What armament for prairie dogs?

[D Coots]

Hi James, how are you?

I have 4 rifles Dan Dowling built for me in the 90's. All 700 Remington actions, Hart bbls. One mc millan stock and one widened standard stock, the other 2 factory stocks. Two of them weigh 16#. I have 3 222 Remington mags, 2 of which are tight necks, and a tight necked 22Br. I used to have a 22-250, but the BR beats it hands down. Then again, I used to have a 22-250 Improved that beats the Swift hands down. It shot a 55 gr bullet 4064fps with absolutely no pressure and the cases lasted forever, the barrel not so much. The next time
I go I will take a bench gun and a couple of 6PPC barrels. BAT DS and Leonard stock. If I started over again I would have 22 or 6Br no turn necks because of my supply of used Benchrest 6mm bbls and a couple of no turn 223's.

Later
Dave

 

[6xcshooter]

You can shoot prairie dogs with 22lr to 458 win mag.
But for the best SPLATTER effect I haven’t found anything better than the 6.5 x47 lapua with a 95 gr vmax. It’s a bombshell

 

[SBS]

The .20 VT is a must caliber. With a 32 gr. Blitzking, it equals a .223 with a 50 Blitzking to 400 yds., both drop and wind drift. It doesn't take a big bullet and the little 32 is explosive quite a ways out. On last trip, four .20 cal. rifles and six .22 centerfires up to the .22-250 Ack. all did a good job. We'll include a couple of big 6mm's in late season hunt. The smaller calibers are more fun to shoot and watch the show. Got started on the .20 calibers much later in life than I should have. We had winds most days in the teens and 20's and still managed a high percentage, even on standing dogs.

 

[Mark W]

I’ll be taking the following on my PD trip to SD next week.

17 HMR, 204R, .223, 22-250, and .243.

The rifle I forgot to mention in my post above was my new 6BR Improved and it turned out to be the star of the show. I had fire form loads made up with Speer 70 TNT, Sierra 55 SBK, and Sierra 70 SBK. The 70 SBK was my favorite of the three. 200 to 300 yard dogs were easy pickings and 500 yard shots weren’t hard at all. My longest confirmed kill of the trip was 655 yards. I can’t wait to work up some loads with all of my newly formed brass!

 

[Damon555]

The rifle I forgot to mention in my post above was my new 6BR Improved and it turned out to be the star of the show. I had fire form loads made up with Speer 70 TNT, Sierra 55 SBK, and Sierra 70 SBK. The 70 SBK was my favorite of the three. 200 to 300 yard dogs were easy pickings and 500 yard shots weren’t hard at all. My longest confirmed kill of the trip was 655 yards. I can’t wait to work up some loads with all of my newly formed brass!

6 and 6.5 mm rifles ruled our last trip too.....the wind was howling the 4 days we shot. The smaller calibers were pretty useless past 300 yards......and most of our shooting was well past that range....We love long range prairie dog shooting but the longest shot we managed this year was just over 550 yards and that was difficult given the nautical force winds we were facing!

 

[Webster]

View attachment 1110311 I haven't hunted prairie dogs since 1998, but if I were to go again, what should I use to shoot them? Back in the nineties I used .22 caliber rifles, with the .223 being my favorite. For longer shots, I normally used the .220 Swift. Most of the rifles were rebarreled Remington Model 700's with custom triggers (Jewell or Canjar). For scopes, I preferred the 6.5x-20X Leupold. I hunted SD, NE, CO, and WY (my favorite).

I miss those days and wish I were young enough to try again. If I were to go today, I think I would use at least one 6mm; either a 6 PPC or 6 BR. What is your weapon(s) of choice? Good shooting.....James Ps-The above picture brings bitter sweet memories in that 2 of the 4 of us have since passed away. John Boughton (top) and Bucky Murdock in bottom picture with me.

I had a 6PPC. Now have a 6BR and a 6BRX. As long as I had to buy a custom barrel I would get a 6BRX. No case prep to FF, just load and shoot. Should 300-400 fps faster than a 6PPC. The 6BRX is about 150-200 fps faster than a 6BR. Same bullistics as a 6 Dasher. I shoot 58-68 gr bullets for varmints, 14 twist. You might want a faster twist for bullets 80 gr or heavier.

 

[jamesdmock]

Hi James, how are you?

I have 4 rifles Dan Dowling built for me in the 90's. All 700 Remington actions, Hart bbls. One mc millan stock and one widened standard stock, the other 2 factory stocks. Two of them weigh 16#. I have 3 222 Remington mags, 2 of which are tight necks, and a tight necked 22Br. I used to have a 22-250, but the BR beats it hands down. Then again, I used to have a 22-250 Improved that beats the Swift hands down. It shot a 55 gr bullet 4064fps with absolutely no pressure and the cases lasted forever, the barrel not so much. The next time
I go I will take a bench gun and a couple of 6PPC barrels. BAT DS and Leonard stock. If I started over again I would have 22 or 6Br no turn necks because of my supply of used Benchrest 6mm bbls and a couple of no turn 223's.

Later
Dave

Dave, I guess great minds think alike. I, have used all of the calibers that you mentioned but used the .220 Swift more than the .22-250 IMP. I actually did not own the 22-250IMP but a good friend did and he let me shoot it. It had a fast twist and after getting dirty, it would shred the fragile bullets that we used. I am doing okay, how about you. Good shooting...James

 

[1lnbrdg]

Just go with Pikes and Bludgeons

 

[moorepower]

"IF" I was limited to 3 guns, and targets were thick, i would take my Ruger 77/22/17 .17HH, My L461 .222hb and my Savage LRPV in .204. "IF" you want to shoot factory ammo, I would take my Savage Bmag, an AR in .223 and My Savage 12VLP in 6mmCM. All Hornets are very capable, especially with a 40 Vmax. "IF" you are only going to get 50-100 shots a day, I would go fast with the least wind drift such as .22-250, .220 Swift, .243, 6mmCM ect. I start small and work up.

 

[Mark W]

I once left one of my guns behind when I loaded tn truck for a trip out west. It was a good thing that I had plenty of others with me. Ever since that I always double check everything.

 

[stosh]

I always took at least three rifles, My fav pdog gun is RRA 223 AR 50gr vmax shoots .5", this is good to about 400yds. Winchester 22-250 50gr vmax 3800fps, 22Hornet (great fun out to 150yds) 6x47 lapua custom for long range. My buddys shoot ruger 204 with good results.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I was going to start my own thread to discuss my findings but this thread is right on with many of my findings. After spending the weekend shooting with David Tubb I had my entire world of shooting stuff upended. While some of this may sound like a commercial for Tubb products it is not. It's just the facts.

Here is my Remington 700 223 Ackley. I have all these fancy guns and barrels and my main pdog rig is a modified stock Remington. The barrel is the stock 1-12 rechambered to 223 Ackley. I use a single shot follower in the mag box. I shoot the 50 tnt and 55 Varmegeddon with lt32 and LC cases at 3850. No temperature sensitivity from 75 degrees to 105. Shot the same

In my opinion the BEST pdog rig will absolutely without fail require:

1. A muzzle break. Must have. Period. Even for low recoil cartridges. Do yourself a favor and buy yourself a Tubb. It's insane good. The gun doesnt move. You must see YOUR HITS AND MISSES. And besides it's much more fun to see the bullet hit the target and not move. The Tubb brake is not loud either. It's really no different than no brake.


2. Ffp scope with hold over reticle. Here is mine. It is a Leupold LRP 6.5 X 20 FFP


I posted my feelings about the absolute necessity for this type of scope and was promptly told that I was wrong. Well, I'm standing firm. This trip this weekend I shot at every magnification from 100 yards to 600 yards in cross winds and never once touched my knobs except to tweak zero. Having the hold points and ffp is next level. Will never hunt without it ever again.

3. Scope bubble level set to gravity. You must have a bubble level and the level has to be set to the scope level to gravity. I use the roof of a house to align the reticle with gravity. How the gun is set up under the scope matters not. Only that the scope is aligned to gravity and you never pull the trigger without the bubble leveled.

4. TUBB BIPOD AND SQUEEZE BAG. Used in conjunction with my bench (which I love and can be easily dragged like a sled long distance if need be). Using the Tubb bipod, which is more like a camera tripod mount than a bipod is power steering you can scan and slide the front of the gun and leave the rear bag in place. The Tubb bipod is asymmetrical. The legs are splayed forward and back. The legs DO NOT MOVE WHEN YOU PULL THE TRIGGER. There is nothing like it on the market and I have been hunting with a bipod for 30 years. This obsoletes all symmetrical leg designs.

The squeeze bag replaces the traditional BENCHEST bag which clunky for hunting. The squeeze bag is so simple. It gets rock hard when compressed and vertical is easily changed by squeezing the bag. Apparently this is well know in elite special forces circles but somehow it never made it to the varmint hunters.

 

[urbanrifleman]

Leave the big boomers at home.

I decided that my 243 is just way too much for pdogs. A 243 without a muzzle brake is totally worthless, and one with a muzzle brake is onlu OK for seeing your hits. Larger cartridges with huge amounts of powder and overbore are much more susceptible to temperature swings IMHO. I plan on having a 6BRA for shooting the 70 grain bullets or possible the 80, and that is as big as I am ever going to take. The 6BRA is no slouch, in fact it will exceed 22-250 velocities and even 220 Swift velocities. The 6mm bullets are easier on the barrel (and hit like a Mack truck too) and the powders are faster and less temperature sensitive. When we went on the town, the ammo was 72 degrees in the truck and 110 degrees after being in the sun. Best use more efficient cartridges with stable faster powders IMHO. The 6br with a zero freebore hangs right with the very best 22-250 loads and uses faster powders that are less sentive to do it. The 6BRA EXCEEDS them.

 

[Pawnee Bill]

Just go with Pikes and Bludgeons

When I take on a Prairie Dog town I don't go in with nothing less than a .505 Gibbs. I know it's a little overbore but sometimes one shot is all you need!!

 

[Evan]

22LR, 20VT, and 22BR (shooting heavies) are all yah need out to 1000.

 

[CT10ring]

View attachment 1110311 I haven't hunted prairie dogs since 1998, but if I were to go again, what should I use to shoot them? Back in the nineties I used .22 caliber rifles, with the .223 being my favorite. For longer shots, I normally used the .220 Swift. Most of the rifles were rebarreled Remington Model 700's with custom triggers (Jewell or Canjar). For scopes, I preferred the 6.5x-20X Leupold. I hunted SD, NE, CO, and WY (my favorite).

I miss those days and wish I were young enough to try again. If I were to go today, I think I would use at least one 6mm; either a 6 PPC or 6 BR. What is your weapon(s) of choice? Good shooting.....James Ps-The above picture brings bitter sweet memories in that 2 of the 4 of us have since passed away. John Boughton (top) and Bucky Murdock in bottom picture with me.

Well, you are a nostalgic fellow - appreciated. Are you able to get out there again, PD shooting? Spot on with the 6BR, 223, & 220 Swift. All still sling lead fast into small groups. 6.5X20X Leupold is a fine PD scope.

 

[hunter67]

Main gun 20 vartag! then 223 ai then 22-250 fast twist with 75's

 

[LonewolfMcquade]

I usually take my RPR 308

 

[CJ6]

6-284 with 87 Horn.V-Max or 88 Bergers.

 

[RegionRat]

I use two ARs with WOA Varmint Uppers in 223 with 12 twist. I feed these 40 grain Hornady VMax at about 3500 fps. These cover out to about 400 yards till the wind comes up, and then I tend to run them within the first 300 yards. I use SWFA 3-15x FFP scopes with an MOA reticle on these two. That is because... If I sit a rookie down on it, I have to be able to drop the magnification since rookies tend to struggle finding the target. I click the dope for them and tell them the wind hold to keep it simple. The system works well when they can find the right target.

For the longer shots, I used to run Rem 700 Sendero but they are no longer being made, so I have a pair of Savage 12 Low Profile Varmint rigs in 223 with 7 twist and feed them 77 TMK. These do much better in the wind and out to 600 yards. I run the NF NXS 8-32 with MOAR-T reticle on these and like them very much.

For the mornings before the winds come up, I cover the first 200 yards with a Ruger Precision Rimfire in 17 HMR being fed with CCI 17 gr and I use the reticle for the hold. These 17 HMR are very easy to run out to 200 yards using point blank system where you just hold over or under. You also don't waste centerfire ammo on rookies till they start ramping up the learning curve. Everyone who has tried this rig loves it.

You can see your hits with all of these rigs and follow up shots are easy if you miss your wind call.

I think I will try a .204 WOA Varmint Upper next year just for fun. I have used my friend's 204 truck gun on coyotes and think 204 will be great on prairie dogs out to 400 yards in a WOA Varmint Upper with a 24" heavy profile bbl.

For most rookies, I would advise starting with a 17 HMR and 223 for their first season, unless they are already experienced at wind shooting. This is a volume shooting sport and shooting small targets in the wind at distance isn't like shooting their deer rifle once or twice per year.