Prairie dogs and Berger bullets

[Ironworker]

I have very few varmint bullets for upcoming Prairie dog hunt in 6mm . How will 105,108 and 109 do on them ?

 

[B23]

For connecting way out there the higher BC heavies will be great but the lower velocity won't give you the same explosive splat factor bullets in the 75-90gr range but traveling much faster will. If long range PD shooting is what you prefer those heavies would be great.

 

[Idaho-Lefty]

For PD's etc.,.. 75 and 87 grain V-Maxes, 75 & 80 gr. Sierra Varminter's, 80, 88 gr. varmint / target, and 87 gr HVLD Bergers "pushed" are, MY choices with my, 1-10 twist to 1-7.5 twist, 6 mm Rifles.
The Heavier, 105 HVLD's to 108 gr Elite Hunter, VLD's,. "may" do, OK ( I personally, haven't tried them,.. YET ! ). However, I'm pretty sure that, they WILL, "do them",.. under !

 

[sw282]

Very first PD shoot in early 90s l took a Winchester Model 670 sporter in 222Rem/ 10X Leupold/300rds of factory 50gr SP ammo. My other gun was a Win Mod 70 HV in 243Win/6.5-20 Simmons /200rds of factory 60 or 70gr HP ammo.. l remember my first PD kill. Little soldier standing at attention maybe 70 away. He stood right there taking that 50gr SP in the chest @3100fps. His little head went STRAIT UP!! I wore those dogs out that first day. Shot up almost all those 222s.
Second day the dogs had moved out a bit further. l started with the 243 HV gun. Halfway thru my second box of 243s l began jerking at the recoil. Couldn't see my hits either.
l used up the rest of those 222s pretty quickly. Most of the 243 ammo came back to Augusta.
Those 70gr 6mm HPs @3500fps can really reach out past 300yds. l salute you 6mm shooters. Stout souls you ARE.

 

[sawcarver]

In my experiance the 105 and 108s will pencil them. So they may crawl back into a hole. A few years back a buddy and I were shooting them in WY I had bergers and he had a-maxs. All of his blew up and were DRT mine looked like a zombie crawling back to its hole

 

[urbanrifleman]

87 Sierra HP. The best compromise. Blows up good. Shoots small even at 600 plus.

 

[Idaho-Lefty]

In my experiance the 105 and 108s will pencil them. So they may crawl back into a hole. A few years back a buddy and I were shooting them in WY I had bergers and he had a-maxs. All of his blew up and were DRT mine looked like a zombie crawling back to its hole

@sawcarver,
Were you using, the thinner Jacketed, HUNTING, VLD's ??
Or, Target, Bergers ?

 

[sawcarver]

@sawcarver,
Were you using, the thinner Jacketed, HUNTING, VLD's ??
Or, Target, Bergers ?

In my experiance VLDs and hybrids pencil

 

[ben lurkin]

Ive shot lots and lots of berger 105s at pdogs. I shoot a 6ai and a buddy shoots a 6-284. They’ll still flip em around at long range with a solid hit, but obviously not like a short range hit does. They’re wonderfully accurate tho so it’ll be your fault if you miss.

 

[gat]

Went out year before last to Colorado. Did not have time to work up my 6X47 65gr loads. SOOOO I carried my thousand yard loads which were 105 gr Hornady HPBT match running around 3050 fps. Killed dogs out to 650 yds and literally cut them in half. No problem with penciling, lots of dogs cut in two with both ends going 3-5 feet in the air. Go for it! Just watch out for things behind the dogs as the 105 don't disintegrate on impact like most of the lighter bullets!

 

[VaRandy]

I have very few varmint bullets for upcoming Prairie dog hunt in 6mm . How will 105,108 and 109 do on them ?

You are not apt to have any drag offs with ANY of them!

 

[Damon555]

I have used the 105 VLD Hunting for prairie dogs. Based on personal experience I can tell you that those bad boys will destroy a dog. My son hit one a few years ago at 850 yards or so and it had no trouble creating a terminal wound. Very accurate and deadly as can be in my 6XC

 

[RAG]

Went out year before last to Colorado. Did not have time to work up my 6X47 65gr loads. SOOOO I carried my thousand yard loads which were 105 gr Hornady HPBT match running around 3050 fps. Killed dogs out to 650 yds and literally cut them in half. No problem with penciling, lots of dogs cut in two with both ends going 3-5 feet in the air. Go for it! Just watch out for things behind the dogs as the 105 don't disintegrate on impact like most of the lighter bullets!

I wonder if the hornady match HPBT 105s use a thin jacket akin to the J4?

 

[RAG]

@sawcarver,
Were you using, the thinner Jacketed, HUNTING, VLD's ??
Or, Target, Bergers ?

Xactly what i was wondering thinking. The regular target VLDs use a thick jacket. The Hunting VLDs and the LR Hybrids, I believe all use the thin J4 jacket, which I'm thinking is why some say they pencil through and others claiming good expansion.

 

[Idaho-Lefty]

@ RAG,..
I use and have, TESTED,.. the Thin Jacketed, Berger, 80 grain, 6 MM,.. "Varmint Bullets".
And, the 95 Grain Classic Hunters, and 87 gr. HVLD's for, bigger Varmints, like,.. Yotes ( Big Holes ! ).
I have cut Sage Rats, in two with them but, they are NOT,.. "explosive" on, the smaller stuff !
The 95 gr. Classic's and the 87 grain HVLD's, I think, were designed for,.. Deer / Antelope, in 6mm !
I personally, would NOT use, the regular or, Hybrid, "Target",.. VLD's on, Big Game !

 

[effendude]

I loaded up 500 88 grain Berger FB Varmint bullets for an old 6XC match rifle this year for prairie dogs. I experienced very little expansion and no explosiveness out of these bullets. Shooting suppressed, I heard far too many bullets ricochet off to somewhere after hitting a dog so I stopped shooting them. I had zero heard ricochets and explosive performance from Hornady 87 and 75 grain V-Max. I had great hopes for the performance as they were called varmint bullets. Accuracy was great, as I have experienced from all Berger bullets, just no impact performance.
Scott

 

[Idaho-Lefty]

Agree, as there are, better choices for, Prairie Dogs !
Horn & Sierra HP's, V-Maxes, NBT's and TGK's,.. IF, you can find, them !

 

[drover]

I have very few varmint bullets for upcoming Prairie dog hunt in 6mm . How will 105,108 and 109 do on them ?

I am going to suggest that you search out some varmint bullets. You don't mention if you have to travel for the hunt but if you do the cost of bullets is a very small part of the expense. You may as well buy a 1000 or so real varmint bullets instead of hoping that the heavier will give you the results you are looking for.

There are varmint bullets available with just a little looking, I pulled these up just now -

Hornady V-MAX Bullets 243 Cal, 6mm (243 Diameter) 58 Grain Polymer Tip

Hornady's V-Max Bullets feature a polymer tip which enhances accuracy and promotes devastating expansion. The tip raises the ballistic coefficient for...

www.midwayusa.com

It looks like about $300 will get you a lot of shooting.

Good luck and good shooting.

drover

 

[wbm]

Been shooting them with my 22 this summer. Up to 15 so far.

 

[Mark W]

The OP was from February, so odds are @Ironworker could tell us how his trip went and if those Berger’s worked by now.