Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Gopher/ P dog round?

Gotta get another rifle by spring since I got the missus one. Will be shooting out to around 300 yards. Pretty sure on rifle and scope. What is the best round for this kind of shooting?

A 223 would be my first choice followed by either of the fireball rounds and 204 Ruger(if you reload). The 223 can be had in about any rifle and is reasonably cheap to feed.

What lochsa said, with a few comments.

The advantage of either Fireball or the .204 is that you can watch what's happening through the scope during the shot, even in a sporter-weight rifle. That doesn't happen with sporter-weight .223's, unless you load the round down some, though it can be done with a heavy-barreled .223, if it's heavy enough. It's a lot more fun and effective to spot your own shots.

Brass for the .223 is cheaper than for the other rounds, and factory ammo more affordable as well. That said, I have both Fireballs and a .204 and like tham all a lot.

Love my .204's but the .223 would be my pick for that shooting if I didn't handload.

Tim
No Off Season
Predator and Varmint Gear and Hunts
"No crowds, no limits, no seasons...no bad days."

223 is the all time favorite, but being an oddball and lov er of older cartridges, as well as a handloader I love the 222. A bit less powder, noise, recoil etc. Even the Hornet and especially in AO or Kilbourne version can fill this role quite nicely. Short answer is that there really is no wrong answer. Anything that is pretty quick and low recoil will be just fine.

My shooting pard has a theory concerning noise and gopher shooting. We need to "research" this some more...He maintains that the extra noise of the .223s puts them in their holes for a larger radius than say a .17 hornet or even a .222
Will get back to you on this...I got a new deuce to try this spring....

Don't forget to build a couple of Hornets to test out on this project, both regular version and the 'K' version. All in the name of scientific research, of course.

That was my first thought too.

a 223 can be loaded from the equiv of a 22 LR to the 223...

less powder, less noise, less barrel wear etc...

a 22.250 is even more flexible, tho few people load it to be as such..

FNG: The 204 Ruger is the answer to your inquiry!
No recoil, slow to heat a barrel, sensationally flat trajectory and it flies VERY straight in the wind.
300 yard shots on Prairie dogs are chip shots with the 204 Ruger - and best of all YOU get to see the bullet impact point in your scopes image!
The 204 Ruger performs head and shoulders above the beloved 223 Remington - especially at such modest ranges.
The splendid accuracy and mild recoil (again you will be able to spot your hits when using a 204 Ruger!) will also aid in your improved percentage of kills on the diminutive Ground Squirrels at the ranges you mention.
Best of luck with whichever you choose.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Already loading 223 for the wife's CZ. Leaning towards something that eats the same bullets and powder selection, for economy. Was thinking another 223 or a 222, but certainly willing to consider other options. Not real familiar with the smaller cals. Good info so far...

If you are already loading for a 223 then to me another 223 looks like a "no-brainer". Components are inexpensive, readily available, chances are that you can settle on one load that works well in both rifles and never have to worry about one of you running out of ammo or grabbing the wrong box of ammo.

Something else to think about is that you will not require another set of dies, another cleaning rod, another powder funnel, and will not have to purchase brass that is neither as readily available, nor as inexpensive as 223 brass.

As far as the �less recoil� attributed to the 204, that is much ado about nothing. Using the JBM recoil calculator, available free at jbmballistics.com, you can see that the difference between the 223 and the 204 is negligible.

Recoil energy with an 8 lb rifle -

204 with 32 gr bullets = 2.7 ft-lbs.

204 with 39 gr bullets = 3.0 ft-lbs

223 with 40 gr bullets = 2.9 ft-lbs


The data used to run these recoil tables is from the most recent Sierra reloading manual and was calculated using the top velocity for each bullet.

223 Rem with 40 gr BlitzKing

Recoil
Input Data
Charge Weight: 26.3 gr Muzzle Velocity: 3700.0 ft/s
Firearm Weight: 8.0 lb Bullet Weight: 40.0 gr
Output Data
Recoil Velocity: 4.9 ft/s Recoil Energy: 2.9 ft�lbs
Recoil Impulse: 1.2 lb�s


204 Rem with 39 gr BlitzKing

Recoil
Input Data
Charge Weight: 27.5 gr Muzzle Velocity: 3700.0 ft/s
Firearm Weight: 8.0 lb Bullet Weight: 39.0 gr
Output Data
Recoil Velocity: 4.9 ft/s Recoil Energy: 3.0 ft�lbs
Recoil Impulse: 1.2 lb�s

15/02/11 15:36, JBM/jbmrecoil-5.1.cgi




204 Rem with 32 gr BlitzKing

Recoil
Input Data
Charge Weight: 27.9 gr Muzzle Velocity: 4000.0 ft/s
Firearm Weight: 8.0 lb Bullet Weight: 32.0 gr
Output Data
Recoil Velocity: 4.6 ft/s Recoil Energy: 2.7 ft�lbs
Recoil Impulse: 1.2 lb�s

15/02/11 15:42, JBM/jbmrecoil-5.1.cgi


drover

223 loaded with 4198 or Blue Dot

IMO, the .223 simply "trumps" anything with a .378" boltface using Benchmark and the 40gr B-tip 'cept maybe the .204 Ruger and .223 Ackley.

We are talking high volume gophers and P-dogs here, which automatically excludes anything requiring a fire forming operation if you ask me.

Though a slight argument could be made for the .204 based on recoil recovery, a 40gr B-tip traveling 3850fps via .223, Hodgdon Benchmark, and a 24" "bull" barrel is the standard for high volume colony shooting, IMO!!



X-VERMINATOR

Ive put thousands & thousands & thousands plus thousands more of p-dogs into oblivion with a .223 rig using the 50gr vmax in front of W748 over the last 40 yrs.

always wanted to try one of the .19 calhoon options, but the few towns I have access to stay pretty thinned out and the .223 and 22-250 take care of all the volume I encounter anymore. If I had more access to p-dogs I'd have a .19 for sure. They look like the perfect blend of low/no recoil, mild report, low powder charges and a whole lot of performance in the range you mentioned. Should be cheap to run once you get set up for it. The calhoon double hollow points are devistating in the .223 as I'm sure they are in the 19 as well. They're based in MT like you, might want to give them a look.

Would be a rather neat feat,to have gunned the 50 V-Max for 40yrs.

Keep that Imagination goin',you is on fire!.................

HAHAHA! some peoples kids..

Imagination takes alotta folks,lotsa places that don't exist.

I dig their taking the time,to feign having a first clue....................(grin)

I think he is right. My all time favorite sage rat round it the 17 AH. You can see the rat explode with a 16X scope. I have done it many times. And, I have taken four rats off the same mound. They just sat there shaking the gore off from their buddy I just blue up until they were all dead.

But the original post was P dog shooting at 300. My first choice would be a 22 BR. I loved what my #1V in 22 BR did way out there.