What are you favorite pasture poodle poppers and loads?

Thompson Center Encore with a 22-250 barrel and a 204 barrel. I have it topped with a burris 3x9 scope,sure is a lot of fun. The 22-250 likes H-380 and a 40gr Barnes varminator bullet, the 204 has just had factory loads through it so far.

Tanker: I have three pistols that I bought specifically for "the closer ones" in both Prairie Dog Towns and fields full of Ground Squirrels.
#1: T/C in 223 Remington with a 14" heavy barrel and a Burris 3x9 pistol scope. This rig is capable of amazing accuracy and it prefers the 40 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips.
The single action trigger on it is just wonderful. I have killed Prairie Dogs with this rig out at 200 yards on occassion.
#2: Remington XP-100 in caliber 223 Remington. This is a factory stock rig also with a Burris 10X pistol scope on it. Again impressive accuracy is obtained with 50 gr. Hornady SXSP bullets. I have taken Varmints with this pistol out to 250 yards as I recall.
#3: Smith & Wesson Model 647 revolver in caliber 17 HMR with a Redfield 4x scope. The Remington factory V-Max type ammo shoots best in this fun little rig. I shoot this pistol at Varmints out to about 60 yards. It could use more scope power for sure!
Whenever I go on a Varmint Safari I always try to have at least one of these Varmint pistols handy for the closer ones that so often show up.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I have a TC Contender with a 14" 219 Donaldson Wasp barrel ,if I do my part 200+ yd chuck are doable.I load 50 gr Nosler BT. at 2930 fps

I also use a Savage 501 ( I think thats the model) 22 mag with a scope, I shoot Rem Poly tip 22 mag ammo.

Last but not least a 10" Ruger Mk II with a red dot . I use Win. Power Point ammo

Johnch

I use Savage Striker in 22-250. Load is Sierra 40gn HP & H4895. It is wickedly accurate, but the 2-7 scope is the limiting factor for me. Muzzle blast is fierce!!

Actually a buddy of mine and i r gonna try to do something kinda unusual. Don't know if u ever heard of the guys out here in Pueblo that kept breaking the record on the longest pr. dog shot with their very long-range rifles, but we're gonna try and 1 up them--sort of. Friend Ernie and i r gonna try and get a thousand yarder soon. I'm gonna be using a 16" 7 twist Pac-Nor 7-270 WSM on an XP action, H-S P. center grip stock. The rig will be shooting some of the Wildcat Bullets 7mm 200 grainers. But the tricky part is optics, and mounting for that kinda range. We're gonna use Elmer Laitala's SLRM's, that will allow for a scope to be tilted forward several degrees for very long-range shooting that can be seen right here-- http://www.slrharbor.com. We both have the 36X Leupold BR series scopes that have been reconfigured to LER and 20X. Should be interesting.

My normal pr. dog rig is a 17" .17 Mach IV XP, with the 4-12X Burris Mini scope on top. Any # of different bullets have been shot at pr. dogs, but i like to use the cheapies for them-- 25 Horn. Actually i'd like to shoot the barrel out ASAP-- i wanna 20 BR/250 for coyotes.

Rem xp100 in 221 fireball - glad I didn't turn it into a rifle - YET!

Sscoyote: Steve, are you interested in a 20 BR or a 20-250?
Your post was not quite clear for me in that regard - OR is there a 20BR-250 cartridge available now?
Good luck in your endeavor whichever it is.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Hey VG-- either/or would be OK with me. Got a buddy that's doing a 20-250 in a rifle for spot and stalk coyotes. Mine would be a handgun (XP or Striker) for the same application, and therefore barrel life wouldn't be a concern. I'll probably put it on my .17 Mach IV XP i have now when the barrel's gone.

My .221 Fireball Contender with a Bullberry 16 1/2" barrel setup with a Bushnell 10X rifle scope will take them out to 320 yds. quite nicely. I like a 40 gr. Vmax and RL7

Even though I said pistols, I wasn't excluding revolvers or autos. I use the following but change around quite a bit depending on prep. time. I would use my autos but hate hunting brass in the cactus and PD crap.

.22MRF- S&W M48, 30-150 yards
T?C Contender, 10", 3-9x Burris, 75-200
yards.
CCI 40gr. JHP

.221 - XP100(one of my few unconverted), 7x Burris, 100-300 yards
50gr. Nosler BT, 4198

.223- Custom XP100, 3-12 Burris, 150-400+ yards.
50gr. Nosler, H4895

.32 Mag- Ruger Sing. Six or Bisley, 30-150 yards. (best cal. I have seen for PD revolver)
85gr., H110

.38 Spl - S&W M14, 30-150 yards
110grRem. JHP, Bluedot

10mm - S&W M610, Will let you know.

.45 ACP- S&W M25-2, 30- 100 yards
200gr.SWC, 231 (poor killer on PDs)

My Remington XP-100 in 223 and a 7X Burris scope and the standard 50 grain Hornady SX load.

My best ground squirrel is 362 yards, so far.

....I'm sorry what did you say?

It is hard to concentrate on Frank's posts and not his avatar...

....Sorry...I had to scroll down to see you. I'm gonna scroll back up now.

me too...

Fjold:
I have always liked watching ...er I mean reading your posts. Sometimes over and over.

Fjold:
You may want to try the Nosler 50 BT. When it first came out I tested it alongside most other commercially available varmint bullets (I was also a SX user) and found it to consistantly outgroup all others and to clearly provide the most impressive impact. That was with 3 factory and 4 custom rifles and 1 custom and 3 factory pistols.
I'm sure many others here have found similar results but back then it was amazing.
It might add a few yards to your rig.
Incidently your 7X Burris is one of my all time favorites.

Fjold: Congratulations on the amazing long shot on the Ground Squirrel with your pistol!
Good for you!
That was a feat!
Also this - I live in a smallish town in Montana and every once in a while a good deal comes into the pawn/sport shop here. There is a like new Taurus pistol in caliber 17 HMR that just showed up at this shop! Its a stainless revolver with an 8 1/2" barrel. It looks to be in really good shape and the used gun sale tag is marked $195.00. On the tag it is noted that the new price of this pistol was $400 and some dollars. I forget exactly but I do recall it was noted that the original price (MSRP?) was more than $400.00. My friend Jack out in Washington state bought one of these and it was very accurate for him.
I know nothing else about the pistol and did not make any moves on it other than to inspect it (while it was still under the counter glass) closely.
If anyone is interested I can turn you on to the name and or E-mail address of the shop.
I have the $500.00 S&W version of this same type style pistol and I find its a useful and accurate pistol. A real "fun gun" so to speak.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I don't get a chace to hunt p-dogs much, but I love to shoot various varmits on the farm with the 7-tcu. It is my mouse to deer gun. I also use the 309 jdj a bit to get up to par for deer hunting. I have even been known to shoot poor little gophers with a contender in 45-70 just for fun. It leaves little wet spots. the 309 and 45-70 are not high voulum, but fun.

Just today found this picture of an interesting looking .17 HMR Anschuetz varmint pistol.

Pretty good Fjold 362 is a long ways on that kinda target.

Tanker, Thanks for the suggestion I haven't tried the Nosler BT's yet because the Hornady's shoot so well in this gun and I don't want to spend the time working up another load for it. I've three new rifles this year to work up loads for already and I'm getting lazy in my old age.

Thanks for the compliments on my longshot but I won't tell you guys how many misses I have at shorter ranges! Let's just say that even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while!

They say if aint broke don't fix it. However, the results I obtained were so much better as to be night and day. I doubt load development would require too much effort in light of what the possible gain could be. It might even be fun. Most of my groups were as good or better than Sierra match. The terminal results beat out all the rest including the SX which at that time was one of the best.

Anybody have much experience with the Berger MEF bullets? How about some of the benchrest bullets?