Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints 2022 Dead Critter Thread

Had a business trip that took me through an area with a few prairie dogs. So I took my Sako L461 that I had rebarreled along for the ride. I had a couple extra hours on the way home so I pulled off the highway into an area that looked promising. Never saw any big towns, just the occasional mound here and there so I got a couple here and there. Made a loop on the way back out and found an area that had a dozen or so mounds ranging from 100-400 yards. I popped a few close ones here and then picked up on a mound just ahead of the sage brush with two dogs on it. I misjudged the distance with the 223 and put the first round just below them and threw dust everywhere. One went down the hole and the other ran off the back of the mound. I reloaded and waited until he finally snuck up the backside and showed his head. He stood up for just long enough for me to let the 55 gr Varmageddon fly! I thought I had the holdover right this time buy he disappeared with no satisfying ‘pop’. I shot one more and the drove around towards the back of the field to see what was beyond the rise, but it was filled with brush. No chance of seeing anything out there.

When I turned around, I recognized the 400 yard mound where I missed those two earlier, except I didn’t miss the second shot! There it was, hit right in the middle where I had aimed. I went ten dogs for eleven shots! Not too bad really, but nothing really long range either. That old Sako is just a pleasure to shoot. I had Pacnor put a 10 twist on it when the original finally gave up the ghost. Figured I can shoot up to 69 gr with it if I want.



The 55 gr Varmageddons are very accurate but not as explosive as I was hoping for. The 40 gr BT blows em up a lot more than this. They get the job done though.