Looking for recommendations for the best magnification for a varmint/target rifle? Is a .223, and will mainly be used for prairie dog and paper punching. Thanks for all and any advice, kcihak.

I have a 6.5-20x44mm on my 223 Remington 700VSSF

It's real nice to be able to see the expression of a woodchucks face just before it explodes.

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It takes very favorable conditions to use more magnification than 18 or 20X in the field. Heat and mirage distortion sometimes require you to back your magnificaton off to the 12-14X range to make the scope practical to use.

The variable power feature is important because even when conditions allow maximum magnification, you will frequently need to dial the power down in order to locate your target in the sight picture, then dial it back up to shoot.

I used to have a high-quality fixed 24X that I tried on prairie dogs. However, finding the dog in the scope was slow at best, and a near-hopeless endeavor where there were no landmarks to guide you.

A 6-18X or 6.5-20X makes a nice optical sight for a varmint/target rifle. I wouldn't give and extra nickel for more power, however.

k-c,

Gotta agree with Stonecreek 100%.

As you can note from my location, I don't get too much P-D shooting, sometimes with a year or two interval but the times I've done it make a lasting impression.

The first time I was graciously allowed to use others rifles and equipment; a super learning curve and enlightening experience; now I've 5 dedicated P-D rifles.

Two have Weaver 4-16x42's (22-250 & .223 Rem.), a Leupold 4-12x40 (.222 Rem.), a Weaver 2.5-10x40 (22lr), and a Burris 12X (17HMR). The straight 12X is the slowest to aquire targets, especially at 17 HMR ranges. These are IMO all the magnification required and during a good portion of the day the variables are normally set between 10X & 12X.

Paper targets are another ball game all together but even then using a really high powered scope; say over 16X takes practice.

Have fun!

Gerry,

I'm about a 6-hour drive from the closest prairie dog shooting, but you take the cake for owning a collection of prairie dog rifles, yet being 5,000 miles across a big pond from the closest gophers! Well, I guess that's no more odd that the thousands of Americans who have an "elephant rifle" in their closet "just in case" the need should arise.

Give me a shout the next time you hop on Lufthansa to come this way for a little prairie dogging and I'll meet you at the "town".

Stonie,

Very gracious offer and I'd be happy to "meet" at "The Town" (you may want to suddenly have an urgent Business Trip elsewhere!).

I don't have enough space nor the Where-with-All to describe the gyrations we've been through on Luftwaffe Ugh, Lufthansa & Delta from FKT to Cincinnati. US Customs Inspectors & Homeland Security probably consider us some sort of "Marginal Threat" for sure. Then National Car Rental (4-wheel Drives Mitsubishi's or Jeep Grand Cherokee's) and the ensuing 18-20 hour drive to South Dakota, breakfast w/gallons of coffee - followed by a 2 hr. Power Shopping Spree at Cabela's Bargan Basement in Mitchell, SD. You'd piss yourself laughing and we still haven't arrived in Murdo!

I'm sure you get the Drift; some consider us Idiots but when you've got 1 week - it's all about P-D trigger time! A year or two go by and then one of us suggests we make another sojourn to South Dakota - the intensity increases.

I also didn't include my 16 lb. Savage Tactical in 7mm Rem Mag. Oh, yes; this IS the "Optics" Chapter; another Weaver 6-16x42! With the hollow plastic Buttstock & forearm filled with a mixture of #7.5 lead shot, sand & Hot Glue to counter balance that longish (but heavy) bull barrel. Balances real sweet & shoots like a 308 Win. with all that weight. I don't consider it a "dedicated" P-D rifle - it's just a Long-g-g-g Range Boomer. Barnes 120 gr. TSX's or Nosler 140 gr. BT's with a coupla spoonfuls of H-4381 at Warp Factor 8 just have to be witnessed first-hand. You can "launch" a Dog real good with that combo!

My P&G colleague in Cinci has a garage full of my equipment, benches, buckets, brass, folding chairs, sandbags, rests, coolers - all the "Stuff" required; you know the Drill. Can't ship the stuff around the World, would cost a fortune.

Anyway, long-winded; I regress. Sorry I'm bit by the P-D Bug & love it! You're right I ought to "Take-the-Cake" as a Whacko but those 1 week intervals really do it for me.

A shame I don't reside in the US - I can imagine a fully equipped (smallish) RV, reloading, secure rifle storage, Rifles (many), Quad Bike & the Weber Grill steaming with a coupla T-Bones in the sunset with a Sundowner - after a Day's glorious shooting......

Yeah, I live good Eurpean hunting & the short (compared to US) trips to RSA & Namibia but there's only one place in the World where "Varmint Hunting Ugh, Shooting Reigns Supreme - the US.

Thanks for Listening.

Gerry,

Your PD outings sound like quite a production.

You should get your friend in Cinci to build you a dedicated (well, at least for a week at a time) prairie doggin' trailer like we use. On a "normal" low boy trailer - 6.5'x16' - I built two eight-foot benches (carpet covered), two stands for beach umbrellas, bolted-down vertical gun racks, along with storage bins, all stabilized by four pivoting trailer jacks welded near the corners. The rig not only makes for a marvelous (and slightly elevated) shooting platform in the field, it also serves to haul such things as ice chests, mechanical gun rests, sandbags, and automotive supplies for the trip.

All of this can be stripped off between trips so that the trailer can be used for hauling machinery, brush, supplies, or what have you. Just last week, although it is not prairie dog shooting season, I remounted one of the shooting benches so that we could manuever the trailer to 400 and 500 yard intervals from a fixed target. We enjoyed sighting our rifles for the next trip this way. After finishing shooting, the removal of just two bolts restored the trailer to its pedestrian alter ego.

I'll have to take a photo for you the next time we have it fully rigged.

From my Woodchuck hunting days, I found that anything over 14x during mid-day hunting was an exercise in futility. The mirage was just too much for anything higher than 14x. Back then, I had a fixed power 16x Target scope on a 22-250 that demonstrated the problem. Replacing it with a Redfield 6-18X allowed me to throttle back to 12x or 14x for middle of the day shooting.

Although I have scopes up to 32x, that power level is strictly for load development. Most of my rifles use Leupold 6.5-20x scopes. My .22 mags and .17HMRs use 4-12s to 4-16s. I go through a minimum of 2,000 rounds a year, as does my hunting partner. Too much power can be a nuisance.

Stonie,

Off to our UK AR Weekend - wish me Waidmannsheil; really great bunch of guys - we had a blast last year and will certainly do so again this year.

You can catch the recap on the Euro Section, I'm sure.

Oh, Yeah - I've seem some pictures of these "War Wagon Trailers"; they are the ultimate in P-D shooting luxery for sure.

You're right about the location though - need to keep something like that in States, if I had one here Mrs. Gerry would keep me busy hauling garden refuse from her beautiflly manicured garden to the Dump - would cut into my shooting on Saturdays Big Time......also a trailer hitch on a Mercedes-Benz (Ugh - definately Un-Cool!)



'Bout the only thing we have to compare to a "War Wagon Trailer" are our High Seats built on trailers here in The Fatherland. They are mobile enough to position next to the Farmer's Cornfields in the summer to attempt to keep the Piggies at Bay.

After really enjoying reading Gerry's and Stonecreeks exchanges....

back on topic...

I prefer to use 4.5 to 14 or the 4 x 16s that are available on the market...

while I have some scopes with larger magnification, I find that normall about 14 power is the maximum that is really usable in the field...

I've got a cheap ass Eagle Eye 6-24 mil dot (actually a pretty good scope) on my custom Savage M10 .223.

I go prairie dogging several times a year. Early in the morning while the air and barrel are still cool I can use 24X, but later I have to dial it down to 18 or 20 depending on the mirage.

When I first started dogging I used my old Weaver 36X. It didn't take me long to go to a variable as I can dial it down, locate, crank back up and fire.

My walking .223 wears a 4.5-14 VXIII.

My shooting buddy uses a lot of mag on his Foxing rig, sometimes up to 24x, although he is quite used to this, he has to be pretty careful when focussing, Where I used to use a fixed 6x S&B, My advancing years have moved me on to a Swaro, maximum 12x mag, & I aquire a sharp image in a little less time than He, His 24x mag is invaluable at the range though, when the marking quality deteriorates! I have since relegated the 6x power S&B to squirrels & rabbits on the .17HMR for daylight shooting.

I prefer a varible scope on the order of 6-18.