Decisions, decisions. Which rifles would you take?

[okrattler]

Heading out to shoot some prairie dogs this evening once the wind dies down. Don't really feel like loading up a bunch of guns so I'm narrowing it down to 2, possibly 3 rifles or a rifle and a shotgun. Should I take the 22-250, .223, .17HMR or .22lr for some varmint eradication? I would just take one and call it good but I know I'll see some further ones to shoot so I'm gonna take more than a rimfire this go around.

[Txhunter3000]

First 2 for long distance, other 2 for short distance. You didn't say which was sighted for what range.

[okrattler]

First 2 for long distance, other 2 for short distance. You didn't say which was sighted for what range.

The .223 is good out to 300 pretty easy. I can make it happen at 200 with the .17HMR. I can bust them a good ways out with the 22-250, 300+ yards and that .22 is good out to 100 yards.

[Chase4556]

22lr for close stuff(cheap to shoot)
22-250 for everything else cause pink mist is its favorite drink.

[lmartin5]

.223

[cnbltt]

223 and 22-250 both fairly inexpensive to shoot

[32drawlength]

22-250 is my vote

[okrattler]

I opted for the .22lr and the 22-250. I had some bullets for the 250 that didn't perform too well on coyotes. They ought to explode a prairie dog though. Whether it's up close or far away it's gonna be in trouble today.

The only thing I don't like about the 22-250 for prairie dog shootin is you can't see the hits all the time. It's got enough recoil sometimes you just hear the bullet pop one.

[Drycreek3189]

If the little bastages charge, use the shotgun !

[okrattler]

If the little bastages charge, use the shotgun !

There may be a few instances where I have to shoot some hard chargers. I did bring the shotgun so we'll see.

[bboswell]

The .223 is good out to 300 pretty easy. I can make it happen at 200 with the .17HMR. I can bust them a good ways out with the 22-250, 300+ yards and that .22 is good out to 100 yards.

Impressive if you can make 200 yard hits on a dog with a 17 in the wind

[okrattler]

I didn't do too bad. Shot about 100 rounds. Mostly .22lr but I got the 22-250 out when the close ones got smart and evaporated a few long range ones. And a few easy closer ones.

I was absolutely correct about those bullets that didn't do too great on coyotes. They pretty much turned prairie dogs inside out. The smaller prairie dogs there just didn't look like there was much left. I didn't go look but I saw pieces of em flying and scattered about out there so I'm pretty sure.

[okrattler]

Impressive if you can make 200 yard hits on a dog with a 17 in the wind

I try to be pretty selective about when I go. If it's not windy it's not too bad. I can't hit them that far on the first shot generally but if I can see dirt kick up it don't take too many tries. I hit a few prairie dogs past 100 today with the rimfire. It's kinda fun lobbing bullets at 'em with a .22 or shootin at them when they're running. If they're within 50 yards, standing still I shoot 'em in the head. It's really not a sporting event type deal when those young dumb ones are out. You can wipe out a mound pretty fast with a semi-automatic .22 rifle.

A .22 is fine for shootin prairie dogs but really if you don't head shoot them they go down the holes pretty frequently. Especially the big ones.

[BRust]

That has to be a blast.

[okrattler]

That has to be a blast.

I like going every now and then. This time of year I burn up some ammo shootin prairie dogs. The little ones are up and they're not very skittish so you can go through a box of bullets pretty easily.

It's a pretty good way to keep your skills sharp during the off season. I just buy the bulk packs of .22lr for that purpose because it's not hard to go through a brick in a big dog town in a weeks time. I don't so much do that anymore but when I got old enough to drive my buddy and I would drive through his dog town every day in the evenings and shoot. We'd go through a brick each in 3 or 4 days sometimes. It's hard telling how many tens of thousands we shot plus skunks and starlings and jackrabbits and rattlesnakes. We shot a lot of stuff.

Years later I was still finding prairie dog skulls with holes in 'em.