Seems that regardless of caliber or cartridge, heavy bullets do better in the wind.

But how do heavy bullets work on prairie dogs ?

I've seen where a 375 H & H was pretty destructive on them>......
But no more than a 22.250 or 243 would have been....

the whole purpose in having a varmit bullet is that it blows up, killing the varmit quickly and in case of a miss, does not ricochet

The only time I use heavy for caliber bullets is when I'm shooting at long range. I shoot the 142 grain Matchking in my 6.5X284 for prairie dogs and ground squirrels but only when I'm shooting beyond 600 yards and I'm sure of my backstop. Otherwise, I use 50 grain bullets in .224", 58 grain in .243, etc for the same reasons that Butchbloc gave.

Not that I haven't shot 300 grain TSX bullets out of my 375H&H at ground squirrels, I'm just really careful when I do it

quote:

Originally posted by Hammer:
Seems that regardless of caliber or cartridge, heavy bullets do better in the wind.

But how do heavy bullets work on prairie dogs ?

Hammer I start my early morning shooting out with a .223 and 50 gr. V-Max or Blitzkings. As the day goes on I move up in caliber 22-250 is next with the same bullet but the MV jumps up to over 3800fps. Then it progresses to 6MM Remington and the 70 gr. Blitzking at about 3600 fps. They all hit pretty good with lots of splat with the 6MM putting on a pretty good air show. The 6MM is the most consistant after 500 yards.

"Heavy" is relative. The 55 grain 6mm Ballistic Tip is devastatingly accurate in my guns, but I prefer the 70 grain BT (or similar Blitzking) for it's better long range consistency. It also seems to make the more spectacular "aerial" shows. I haven't tried the 80-grain BT, but it might be even better for extended yardages.

I see no reason for using non-varmint bullets on prairie dogs and the like. Shooting at them with calibers larger than 6mm can't be all that much fun -- too much muzzle blast and recoil, and you can't easily see the results of your own shot.

I use a 75gr A-Max in a 22-250 with a 1/7 twist and in my 223"s with 1/8 and 1/9 twist. The 22-250 have a barrel life of about 1K rounds. I don't know yet with the 223's. Good out to 600 yards and they blow up pretty good.