Noticed a lot of guys talking about barrels heating up while shooting prairie dogs.

I don't know if anyone is familiar with the Calhoon bullets web site. However they had an article they published in some varmint hunting mags, and have it on their website called 218 Bee or Not to Be. One of the powders they talked about using was Blue Dot Shotgun powder.

This intrigued me (not hard to do I might add).
I talked to a buddy of mine in Montana and asked him, when we have shot prairie dogs, what percentage was within 200 yrds? He came up with the same observation that I did, and that was about 80%.

Well I know, less powder means takes longer for the barrel to heat up, means less throat erosion. Both of those mean increased barrel life. Less powder also means a lot more rounds per pound of powder.

However playing with some of the fast powders in the past I got inconsistent accuracy, when chronographed the standard deviation was all over the place.

What a surprise on the Blue Dot! Standard deviation on the chrony was about 20 to 30fps max depending on how picky I was being on my powder measurer. Went to the range and accuracy was on par with any other load thru the same rifles, definitely minute of prairie dog at 200 yds.

12.5 grains of Blue Dot with a 45 to 55 grain bullet chronographed at 2600 fps. On the trajectory charts in my reload manuals, if zeroed 3 inches high at 100 yds, you are dead on at 200. Since a prairie dog ranges in size from a 20ounce coke bottle to a One liter coke bottle, put the cross hairs on the little bugger anywhere within 200 yds and its good bye prairie dog. Most shooters can easily learn to hold a little high and anything within 250 yds is soon to be a memory.

This yielded some new tactics and new rewards.

The Blue Dot loads allows one to get almost 600 loads out of a pound of powder! ( Use a 1.0 Lee Dipper and with a twist off the trickler, you are there, handloading goes quick on a RCBS Rock chucker).

The other MAJOR BENEFIT, and I never saw this in the article: It takes about 20 shots to heat up the barrel as much as about 3 to 5 rounds of "factory" or hotter rounds do. On a bolt action it takes a long time to even heat a barrel up to where it is too hot to touch!
Heat equals less accuracy, throat erosion, shorter barrel life ( you get the picture).

So now NEW TACTICS:

I set up with two rifles. One with the 223 Blue Dot load. The second one is a 22/250 with a 40 grain Ballistic Tip or BlitzKing or Sierra 40grain Varminter HP. With 34.5 grains of RL7 this clocks out of the barrel at 4450fps. 5 inches high at 100 ydfs put you dead on at 500 just like it says in the Sierra manual.

Remember 80% of the shooting was at less than 200 yds, so the 223 with the Blue Dot load does most of the work. The 22/250 is zeroed to handle anything from 250 yrds to 500. So the 22/250 does not get to get overly hot if a little discipline is used.

A 22 rimfire or 22 mag or 17 HRM ( when you can find ammo) works for 50 to 100 yds if the other rifles get too hot. The Blue Dot load also makes a lot less of a boom so it does not bother the prairie dogs and send them scampering into their holes like a regular 223 load does.

The second new Tactic:
We normally will shoot a couple of different fields. When one field has the PDogs hiding we move to the second, and when it gets slow the first one is busy again.

I finally quit using my "green plastic boxes' for 223 ammo. Now I load 100 rounds and put them in a ziploc sandwich bag. I carry a small plastic tub to toss the empty cases into. The same tub helps me carry all of this stuff from the car to where I set up at.

What we do is take some wood and cut them just like a tent stake for an Army Wall tent, about 12 to 18 inches high and spray paint them dayglow orange so they are easy to see.

Since we normally set up on a fence line, we walk out in the field and place the tentpeg markers at 100, 150, 200, 250, 300,etc out to 500 yds. Then we go do that to the second field.
By the time we are back, all the PDogs are back out again in field one.

However now we have a point of reference for distance almost instantly instead of having to use range finders. ( picking them up, putting them down etc,) No one ever wants to spot, because everyone is too busy shooting.

Just some common problems we all have and some solutions that I found that work for me and some of my fellow varmint shooters.
Actually using my head for something beside a hatrack!

[ 05-30-2003, 05:51: Message edited by: seafire ]

Seafire: What an interesting posting you've made. I am just fascinated by the different techniques people employ when Hunting Prairie Dogs! Good for you and I am glad you are having fun!
That certainly gives one cause for contemplation of your methods. It scares me to the bone though the use of those type powders that can accidentally be doubled up on! I don't know if I trust myself as much as you trust yourself!
I use a somewhat different approach when Hunting the Prairie Dogs. I hide my vehicle out of sight of the Dog town and fill my day pack with Laser rangefinder, wind gauge, canteen, two 100 round MTM boxes of ammo (one for each of the two Varminters I will be taking afield), sand bags, shooting tripod, binoculars and flea/tick spray. Then I put the day pack on my back, sling my camouflaged Keb-Lab shooting mat on one shoulder and grab one heavy Varminter in each hand and trundle forth into the Dog town. Once at my chosen shooting spot I lay down the Rifles and put the Keb-Lab mat down then take off the day pack put up the shooting tripod and adjust the rear bag. Then I commence firing with the shorter ranged Varminter of the two I have brought. I do not shoot the PD's that are closer than 200 yards unless I am on private land and the rancher wants a big dent put in the population! I range the PD's with my Leica laser ranger and check the wind if need be with my wind gauge. I fire the first Rifle 8 to 10 times (slowly) and then put it aside and switch to the other longer ranged Varminter. Then I trade back and forth til each Rifle has its limit of ammo down the barrel (most of my Varminters use Molied rounds so their limits are 50 to 80 rounds each). Once the two Rifles are shot dirty I simply roll up the mat and head back to the hidden VarmintMobile for two more Varminters!
I find that the PD's allow more shots at them when I remain in the prone position fully camoed on my camo mat! I usually have my snake pistol on my belt with shot loads! Lots of snakes will crawl by a prone person who is not stamping his feet walking or moving around!
I have timed myself many times from walking with both hands full of Varminters and a back pack full of gear and I can unroll the mat set up the tripod, rear bag, load up and be ready to shoot in 30 seconds! And most important - no vehicle in sight to remind the PD's something IS different - danger is around!
Enjoyed your post thanks for sharing and keep after em!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

V.G.

Thanks for the comeback. I got the Blue Dot load info from Calhoon which is located up in Havre MT.

The times I have been out shooting the little critters has been on private land.

I also can not do the prone position very well, has to do with my neckbone. It does not have the range of motion most normal people have.

I am probably going to be heading to Billings in the next 3 or 4 weeks to go out and do a little PDog thinning out. Maybe if I pass by close to where you live, maybe we can catch each other and grab a cup of coffee or something.

would be interesting meet you.

Stay Cool!

Seafire: Love to have you in! I am 58 miles south of the direct route you would be taking to Billings from Grants Pass, Oregon. That is if you are travelling I-90. Look up Dillon there in SW Montana and thats where I am. I will be busy this early summer but all local stuff except I have a combination Varmint Hunt/Gun Show (6 days coming up from June 4th through the 9th) and I will be travelling then. Other than that only day trips and 2 dayers planned for now. Send me an E-mail and I will send you my phone. Maybe you can stop by on the way home even if we miss on your heading over leg of the trip.
Good luck on the trip no matter what!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
PS: I forgot to exactly refer to the fact that I always have at least two Rifles handy when getting into a good dog town! The switching from Rifle to Rifle is the way I keep them cool! I learned the expensive lesson long ago that hot barrels wear out MUCH quicker than cool barrels.

check out www.carbonbarrels.com for another approach.

Hey Seafire, I used to put a lot of time(35 years) into trying to get various 22Hornets to have consistant accuracy. They would all do fine for awhile and then for no apparent reason, the accuracy would go all to Clinton. Finally traded the last Hornet off a good bit ago and got a 223Rem.

Messed with the 223Rems for awhile and decided I still had a need for some of the mild report 22Hornet level Loads. Got to looking around and worked up a Load using "2400" and the 45gr Hornet bullets. It is very close to the Load you've come up with using Blue Dot.

Totally agree with the barrels staying cooler for a longer time. But, the BIGGEST benefit is I now have consistent accuracy at a 22Hornet level. And the benefit of stepping right back to the 223Rem level with a change of Loads.

Also messed around with Primer power for Pellets. Ended up needing a trace of WW-231 to make it consistent.You have to be careful not to "over power" the Pellet, or accuracy is gone. Found some Promethius (Nylon skirted) Pellets that can take a bit more fuel than a standard Lead Pellet.

Lots of options available.