Recommendations on a Prairie Dog Rifle Scope

[mike a]

I can't see how it's an advantage. It is tricky using those reticles on second focal plane because if your magnification is off buy even a tiny bit your zero is wrong. Like I said I have that same scope and reticle, and it's a super nice scope, but the Ffp is always the same at every magnification. Once you know the dope you can use it at will at every zoom.

Perhaps your right as I've never shot a prairie dog and shouldn't be on this thread. I really was sharing my experience as a quick coyote scope. Besides here in California we don't have those big HUGE prairie monsters, we only have these tiny little ground squirrels. Mike

 

[mikehotel]

Earlier this year I installed an NF ATACR 7-35 F1 scope on one of the rifles that I use for ground squirrels in Modoc County. Here's the good, amazing brightness and field of view, large sight box and with the MOAR reticle, hold overs are pretty simple. Here's the bad part, it's pretty expensive, but hey, it's my hobby. The biggest drawback; after using this scope I don't want to use/shoot anything else. And after letting my son-in-law shoot it, he didn't want to give it back.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I really like my Sightron s-tac 4-20 with moa2 reticle. Floating center dot(.25 moa) sfp is no issue as I dial for yardage/wind and the hash marks are for quick shots with no windage dialing. I have used these on 204r,223,22-250. Tried a Nikon bdc on one pd trip,hated it. The .25 moa dot is sweet.

 

[Stepsjframe]

Pdog shooting is one of my all time favorite activities. Growing up I shot hundreds of dogs using a 3.5-10 vx3 on a Rock River Arms Predator. From ranges from 6ft to 400-500yds, with most shots being inside 200. Great fun, while at longer ranges I’d wish for more magnification. I didn’t really NEED it.

That being said after I got all grown up, I put a PMii 3-20 on that RRA rifle. It is about the perfect scope for a .223 potgut rifle, IMO.

Then I got bit by the Anschutz rimfire bug. Started with a Vx3 6.5-20 to a March 3-24...and soon to be a Atacr 7-35. There is nothing more fun than watching a lil .22 slug drop in for a perfect head shot at 100-120 yds! Ranging/ calling wind/ dialing...I kill less dogs than with the .223 but I have a ball.

Get the best glass you can afford, and you won’t regret it. Another good piece of kit is a decent range finder.

Oh, and pack a .22 pistol....those lil buggers love to pop up 10 ft away and getting them in focus with a long gun can be a challenge.

 

[sw282]

For a reticle l prefer a plain ole fine crosshair.. To me, all those hash marks and dots just confuse the picture... Too many times when l'm shooting at the same mound the wind will push the first shot left. Shot #2 goes right. Then shot #3 will be HIGH. #4 hits LOW.. All 4 shots in less than a MINUTE!! l need the clearest glass with the least amount of distractions.. YMMV

 

[people]

As long as you have a scope you will be good. I shot them for years with a 3x9 POS. Sure better scopes are very nice to use. I do have much better scopes now. When it gets hot and the humidity is getting up there for me (a ground shooter) I almost never have my scopes above 10X. It is better shooting off the top of a pickup but I like moving around how I want to not the driver.

 

[jepp2]

I hunt PD's a month each year. So I spend a lot of time looking through the scope. About 8 hours per day either binoculars or rifle scope. I shoot 20 calibers and 223 out to about 350 yards. So I shoot for a high percentage of hits. These are my priorities:
- FFP scope. Once I get my holds, I don't want to have them change just because I changed my power.
- I use the same scopes on all my rifles, so I never have to deal with change
- I like the busy Christmas tree reticles, as I have plenty of holds, since I don't dial in
- I shoot at 24X basically all the time

My progression was fine DuPlex, Leupold Varmint Hunter, and now use the Vortex Viper HS LR. While the Varmint hunter was better than just the DuPlex, the marks aren't where I wanted them.

Here is the reticle I use. A typical shot is 200 yards, 10 mph crosswind. I know my hold is 6" into the wind, so I use the 3 MOA hash mark and hit the same as if there was no wind.

 

[Boisblancboy]

My vote is on a FFP scope. Myself and my group those goes PD hunting like work our selves out to longer and longer shots. So of course missing happens but it’s nice to be able to say 1 MOA right or left. Just takes out so much guesswork. But it comes down to how you like hunting them also.

 

[Prose]

Check out the weaver varmint ebx reticle in the grand slam.

 

[Tommie]

This has been discussed many, many times. Do a search for “varmint scope” or “prairie dog scope”. Unfortunately you won’t find the definitive answer. Preferences and opinions galore...

Like I said...

 

[people]

My vote is on a FFP scope. Myself and my group those goes PD hunting like work our selves out to longer and longer shots. So of course missing happens but it’s nice to be able to say 1 MOA right or left. Just takes out so much guesswork. But it comes down to how you like hunting them also.

I like this but it really does not matter unless you are cranking on the turrets in-between shots. Even then? The dots can be set on anything even beer cans and packs of smokes at 74yds. When the shooting gets going 99% will just hold off and fire the second shot.

 

[powderbrake]

I have been hunting prairie dogs for over 50 years, and I want all the magnification that I can get. The problem with that is the minimum magnification may be too high to effectively find the dogs, so that when you crank up the mag, you loose the dog.
I went from a Leupold 3.5-10x to a Leu 6.5-20 to a leu 8.5 -25 to a nightforce NXS 8-32.
My next rifle will be a 12-42 or a 15-55 NF.
All are 2nd focal plane, as I range each shot, consult the wind meter, and all my scopes are dot reticles. I use a ballistics program to adjust the elevation. It is sometimes more difficult to find the dogs in the scope after you have ranged them with the higher power scopes.
This method is a much slower way to take shots on dogs. If you are shooting closer dogs, then a ranging reticle may work better. I believe in this case a 8.5-25 or a 6.5-20 would be better choices.

 

[Boisblancboy]

I like this but it really does not matter unless you are cranking on the turrets in-between shots. Even then? The dots can be set on anything even beer cans and packs of smokes at 74yds. When the shooting gets going 99% will just hold off and fire the second shot.

While I agree with you I enjoy shooting dogs at 300 yards plus. Especially when shooting further than 500 it just makes things easier. Not only that when we are hunting we always have a spotter too, just makes it more fun. Like I said it all depends on how you want to hunt them. To each their own.

 

[sw282]

Fun part of shooting prairie dogs is seeing THE RED MIST!!

 

[KY_Windage]

I want SFP so that when I am scanning for a target I don't have a tangled mess in the middle of my scope, interfering with my view. I like to be able to turn down to 5 or 6 power to scan, and I like being able to turn up to 25x at times. I want the heaviest scope I can find to help soak up recoil (prevent picture jump). I want a very fine reticle, mostly so as to not block any more of my picture than necessary when scanning.

My favorite is the NF 5-25 ATACR with an MOAR-T reticle. Beyond 300 I will usually dial. If the RF says 500 yards, I just crank my elevation to 7.00, then hold over for the wind. If I am taking a long enough shot that I want to be, say, 5 MOA to the right, then I am probably on max power anyway. Or on a sunny day if mirage is bad I will just leave it on 12.5x and know that the actual MOA is double what the reticle says. Sure, I would prefer to have my subtensions always correct, but it is not worth putting up with that ball of twine in the middle of my picture at low power to get that.

My goal is first shot kills, and I want to see the impact. From this past May:

 

[ken158]

I’ll throw my 2 cents in here since I have tried many scopes on my annual Wyoming PD safari over the last 10 years. First, mirage and wind are the enemy of magnification. Anything above low to mid 20x magnification will not be utilized so be sure to get a variable power. I shoot up to about 800 yards with my Coopers and have found NF NSX 5.5-22x 50 mm in MOAR to be my favorite. A Leupold 8.5-25x 50 Varmint reticle and a Swarovski Z5 6-18x 52 ballistic go on my up to about 500 yd guns. Scope failures have been experienced or witnessed on buddy’s gun include Sightron, Vortex, Burris, Leupold. I don’t buy (waste) money on lesser brands.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

I hunt PD's a month each year. So I spend a lot of time looking through the scope. About 8 hours per day either binoculars or rifle scope. I shoot 20 calibers and 223 out to about 350 yards. So I shoot for a high percentage of hits. These are my priorities:
- FFP scope. Once I get my holds, I don't want to have them change just because I changed my power.
- I use the same scopes on all my rifles, so I never have to deal with change
- I like the busy Christmas tree reticles, as I have plenty of holds, since I don't dial in
- I shoot at 24X basically all the time

My progression was fine DuPlex, Leupold Varmint Hunter, and now use the Vortex Viper HS LR. While the Varmint hunter was better than just the DuPlex, the marks aren't where I wanted them.

Here is the reticle I use. A typical shot is 200 yards, 10 mph crosswind. I know my hold is 6" into the wind, so I use the 3 MOA hash mark and hit the same as if there was no wind.
View attachment 1119419

I have the same scope and am disappointed in the clarity.. It is basically unusable over 20 power. I do like all the marks in the reticle and printed a come-up sheet for it.. I am looking to replace it with something clearer..

 

[jepp2]

I have the same scope and am disappointed in the clarity.. It is basically unusable over 20 power.

You are not the first to make that comment. Interesting. I have 6 of them, and shoot them all at 24X. No issues with clarity with any of them. And I have other high end scopes I shoot, so I have plenty to compare them with.

 

[sw282]

Went to Jarrett Rifles yesterday to take a Shilen trigger and Leupold VXIII 6.5-20 fine duplex for my 700 VLS 223 Rem.. l saw 4 really high end rifles ready for shipment. 3 had Night Force scopes. One lone Swarovski with a built-in rangefinder that talks to your smart phone... lts absolutely amazing to see all these exotic scopes that l don't remember existing when l worked there briefly before 9/11...

 

[TheOtherZilla]

You are not the first to make that comment. Interesting. I have 6 of them, and shoot them all at 24X. No issues with clarity with any of them. And I have other high end scopes I shoot, so I have plenty to compare them with.

Could be your targets are larger than mine. I use mine mainly for pdawgs.. I like everything about it except for that. Seems I am always messin with the focus, even on the range. I have a lot of scopes but nothing high dollar like NF or Swaro. I do own several Leupolds.. More than likely if I cannot come to terms with this issue I'll buy something else for more money..