Field Report - Prairie Dog Trip

[Uncle R.]

Hi All:
Back from my first doggin' expedition. We had a lot of fun. It wasn't quite the way I'd expected but then - things seldom are!
We shot several different towns but I think they'd all been hammered pretty hard already. Nearly all opportunities were over three hundred yards - and most were probably closer to 400. Winds were gusty and variable, and the .223 wasn't making it for me at all. Although my gunschmidt buddy had predicted that I'd do most of my shooting with the smaller rifle it worked out exactly opposite.
When I gave up on the .223 and broke out the new Savage .22-250 business picked up immediately. For such a homely rifle that Savage is looking awful good. Three hundred yard hits were almost easy and even at 400 a dog that exposed himself for long was in mortal danger. I'm confident that I scored a couple of times at over 500 but my longest confimed hit was at 453 yards. (That was on the first day of shooting. When I announced that I'd just scored at "well over four hundred yards" there was disbelief all around that a newbie had done so. We actually walked out to the bloody mound and lasered back to the firing point.)
GRIN!
:)
I reckon that overall, I upheld my reputation - and established myself as a rifleman in the eyes of my compadres. There's still a lot to learn though - range estimation really IS danged hard on the featureless prairie, and lasers don't work well when there's nothing large and/or reflective to bounce the beam off of. I need to work on using the reticule to judge range, and I need a brass catcher for that ding-blasted AR-15. Or, better still a .223 heavy varminter bolt action. I'll have to convince SWMBO that I need ANOTHER rifle...
I'd also like to have a sporter weight Hornet or something similar. Walking through the towns and taking targets of opportunity that pop up at 100 yards looks like more fun than long-range bench and bags shooting, but I didn't take a light and/or comparatively QUIET rifle for that type of hunting. One of the guys had a model 70 in K-Hornet with a mannlicher stock and it was a thing of joy to behold - and shoot. PERFECT for shots to 150 or so, and a sweet walking-around rifle.
Oh well - next time.
Uncle R.

[Buckshot]

..............Sounds like a good time was had by all, and that's the most important part.

I've never hunted PD's but have done some ground squirrel shooting. I too have a Savage in 223. It's a M112 single shot with a 24X Tasco. Shooting over last years oat stubble, you're down to 8 or 9 power long about 10am due to mirage. First time, early in the morning I had the rifle up on it's tripod sitting on the hood of Deputy Al's pickup truck.

I had the scope at 24x and way, way, WAY down at the end of the field by the bobwar fence a gaggle of ground squirrels was running around chasing each other, and generally frisking about. I figured to ruin the morning for a couple of'em. They looked so CLOSE :-). I had no real idea how far it was so I held about what looked like maybe 8" over one. The slug hit the dirt what looked like 15 feet in front of him, SHEESH!

Real dyed in the wool PD shooters carry a battery of rifles. Normally an accurized 22RF they step out of the vehicle with for those close immediate shots. Then a bit of walking around with it before setting up the benches. Then comes the 22 Hornets, or maybe the 223's. Then the 22-250 or 220 Swift and after that it gets into the 243's, 25's, or even 6.5's.

................Buckshot

[Pat I.]

Glad to hear that ugly Savage performed so well. I think people out west are realizing there's money in PDs and it's going to get down to paying a guide for some fast paced shooting. A friend of mine just got back from the Rosebud on Sat. and he said the shooting was great, he and his crew paid for a guide.

If I was going to set up a rifle for carrying around for the pot shots it'd still be a .223. Why limit yourself to a Hornet or less when the .223 will do double duty as a close and mid range gun. Plus if you already have .223s why mess around with another cartridge. You can always load the .223 down to Hornet levels but not the other way around. One of the cheapest .223 Savage bolt guns with the barrel chopped back to 20 inches using a 40 gr bullet at around 2500 fps would be great for strolling around. Only problem is that if you think the BVSS is ugly you'd only be able to take it out at night or carry it in a paper bag. Better make that 2 paper bags in case one ripped!

I've gotten side tracked with a 17 twist 30x47 cast bullet BR gun I'm trying to get to shoot but still have that 22/250 Forster die sitting on the bench if you're interested.

Pat

[Uncle R.]

Hi Pat:
As a walking around rifle I was thinking Hornet 'cause one of the guys that's "been there - done that" explained that noise matters when you're hoping to walk up on the dogs. His K-Hornet sounded like a little pop compared to the blast of a .223 - at least when I had the earplugs in.
What you wrote about downloading the .223 to Hornet levels instead of setting up for loading another cartridge makes a lot of sense. I've loaded thousands of rounds of .223 over many years but always at or near the top. I have no experience with reduced loads in that cartridge. If I can get the 2600 FPS velocity and quiet report of a Hornet without losing accuracy that would be a perfect solution. I'd still need a nice sporter weight rifle though - that heavy-barrelled AR is not exactly a joy to carry, might not function with a light load, and even if it did it throws my cherished and carefully prepared brass in the dirt. GRRRRrrrrr!
And to think that just a few months ago I saw a 700 BDL sporter weight .223 in the used gun rack at the local Gander Mountain. It was in beautiful shape, the price was outrageously low, but I thought "What do I need a rifle like this for?"
Groan!
:roll:
Uncle R.

[slughammer]

.....
And to think that just a few months ago I saw a 700 BDL sporter weight .223 in the used gun rack at the local Gander Mountain. It was in beautiful shape, the price was outrageously low, but I thought "What do I need a rifle like this for?"
Groan!
:roll:
Uncle R.

Good writing. I actually felt your pain.


A 223 with a reduced load of a faster powder would be a nice choice.

[Phil]

Sounds like you've been doing some really good shooting, congratulations! On the AR throwing brass, just clip the ejector spring until it drops the cases at your feet. No need for a brass catcher.

On the Hornet, I love the CZ 527 Lux. Properly bedded and with a good load its the best shooting Hornet I've ever had. Light weight with a Leupold 2X7 Compact, and it is relatively quiet. I use 40 grain Speer spitzers and 10.8 grains of 296 with CCI primers. Goes about 2840 fps and excellent case life. Yes, as built up as the country is getting, sometimes quiet is a definite plus.

Cheers,

Phil

[Uncle R.]

[QUOTE=Buckshot;191112
Real dyed in the wool PD shooters carry a battery of rifles. Normally an accurized 22RF they step out of the vehicle with for those close immediate shots. Then a bit of walking around with it before setting up the benches. Then comes the 22 Hornets, or maybe the 223's. Then the 22-250 or 220 Swift and after that it gets into the 243's, 25's, or even 6.5's.
................Buckshot[/QUOTE]

Yeah - I got to see an example of that phenomenon...
The same fellow who had the mannlicher model 70 hornet also had (among many others) a 700 action with a heavy McGowan barrel all bedded into a seriously weighted synthetic stock. It was chambered in 6mm Ackley Improved and he said it was launching the V-MAXs at 4100 FPS. It was topped with a big Nikon scope (GAWD I love those Nikons!) and he was devastating dogs WAY out there. The rifle must have weighed 14 lbs. or more and had a muzzle brake as well. It barely moved in recoil. You could watch the bullet strike in the scope - and the terminal results were danged impressive.
I'd love to have a rig like that for those 500-plus shots - but although SWMBO is very sweet and tolerant of my abberations I doubt I could get away with such an expenditure to shoot things we can't eat. As I sometimes say, "I can afford the rifle - but I can't afford the alimony payments."
:-D
Uncle R.

[DOUBLEJK]

Yep...
I love huntin' PD's but I do mine in the winter on cold still days with a .22 RF and I crawl around out in the town n kinda stalk em...
Don't do it in warm weather tho...too many buzzy tails n that werthless GRUMBLE ain't been around too thin em out yet...[smilie=1:

One fine afternoon in January some years ago I was sneakin' up a low rise on my belly pushin' the rifle over the top ahead of me with my eye to the scope to search fer a target.... course it was turned up to 7X and when my vision cleared the sage brush I was usin' fer cover all I saw in my scope was teeth....

Looked purty scary as I pulled the trigger n watched em shatter in that scopes close up view....:Fire:

When I looked over the scope that chargin' Prarie Dog was layin' bout 6' in front of me... His hole was just about 1' in front of my muzzle....

Sure is a nice way to spend an afternoon...:-D

[lovedogs]

Hey, DoubleJK... where do you shoot pd's in the winter? Here in Mt. they are all asleep in the winter. On a normal day in Jan. you'd freeze your behind off laying on the ground for any length of time. I sit on the ground to call coyotes in the winter months but even dressed properly I can only stand to sit there about 20 min. before I start turning into a popsickle.

[waksupi]

I have seen the Richardson's ground squirrels out on the snow. Funny thing is, they were all wearing little tiny earmuffs!

[DOUBLEJK]

North Eastern Colorado....

Our winters have been unseasonally warm of late....
In coveralls and the physical activity of crawlin' around it is purty comfertable at 30-40F not unpleasant at all...:drinks:

Your local dogs might be Whitetailed dogs... which are true hibernaters in the winter...ours are Blacktails which don't other than short below zero spells...

Callin' Coyotes is another good past time....but sittin' real still on a very cold stand does get a bit uncomfertable...:)

[Lloyd Smale]

even if you miss an accuate ar is a ball to shoot at dogs with.