Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Good scope for Prairie Dog Hunting

10x mil quad for the win !
So glad I bought 2 more on the sale !
Faithful "Rat Smacker"

'Morning 'Stick. Yes...tough to beat the mechanicals of the Sightron S-TAC's, especially for the price. Or any of Sighton's stuff, for that matter. I was working with my 36X45 E.D. SIII at the range yesterday and it just makes me smile....

Your recommendation on erector travel is spot on. Even with his 500 yd. limit, it always pays dividends for people to pay attention to mechanical travel and/or mounting options. As you well know!

Good shootin' -Al

I just plopped a 3-16x42 FFP Mil-Hash/Mil-dials S-Tac atop a 1st gen Kimber Pro-Varmint 223Rem. Tracked as it should upon initial 200yd zero and a couple groups just to make sure it stayed put. I'm only 30-40 rounds into it, however my initial impression is that it'll work for PD's and anything else that's within range whilst it's in my mitts. The reticle is plenty svelte for PD's @ 10x+.

FWIW, I grew up just on the edge of PD country. I still have a fair few PD rifles topped w/6.5-20x40 and 4.5-14x40 Leupolds of the older Vari-X III vintage. I had a S&W 1500 223 w/6-24x40 B&L in high-school and through college and that same scope rode atop a M70 "Sporter-Varmint" in 223 as well. Bull bbl'd AR's w/4-12 and 6-18 Leupolds have both sufficed. My 223AI and 243AI have 12-42x56 NXSs mounted and while it's a nice piece, when shooting PD's it rarely sees more than 22x (where the reticle subtensions are calculated for).

I generally prefer more than 10x and generally can't use much over 20x due to mirage most days.

One of my favorites is the Meopta Optika5 4-20x50 Z-Plus reticle scope. 1 inch tube, 60MOA of adjustment, Meopta quality and under $500! You can dial in the Z-Plus reticle using Strelok Pro too. These scopes are out the door as quickly as they arrive, perhaps Doug can help you out?

The Meopta Optika5 4-20x50 SFP - Z-Plus #1032581 is in stock and on our Mother's Day Sale for only $422.74

ziess v4, a little above the price. big stick finally has something I agree with that LRHS 4.5-18 probably would work great. pdog hunting is the one use I might like FFP for. however I find myself just getting a feel for the misses and adjusting by abouta thata mucha. rather than saying oh its 2.2 mils. in which case I don't think FFP really matters.

also dang near anything will work. I find myself preferring to use hold offs rather than dialing. you're trying to hit a small target and often additional shots are needed. a scope that is 14-16x on the top end is what I would want.

Don't bother with a ton of magnification or big giant objectives.

Dogs love sunny days and mirage is the king of the day.

This is not hunting, or target shooting at known distances, or shooting steel gongs. It's shooting small creatures on the ground at all different distances. A big one standing would be about as tall as size 11 shoe and they come in different sizes. We used 6-20's 40yrs ago because that was the deal back then and they worked. But Leupold tracking wasn't very reliable back then. Scopes are much better now and more power is always better. My centerfires have scopes that go to 24x or up to 32x and that's not too much. Don't have to always use it but you can't use it if you don't have it, and it does get used every time out. Looking at just a head sticking out of a mound, or some part of creature between bushes, or something way out theree, nice to have optical horsepower and zoom in for a good look. And glassing for a target, then finding it in the scope, I wouldn't even mess with a fixed power scope. Anyone who says a 6 or 10 power fixed is the way to go, has never done this and just doesn't know.

****Addition****. You asked about which scopes to get and mentioned $500 as the limit. There are a bunch of good ones for that, I've bought some that were either used or on closeout sale. But today if I were buying new and wanted optical quality and tracking precision, I'd get the Bushnell Match Pro 6-24 with unlit reticle for $449 direct from Bushnell (the only way they're sold), I have one and it's just excellent. The Athlon 6-24 model that comes in at less than 500 has real good glass and tracking. The Arken 6-24 is top quality but has a 34mm tube which is a drawback for me. Stay away from the lower end Vortex scopes, lower quality optically but a great warranty which they need because of (from what I've read) a terrible reputation for reliability. My opinions on this stuff.

Hardluck: I have been Hunting and shooting Prairie Dogs for well over half a century now (55 years in fact) and I have many Varmint Rifles in caliber 223 Remington - my first choice is and has been for many years now the wonderful Leupold 6.5x20 variable with fine Du-Plex reticle.
Thank me later.
Best of luck with whichever you choose.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

This^^^

Best bang for the buck in a sub-$500 varmint scope. The reticle is very usable on prairie dogs and I actually prefer SFP for colony varmints. They track really well (which a LOT of higher dollar scopes don't) and the glass is extremely good for the price. 80 MOA is plenty of erector travel and a .223 will go subsonic before you run out of elevation travel. I don't want anything that tops out at less than 20X for a varmint rifle, and I spend 98% of my time with it turned all the way up.

https://cameralandny.com/shop/brand...013a-1ef0-00163e44aa35?variation=3156062

Great info guys! Thanks. I still have not decided on the scope of choice. I had my 223 55gr vmax rounds loaded today so now I got to decide on the glass. I have a CZ 527 HS Precision Heavy barrel 223, a Savage LRVP Heavy barrel right bolt left eject in 223 and a Savage Model 12 Laminated heavy barrel 223 for my bolt guns. I have 2 DPMS Prairie Panthers in 223 and a Springfield ATC Elite for my AR rifles. Gonna take 2 22 mags for the closer shots. A Henry Pump and a CZ 512. Looking forward to the trip. It will be me and my 2 boys so we each have a gun to shoot and swap out if the barrels get hot.

Leupold FX-3 12x40 AO Target.

I have these on my rat shooters. Like them a lot.

Hard to find, though.

Leupold Mark 4 16x40 on a 222 singleshot Sako AI.

Pharmseller & Northman: I am pleased that many of our CampFirers are using the American made Leupold scopes - in obvious defiance of the few Leupold naysayers on this forum.
Your insights and experiences are appreciated.

Then there is this - the display of small twigs "Prairie Dog Rifles" in that obvious "Prairie Dog Terrain" he (it?) photographed them in is, well, just laughable.
And sad.
Sheesh.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

My favorite PD scope to this day is still my Burris 8-32 with peep-plex reticle..I center the head and the rodent disappear

Best scope I've ever used for prairie rats is the S&B PM II 5-25x56 CCW FFP...use a PF4 if you want a nice fine reticle. That said, I prefer the H2CMR.

Exactly and turrets and BDC are in most cases also just so much fluff. Most prarie dogs are shot under 300 yards.

Agreed.

I ended up getting the Sig Buckmaster 3-12x44 scope with the Sig 1500 range finder combo’s for 169.00 per combo. They have worked great for the price. We have killed many prairie dogs from 50 yards to the longest being 417 yards. The most fun has been the 22 mags with the Nikon BDC. We have popped them out to 225-250 yards. Great fun!!

I've never hunted prairie dogs, but if I did I'd sneak in close and use an iron sighted handgun.

I have shot prairie dogs and like the SWFA MQ 16. Its a bit much under 100, but that doesn't matter.

Use the top side of the reticle for the close stuff, no need to spin anything...