Caught in the rain.
-
I filled the backpack with 300rnds of ammo, shooting mat, couple of rear bags, tripod, swaro binos, vectronix LRF, water, snacks, and some tea... and off I went to spend a few hours zapping pdogs.
Everything was going well. I had about 50 killed.
Then all of a sudden, lightning, thunder, and the sky opened. Welcome to South Dakota. lol I did end up killing a couple while it was pouring. I bet not many people have done that. hehe Two big fat ones seemed to be enjoying the hard shower. 340yds and 380yds they were. I was shooting my 16" .223AI with 80gr bergers.
It rained hard for about 10 minutes and then just carried on lightly for a good 20 minutes. Shot another 20 or so dogs, and then a big boom sent me for the truck. I no more than got there and a big storm cell blasted me good. An adventure to be sure.
-
Good pics greg.I guess your 223ai is shooting good for you.340 and 380 for those little critters is very good shooting.
-
@steelbanger Yeah the .223AI has proven to be a good little shooter. The 80 bergers really travel well. I can take pdogs out to 600 with it pretty easy. They are small critters, but it doesn't take many shots to dial in the condition and stay with it. I polished off the last of the .223AI ammo today. Killed somewhere between 130 and 160 pdogs. I lost count. hehe. The 80gr berger's rip them up surprisingly well, and provide plenty of cartwheel through the air type impacts. Nothing like a 22-250 or other fast 22 cal with light bullets... but still plenty of amusement.
Then I switched over to the 6BR with 55 noslers. It was really annoying having to nearly double my wind call. Inside of 300yds, it was really tough on them! Inside 200yds and there was mass carnage. Once you hit 400yds, there wasn't much on them anymore. Anything past 350yds or so, and I really felt the penalty for the 16" barrel. Did I mention it really sucks to have to hold a mil of wind when I'd be holding 2 tenths with my dasher? lol
I am shooting these prairie dogs with the specific function of exterminating a town. They are ripping up a good portion of pasture and have crossed the fence into alfalfa field. So getting at least one kill with every press of the trigger is important. With that in mind, I can't think of anything better than a 6BR using heavies or a .223AI with heavies. The light weight bullets in any caliber just do not have enough BC to stay right in the wind for distant shots. A typical adult pdog standing up on a mound at 400yds is only about a couple tenths of a mil wide. The pups are significantly smaller. Missing those wind calls by even a tenth of a mil are costly. My hit percentage with the 55 noslers out of the shorty 6BR was only about 75% today, where as I was well over 90% with the .223AI and 80 bergers.
This town I've been working is high density, and the farthest shots are 650yds or so, with the vast majority of the shooting between 225 and 400yds. It's quite gratifying to see one playing peek-a-boo with only his head showing at 350yds, and drop one right on his face. :)
Tomorrow the 6 Dasher is coming out, and I'm going to move back to a farther hill to give me about 400-600yd average shots. The distance will keep them coming up frequently but with the 105's my hit percentage will still be really high as long as the wind stays below 15mph. Based on the numbers I saw remaining today, I should be able to nearly wipe out this town tomorrow.
When it comes time to rebarrel this .223AI, I'll likely do another with a 26" MTU contour. I struggle to think of a better colony varmint setup.
-
I enjoy shooting, stalking, practicing in the rain. Thinking about going out while in the house might be daunting and even sometimes when it starts raining my "city" brain tries to kick in and say "why are you out here in the rain". But the funny thing is, when you are out in the rain, it seems far less disruptive that when you are actually out in it. Even "noah's rains" don't seem too bad. Of course, I grew up in Florida where our idea of a "regular rain" most people call a "heavy rain".
Also, more recently, when I've been doing my wind practice, I've noted the rain (or the snow) is a useful wind gauge, so it has value for that as well!==
Well, in Kansas, we don't have hogs and we don't have p-dogs ... just coons, opossum, yotes ... so I dont' get to have fun shooting p-dogs ... though it does not sound like I would like what they do to pastures.
