Prairie Dog Rifle Question…

[Ken61]

Let's see. Say we average one round per minute. 1000 rounds equal 1000 minutes equals
16+ hours. No lunch, no moves, no strech my neck breaks.
I agree with Yobuck. That is hard to do. For me and my wife, 200-300 is a good day.

 

[Flea21]

Let's see. Say we average one round per minute. 1000 rounds equal 1000 minutes equals
16+ hours. No lunch, no moves, no strech my neck breaks.
I agree with Yobuck. That is hard to do. For me and my wife, 200-300 is a good day.

That's what I was thinking… Either way though, I plan to go on a shoot within the next couple years. I gotta figure out the when , who and where beforehand.

When I got though, I'll definitely bring a 22 creedmoor, a 308 and a 338 Lapua magnum for fun.

 

[ducky]

I agree with Yobuck. That is hard to do. For me and my wife, 200-300 is a good day.

In a very active town with pups 1000 rounds isnt hard to do. However, the majority of those rounds will be shot with my 10/22 and other rimfires. Where I can follow up misses much more quickly.

200-300 is a very active day with a bolt action centerfire rifle.

 

[yobuck]

That's what I was thinking… Either way though, I plan to go on a shoot within the next couple years. I gotta figure out the when , who and where beforehand.

When I got though, I'll definitely bring a 22 creedmoor, a 308 and a 338 Lapua magnum for fun.

Heres the way it is with Prairie dogs.
By using a smaller cartridge like a 223, you can zero on a hole or a dog at say 250 to 300 yards. Then as long as you keep your shots within that distance no dialing is necessary, which saves time. Just hold up or down a bit and your good to go.
Same with a larger cartridge like a 22/250 AI, dial for say 400 and then just hold up or down out to 500 or even a bit more.
Again, a big time saver over dialing for every shot.
But when you start stretching things out, you not only going to need a bigger cartridge, but your also going to need a spotter using bigger tripod mounted optics calling shots for you.
Frankly im not interested in spending my time calling shots for somebody when im prairie dog hunting.
I have turned down going on a trip with a good friend, because thats how he likes to hunt them.
He wants to shoot at them at 1000 yards or more, and im just not interested in bragging rites about a 1000 yard prairie dog kill.
Id rather go alone and hunt how i wish to hunt, or not go at all.

 

[comfisherman]

It's one of my yearly meccas with high school friends. Usually involves multiple guns, or as some onlookers have called it "a small arsenal". I usually do some inappropriate barrel abuse with some vastly overkill cartridge. Hardest one was 200 rounds of 7mm rum, the heat mirage midday was biblical. 1000 of rimfire rounds interspersed in-between waiting for that big old tube to "cool". In that instance was a barrel a weekend, have killed a few that way. In the grand scheme of travel, lodging, ammo/components, the barrel cost doesn't seem so bad.

Components had me being lame with a fast twist 22-250, it's a couple trips old now. Maybe with more stuff in the pipeline this year a poor twist rate 26 nosler can pay the ultimate price for a 5 day trip to be rebarreled correctly.... just gotta find enough brass.

 

[RB II]

I subscribe to the "small arsenal" method also. At least 1 each 22 caliber rifles. 22 mag, .223 and 22-250 for incrementally longer shots. 55 gr V-max in .223 and 22-250. And one 6MM rifle for over 500 yds, mine is 6 CM right now and a favorite.

I tend to stick to the same calibers as I stock up on reloading components and equipment. Loads from barrel to barrel remain very close with little work to develop new loads.

10-15 single feed shots per rifle then switch.

I like to range and dial each shot to the specific distance or shoot off of the reticle. I often hold the "whole numbers" on the reticle and dial the remainder. It is the best practice ever for large game and short time window shots.

Set all my triggers to same weight and scopes with as close as reasonable MOA turret/reticle setups.

 

[L.Sherm]

I dont see how its possible to shoot that many rounds in one day unless your using large magazines in semi autos and blazing away at running prairie dogs.
I guess it all depends upon what is considered to be fun.
For me, single feeding the gun, shooting from a bench, and not shooting at running dogs, 150 rounds is a pretty busy day.

Oh its definitely doable, ive done it a few times, not on P.D but sage rats.
I consider a 150 round day on sage rats slow.

 

[JSHKS]

My light rifles weigh around 17-18 pounds. A well balanced heavy rig aids in doing your own spotting. My 20VT and 17 Remington weigh 25+ pounds, almost zero movement when fired. No, they aren't a rig I will pack very far, have equipment for that if is so desire.

Talking about barrel life, I have the itch to rebarrel my 204. It is a factory Savage barrel. It shoots ok, but not great or what I think the 204 is capable of.
Buddy built a 20 Practical, Mcgowen. He paid extra for a 30" tube. It is almost muzzle heavy, but the length in return gave him 204 Ruger speeds with sane loads.

 

[yobuck]

My light rifles weigh around 17-18 pounds. A well balanced heavy rig aids in doing your own spotting. My 20VT and 17 Remington weigh 25+ pounds, almost zero movement when fired. No, they aren't a rig I will pack very far, have equipment for that if is so desire.

Talking about barrel life, I have the itch to rebarrel my 204. It is a factory Savage barrel. It shoots ok, but not great or what I think the 204 is capable of.
Buddy built a 20 Practical, Mcgowen. He paid extra for a 30" tube. It is almost muzzle heavy, but the length in return gave him 204 Ruger speeds with sane loads.

I have a 17 Rem that got to go along on one trip.
With windy conditions, i found it about useless.
I use 55 gr. bullets in the 223, 69 gr. in the 22x250 AI, and 105s in the 6x284.
If i were forced to take only one gun, it would no doubt be the 22x250 AI with the 69 gr bullets.
After about 15 minits of shooting, most of the closer shots will dry up anyway.

 

[pdog06]

1000 rounds a day May be attainable but is definitely not the norm. If you are ranging and dialing your shots and not just holding over then 300 shots per day will be a very good day. Some days you might shoot 200 and others you may get to shoot 4-500 if there's a lot of close shots. I just went in June and had a great trip. I shot 1250 rounds in 5 days but wasn't shooting the entire day. We also did some riding around looking for new spots and hanging out with one of the ranchers. And we're done by about 4p each day.

Definitely take multiple guns to allow each to cool and you can keep shooting another one. Preferably smaller calibers. A 204 is awesome if there's no wind but if there is it will be all over the place. I have a 223, 22-250, and 2 6br's currently and that works well for me. All are heavy and low recoil and makes it easier to see the impact.

 

[tribb]

I dont see how its possible to shoot that many rounds in one day unless your using large magazines in semi autos and blazing away at running prairie dogs.
I guess it all depends upon what is considered to be fun.
For me, single feeding the gun, shooting from a bench, and not shooting at running dogs, 150 rounds is a pretty busy day.

That's more in line with what I have experienced

 

[Stormbringer]

It's really hard to beat a 223. I would recommend a varmint weight barrel. I guess I'm different than most posters. I can spot my hits/misses with calibers up to 25.06 without a brake. Never missed the action with a 22-250 or lower caliber. I don't shoot free recoil and do snug up the stock on the 6mm +'s. Put a good scope on the rifle. Something in the 4-16 class or higher. The lower power works good when transitioning from binocular to scope and finding the target to then zoom in on.

I have killed dogs with everything from the 17 caliber rimfires up to 45.70. When I go shooting a good day anymore is 100 shots (Western Wyoming/Eastern Utah). I usually have one rimfire, a 17 caliber centerfire, a 22 caliber centerfire and maybe a 6mm/6.5.

YMMV

 

[ATH]

When I go PD hunting I have multiple guns. Last trip I took a 20 Practical (bolt), 223 (precision AR), 223AI (bolt) 6x45 (bolt) and 243AI (bolt). The 243AI was for longer ranges, the others I rotated. If I was moving from the truck for a period of time I typically took 2 rifles.

After this year's trip I built a 20P upper for my precision AR. Now I can heat up one upper and just carry the other in my pack and swap them out.

In a hot town 300-ish rounds is a really good day. I've never gone early enough to know what pup shooting is like.

 

[JSHKS]

I have a 17 Rem that got to go along on one trip.
With windy conditions, i found it about useless.
I use 55 gr. bullets in the 223, 69 gr. in the 22x250 AI, and 105s in the 6x284.
If i were forced to take only one gun, it would no doubt be the 22x250 AI with the 69 gr bullets.
After about 15 minits of shooting, most of the closer shots will dry up anyway.

I take multiple rigs.
I run nothing but 25+ grain bullets in my 17 Remington. I see and hear a lot of negative on this cartridge. I try and not set up in anymore cross wind than possible for any of my prairie dog shooting. I have shot with a number of folks the past few years, most all have been surprised with how my 17 Remington shoots out to 300ish, point and splat. Past that I change up.
I see a LOT of folks using the 17HMR, worst case of frustration I ever had with wind drift. I tried to like them CZ and even Anshutz, various ammos, I gave up won't own another. That will leave more for those that like them.

If someone would make better 17WSM ammo, it would be a dandy. Velocity spreads are ridiculous and pretty much unacceptable to those of us that are accuracy nuts. I call mine an MOA at best rifle at best, I could cherry pick groups and say it's under that and is around 1/2"-5/8"@100 but there's always a flyer it seems.
I played with the 17HH for a fair bit. Love hate relationship.
I picked up a used 17 Fireball barrel. In short order the 527 17HH was collecting dust. Sold it on an auction site while everyone was running frantically around because CZ dropped the 527, sold it for almost triple what I paid for it.
The 17FB impressed me enough I built a 20 Vartarg.
The 17FB will easily run a 20 grain bullet to 4000fps, accuracy node is lower and that's where I run it.
Same with the 20VT, 32's at real close to what the factory 204 runs, best node is also a bit lower.
When I get in a drift problem, I will switch up to a better tool for the job. If there is still a lot of misses due to gusty winds, time to eat lunch and go back late afternoon as winds tend to lay down.