Long-ish range prairie dog caliber?

[5.56×250]

I vote 224 valkyrie. It will give you heavy 22 cal factory ammo and less recoil than the 243 for those 200 rd days. Like frogforaday said, it might not stand the test of time, but if it goes away, just figure out the next move. Rebarrel or reload. Few things last forever, but here today for your dad, the valkyrie makes the most sense for a 22 cal in the wind. 90gn Sierra match king For the WIN!

 

[Leslie Laffoley]

If you go 22 Creedmoor there will be brass available forever, and more speed than the valk or 22-250.

 

[BLK]

Think seriously about the 25-06 or 257 Roberts. And I mean seriously. With the kind of winds your talking about you need a lot of weight in a very fast bullet. You can run anything from 80 grains or so up to 120 and they are excellent at 600 yards. Dropped many a coyote and whitetail with the 25.
Far superior to a .243. I have shot both but 25 far exceeds the 243.

 

[oldfortyfiveauto]

204 Ruger will work just fine.

 

[Tatsnscoots]

Planning to build/buy my dad a rifle for prairie dog hunting. He's expressed interest in a .22-250 but the buddy he will be hunting with shoots anywhere from 400 yards to 600 yards and in our state of South Dakota the wind always blows at least 10mph - 25mph it seems. I have wondered if a .22 bullet will be buffeted around by our wind too much to be an effective cartridge. Any suggestions for a better prairie dog cartridge or will a .22-250 suffice? Also, I feel I should note my dad has never owned a rifle before, only shotguns, and will be using factory ammunition. As tempting as a tighter-than-factory twist barrel and 75gr hand-loaded 22-250 sounds, I don't think that will be an option for factory loaded ammo that is readily found at Cabelas.

For those ranges a 6.5 Creedmoor with 90ish grain bullets would be effective.

 

[5.56×250]

If you go 22 Creedmoor there will be brass available forever, and more speed than the valk or 22-250.

Did I miss something. I admit , I didn't read all the posts, but wasn't one of the criteria that the OPs dad doesn't reload right now ?

 

[archangel485]

I shoot dogs at 400ish with a 204 ruger in Wyoming wind, although I can't claim much further than that. I'd go with your original 22-250 idea, or smaller. 243 and 6 creed will work fine but a bit overkill in my mind. You have to adjust for wind regardless of cartridge, it's not like throwing a 140gr 6.5 bullet has no wind correction required, especially at those distances. On another point, 600 is getting out there for a prairie dog, much more challenging than 400. A prairie dog is like 3" wide so at 600 your talking about a half MOA target so if you have a quarter MOA rifle (not easy) and they're standing on hind legs you have to have your wind perfect, a 1/4 MOA error has about a 50% chance of hitting, and if they're on all 4 your elevation has the same situation. Even on all 4 they're only a foot long max I'd say so still not a gimme wind call. And if they're on all 4 there is a good chance they're moving soon. If you have a half MOA rifle you could miss even with perfect dials. Not trying to discourage, just pointing out that at 600 it will be tough to get hits regardless of cartridge.

 

[Nalgi]

Id go with the 55 gr .243. with the higher twist rates in new rifles you can shoot 100+ grain bullets for deer. IMO

 

[huntaredlab]

Planning to build/buy my dad a rifle for prairie dog hunting. He's expressed interest in a .22-250 but the buddy he will be hunting with shoots anywhere from 400 yards to 600 yards and in our state of South Dakota the wind always blows at least 10mph - 25mph it seems. I have wondered if a .22 bullet will be buffeted around by our wind too much to be an effective cartridge. Any suggestions for a better prairie dog cartridge or will a .22-250 suffice? Also, I feel I should note my dad has never owned a rifle before, only shotguns, and will be using factory ammunition. As tempting as a tighter-than-factory twist barrel and 75gr hand-loaded 22-250 sounds, I don't think that will be an option for factory loaded ammo that is readily found at Cabelas.

I couldn't agree more. Dad's excited about the 22-250, which is an excellent workhorse setup for prairie dog shooting.
As a side note, I have a pair of 204 Ruger's. 1 on an AR platform and a CZ bolt gun.
With Factory 32's they have proven to be more resistant to the effects of wind out
to 400 yards. They shoot much cooler also. I have taken both to SD for a total of 6 days
afield so far.
My 2 cents.

 

[Leslie Laffoley]

Did I miss something. I admit , I didn't read all the posts, but wasn't one of the criteria that the OPs dad doesn't reload right now ?

You can buy 22 Creedmoor ready made with popularity growing daily.

 

[ntsqd]

Do they come with stellite lined barrels?

 

[dieseldoc]

Planning to build/buy my dad a rifle for prairie dog hunting. He's expressed interest in a .22-250 but the buddy he will be hunting with shoots anywhere from 400 yards to 600 yards and in our state of South Dakota the wind always blows at least 10mph - 25mph it seems. I have wondered if a .22 bullet will be buffeted around by our wind too much to be an effective cartridge. Any suggestions for a better prairie dog cartridge or will a .22-250 suffice? Also, I feel I should note my dad has never owned a rifle before, only shotguns, and will be using factory ammunition. As tempting as a tighter-than-factory twist barrel and 75gr hand-loaded 22-250 sounds, I don't think that will be an option for factory loaded ammo that is readily found at Cabelas.

 

[dieseldoc]

6MMBR would do a great job out to 600 yards. I shoot mine for ground squirrels offen with great results.

 

[Garou_22]

24" stainless 1:8 Lilja Patrolman deep fluted with a standard 1/2x28 threaded break and Cerekoted will run about 450-500 depending on your Smith for the fluting, threading, and painting. Mine shoots factory Hornady 55gr V-Max with 3400-ish Fps at 200yd zero on my AR with nasty effect on Dogs to 600yds. Gophers explode. It's also coyote devastation with minimal hyde destruction and could be used on deer with a different bullet construction. Wind drift is a pain, but it is the same for any low BC caliber.
I use the 75gr. V-Max in my 6mmRem. The 1:9 twist allows for a heavier bullet than the 243, which is the only difference other than neck length between the two. But factory ammo is considerably less common for the 6mm. This cartridge is even more varmint to lighter large game capable than the .22's though.