady 75 gr ELD Match I've had pieces of PD's fly completely out of the scope view. It anchors them fairly well at a 1000 yds +...but nothing spectacular. I keep searching for a cartridge/rifle combination with a bullet that has enough B.C. and weight to even get there (over 1000 yds)...much less to open up effectively and anchor PD's at long range. Not an easy task. Good luck in your search. I'd sure like to hear if anyone finds that combination. 7315br

 

[searcher]

I'm sure there are plenty of shooters out there "bullseyeing womp-rats" that have not shot in a competition. You get no argument from me on shots like that, just wish I could do the same!!

A couple of the best shots I know have never shot in a rifle competition. If they took my rifles, practiced a bit and shot in a match, I have little doubt they would be near or at the top. I'd guess the odds are that most of the best shots out there have never shot in a match.

 

[Rustytigwire]

what scope magnification is preferred for 600 to 1000 yards? or greater.
anyone??

 

[rmr]

what scope magnification is preferred for 600 to 1000 yards? or greater.
anyone??

when i was shooting competitively at 1k, i never had a scope over 25x. Some other competitors would go up to 40x, but in my opinion, it just magnifies the mirage.

on hot afternoon relays, i would sometimes drop as low as 15x.

 

[sw282]

The bullet was not your problem, it was that you were not hitting the vital area, which on a pd is about the size of a domino. I'll bet you can't hit a playing card consistently at 800 yards, much less a domino. Shooting beyond your ability and creating a bunch of crawl-offs is an inhumane thing to do, and the occasional lucky hit means nothing. Sorry to be so blunt.

A BIG RED POP beats an 800yd hit any day

 

[AllThingsAI]

As an electrical engineer and someone with little skill at long range, I would design a custom 50BMG with a programmable air bursting round....just sayin’ more than one way to skin that dog!

 

[fyrewall]

My 6mm AI with 87 Vmax's has a combo of moderate ballistic finesse, velocity & bullet expansion/construction to effect rodent destruction ("RED POP") at extended ranges. A real speedy, high BC, proximity fused explosive projectile would be slightly more effective than the 6mm AI. As for magnification - I once shot a rodent with a 14X Unertl at just under 900 yards with a 6.5-06, 140 Sierra GK & old lot H4831 (yellow & red cardboard container).

 

[284winner]

what scope magnification is preferred for 600 to 1000 yards? or greater.
anyone??

Good glass and a 14-20X is fine. I kill groundhogs beyond 1000 with my 4.5-14 Leupold Mark 4s and there's plenty of groundhog on both sides of the vertical retical.

 

[Siko12]

338 Lapua.

 

[swimster]

Just got back from my hunt, used the 105 Berger Hybrids. They were accurate, but man they didn't anchor those guys like I would have liked, went straight through like many said. I shot many of them but the majority made it back to their holes. Hit a ton of dogs from 800 to 1000 but never found any past 900. We had great conditions the first day with only about an 8 mph wind. The mirage was too bad the next day to shoot the longer ranges.

Any suggestions on a bullet that will do a better job putting these guys down?

I use 105g Amaxes in my 6 BRx. They expand quite well. They discontinued them but I think the 108 ELDS are of the same constuction.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I will make a suggestion that you should go with the Tubb 6xc chamber with the 160 FB and shoot the DTAC with the nose ring cut to make it blow up. Tubb sells those bullets and brass really cheap and the that DTAC is amazing out to as far as you care to shoot.

I will have Remington 700 prefits for this chamber in a few more weeks.

https://theurbanriflemanstore.com/remington-700-prefit-heavy-varmint/

I will be shooting with David this weekend and he will be shooting that exact load. I will post a report. David has promised we can shoot NEVER SHOT dogs to 2000 yards this trip.

 

[Bill K]

Anybody out there shooting prairie dogs at and past 1000 yards? What kind of rig are you running?[/QUOT

Plenty of cartridges will shoot and work at 1000 yrds or more, What you really need is a very good scope set up to see and then dial onto them, first and foremost.