Went out to a new place to do some PD shooting last weekend. I spent three hours shooting from the same spot, until I ran out of ammo. My longest shot, and longest ever measured (lasered) shot was 437 yards. I missed the first shot, made a slight windage adjustment, then shot both dogs off the mound. When the shooting was done I walked out and ranged back to my truck to verify the distance. Looking forward to heading back in three weeks. This might be the summer I finally break the 500 yard mark.

Fun, isn't it?

Wind is much more of a challenge than trajectory in long range shooting. Pick a calm day, preferably with a slight overcast to minimize mirage, and you'll be able to connect on that 500 yard dog eventually.

The great thing about shooting at dogs that are at the edge of your effective range is that a single target can provide you a lot of shooting before you "use it up".

Some hotshot will undoubtedly write about shooting dogs at 700, 800, or a thousand yards. This is possible, but making a hit at these ranges is necessarily much more a matter of luck than skill. Never let anyone tell you that shooting PDs over 400 yards away isn't a long way out.

Not a hotshot........but I get lots of opportunities to take long shots (at least long for me)
Longest to date = 551 yds.

but several hundred over 400 yd.

I am going tomorrow morning for three days and plan on taking several hundred more.

There are several fellas I know of from these parts that shoot them much farther than 500 yds....they use handguns and they are not "hotshots"....they are excellent shooters with years of long range shooting experience. I know Ernie has confirmed hits out past 1500 yds...

Cobrad: Congratulations on your new personal best kill there at 437 yards!
Good for you and many happy returns.
Distance and wind are fun (and often frustrating!) factors to deal with on the Prairies while we are "pursuing" Varmints.
If you get the urge to try to make that 500 yard shot then be sure to remember to go ahead and make use of your "mobility" and move on over to have that wind at your back OR directly in your face! Rather than having the wind quartering or perpindicular to your bullets flight. Anything is better than having your bullets fighting the full and often unpredictable force and effects of the wind.
Stonecreek makes mention of 700, 800 and 1,000 yard shots on Varmints, these are tougher, MUCH tougher to accomplish than they sound.
I have never killt a Varmint at 700 yards (or further) and I have killt a ton (many tons!) of Varmints!
I am happy, content and well rewarded when I make a kill at 400 yards!
I have never killt a Varmint that I verified at being 600+ yards distant - I may have done so, just never verified it.
Again congrats on your feat.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

cobrad,
Congrats on your longest shot to date
I have no doubt you will break that 500 yard mark. It is just a matter of time and persistence.

I agree, wind not trajectory is the biggest issue.
Maybe I would say that inconsistent wind is a bigger issue than trajectory. Give me a consistent 10mph all day. Once you dial in the wind--you are good.
But vertical can be a big issue if you are not using meplat uniformed HP's or poly tip bullets.
Inconsistent neck tension and a number of other things can make your vertical be off at these distances.
No doubt there is an element of luck at ranges beyond say, 1200-1300 yards or so.
At 1000 yards in good conditions there are a good # of folks who can consistently hit clay pigeons @ 1k. I remember on one Friday I watched him clean at least 4 clays in four shots.
When one takes a rig of that quality (not talking about an out of the box Winchester) shots out past 1k are not as "lucky" as one might assume, especially when there is a skilled shooter running it.
The 1k competitors and LR shooters I am thinking about are not the people who talk the talk on the web (where you can be anybody you want), but they have done this consistently in front of others and many times filmed.
The groups @ 1k comps are getting smaller all of the time, and even some of the one mile (1760 yards) shoots the groups are pretty amazing.
Some even set up wind flags when PD'ing at several points so they can tell when the conditions are coming back in.
My 2 longest PD's surely have an element of luck, since my realistic group at those ranges is larger. The luck in that, with consistent conditions (and consistent shooting) is waiting till your bullet puts in in the group where the dog happens to be.
Could you call these extreme ranges feat shooting? Yes.
But it sure is a lot of fun
The LR game can be an expensive one, bbut I have even seen factory class @ 1k comps turn in some awesome groups

I guess it all depends if you dog shoot for the sheer number of pink mist experiences or if you have different goals in mind.
We are considering setting up a LR PD shoot for specialty handguns only, where no shots will be taken under 500 yards

Congrats, every personal best is worthy of celebration!

Thanks fellas. I carry a Dwyer wind meter and find it to be very helpful. Trajectory is easy, wind is not. I've had two 1K yard bench rifles built for PD's in years past. One would not shoot, period. Gone. The other was a literal one holer off the bench at the short, 100 yard, range near here. Unexpected problems forced the sale of that one before I ever got it into a dog town. I'm now shooting a Cooper 22-250 that consistently shoots 1/2 moa, or better. My best group with that rifle was a 2.3" five shot group at 650 yards, on a dead calm morning. I shot a few other groups that day nearly as small before a breeze came up. When I head back out to shoot PD's, I'm going to look for a place where I can get out past 500 yards and be there early when the wind is calm.

cobrad,
Who built your two 1k rigs?
If your cooper is shooting like that, then busting 500 is in your not to distant future

i did manage one once at 1200 using an old rem. 40x in 300 mag. but i've yet to achieve my mile long shot with the 50bmg. Maybe this year

Cobrad well done, and keep up the good work! I hope that you have learned to shoot over while ranging the dogs as they will stay up longer. Seeing that you use a .22/250 I think that 500 should be pretty easy for you. My best .223 is 1106, and a 6.5/284 at 1247, made my Varmint Hunter's dream come true... Hold small and hit small.

A couple of summers ago in Montana, we get out there in the afternoon, and we see a couple of prairie dogs way off in the distance...

My buddy asks do I think I can hit them with my 223 from off the hood of the truck.. I guesimate 400 yds, and crank up the target turrent... explode the first one with the first shot, and then explode the second one with the second shot...

I was right on, with my guestimate as distance, 400 yds....

My buddy says " I wouldn't believe it If I hadn't seen it!"

So we finally set up, and low and behold one pops up at 50 yds... I crank the target turrents back down to a 100 yd zero... crank the scope down from 10 to 8 power, its lowest setting.....

Fire 5 shots at 50 yds at the same HUGE prairie dog, and miss him each time... right after the two 400 yd shots....

As my buddy smiles and says again " I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it!"

Typical day prairie dog hunting...

cheers
" deadeye" seafire
the 50 yd rookie...

Cobrad: that's a dandy shot. Be happy, was it a But Once Shot???

I've found with my .223/55gr seroed at 2"h@100yds. About a height over is on at 400yds. and 10mph is about a height into the wind. No, not accurate, but, a mighty good place to start. Takes a lot of misses to figure it out. I've never been out with the guys that: "dial 'em in". Haven't figured that out yet. They've got to teach me those tricks before I believe it.

I've hit a few at 600, and a very few further than that. But, I've missed a hell of alot more than I've hit beyond 400yds. For quite a few years I missed a lot more than I hit at any range. IT takes a lot of ammo downrange to hit consistantly. I've put a lot of ammo downrange over the last 45 yrs too. IF I'd have to put a figure on hits and misses. I'd figure it'd be fairly honest: 25-30 hits beyond 250yds. Maybe 2% beyond 400. Thing is, when I start shooting a lot, the misses get a lot less often. A bipod and sitting is a good steady position.

My first 25yrs was with an old 06/K4 rig shooting 110's. That's a RED MIST, not anything like a .223 and the stew meat shots.

Good shootin, get to puttin that ammo down range and you'll get that 500yd hit.

It's strange how many times you can miss one and it'll just stand there, or slowly crawl around. I saw one yesterday take a standing dive from at least 3, maybe 4 feet from the hole. Just barely missed with a .45 Colt at 75yds. Was right on, just an inch or two to the right into the mound.

Here's a warning you guys need to be aware of. A few yrs ago I found a place that would buy p/dog heads for $2 each. Sure did! NFW I'm gonna tell you who though. Anyway, I shot 6 pups while momma jumped up and down cussing me out. Then when out of pups, I shot her too. Walked out to collect the heads and when I reached down for her, shot nearly in half with a center hit. She lunged at me nearly 2' and almost nailed my bare hand. Wide open mouth about like a house cat. That made a believer outta me. SO: be damned careful out there, ok? Those fangs sure looked impressive! Once I choked a house cat off my wrist, the infection was NOT fun.

George

George,
Yes, Steve (sscoyote) is my long-time hunting buddy.
The 907 yarder was a coyote, not a PD and if I remember right (I wasn't there) there was two yotes and he made an attempt on the 2nd one and missed.
The three and a half days this past october that we committed to LR PD's Steve never connected for two reasons:
1. he spent most of his time spotting for me.
2. he didn't shoot any till the last morning thru early afternoon and there was a front coming in.
He flipped a dog @ the 1k range and I thought he killed it. But we couldn't find it.
I also tried that morning without any success at just under and just over the 1k mark.
All of our PD shooting was off of portable benches. Also had my son with me and Steve's mom and our friend Mitch was there part of the time also. It was a good time.

George, George, George-- man, what in the world r u doing?

Thks. for the backup Ern.

Well we decided to have a 3-day LR PD shoot for Specialty Handguns in 2007, but have decided to make the shortest attempts no less than 399 yards, instead of 500. If any of you guys want to stretch the barrels on your specialty pistols (no rifles allowed ) let me know. It will be a limited number, but details will come later since this is a FYI post.
Be a great opportunity if you are a VHM subscriber to make it into the 500, 1000, 1500, or 2K club.

cobrad, CONGRATULATIONS!!! You are now Hooked on varmint shooting!!! Over here in the east, the wind doesn't uually effect us like out there on the prairies and the groundhogs are definitely bigger than the prairie dogs!! But it's the thrill of that connection, no matter the varmint!! 400 yards is A GREAT SHOT!!!! No matter the varmint!!! GHD

I've only gotten back into PD's, and that comes but one time a year on my annual pilgrimage to South Dakota for pheasants. Land owner has a small village on his place and his neighbor has about 100 acres of them. Longest confirmed kill was 262 yds with my NEF 223, shooting 55 grain factory ammo. Didn't have enough glass on it to suit me (3x9x40) and that "long" shot took me four tries before he was nailed. Oh yeah, a 30 mph cross wind didn't help either. But it was fun!!! And we were told to come back anytime...so I'll be there again this October with newer bigger glass as in a 4x16x40 Mil Dot on top of that little single shot. Hopefull I can crack 300 yds this time, but it is such a target rich environment that there are generally several 'dogs up and around inside 250 yds.

I'm gonna have to start reloading, and have already bought a used press and dies...RCBS 2. Now I need to get a scale, powder dispenser, and a few other things and build a bench.

John

GHD,
good to see you.

John,
Glad you are back into the sport. With better optics and handloads made for rigs preferred diet, 300 is just around the corner.

Hi guys, been gone to AK, just got home tonight. I am wracking my brain trying to remember the names of the guys that built those 1K guns, but drawing a blank. Too tired to think, I think. I'll remember as soon as I turn this computer off for the night. Someone was asking me why would anyone spend the $ invested in that Cooper just to shoot at something you won't eat, so far away you can't see them with the naked eye. If you have to ask... You varmint guys will understand; I have spent far more on varmint rigs than on big-game rifles, and the Cooper is near the bottem of the list.

In the ongoing effort to improve my marksmanship, I've been putting a lot of lead down range. The other day a guy was in the lane next to me, and after the range was called cold, he sat and marked his targets with a magic marker. Now this guy shoots about five days a week, 22's only and usually has two rifles and goes through at least a brick each outing. And he consistently punches one hole groups at 50 yds.

I took his idea one step further and started coloring in "blocks" that were 4"x 8" on my targets. The size is a close approximation of a prairie dog. I can put three of them on my target board, and with spacing, can put six "dogs" on each sheet of paper. Then I set my target at 200 yds. That's as far as we can shoot on this range.

Next I shoot at each "dog" one time, which gives me 18 shots before I have to cycle back through the targets. And this is about the amount of time before the range goes cold, again. I mark all first shots, then go through them again, ending up with two shots on each target. It's amazing how much better you can shoot when you practice!

Thought I would throw this out for those who are not so experienced in this....like me.

John

As difficult as this is, I am not buying any more rifles this year (except maybe another Kimber Montana when the long action magnums appear) because I'm spending so much on components. I am also replacing my old single stage press with a progressive this week. I need the practice because I have yet to find a rifle so accurate it could shoot all by itself. And oh you should see my pistol marksmanship!