Little carbine vs Pdog on the prairie...

[NorthDakota]

Had a chance to do some pest elimination over Labor Day weekend.

RRA Elite Operator with a bunch of crap updated:

MI handguard
Magpul MIAD
Larue w/Leupold VXII 6x18
Harris bipod
Larue 2pt sling
Magpul BUPS (backup polymer sights)
Magpul CTR

sorry for the pic quality - smartphone:


http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/uu2/NorthDakotaGlocker/PDog2011/RRAEliteOperator.jpg

All I had with was my Rock River Elite Operator that I "customized" to what I like. Despite its 16 inch barrel, it performed very well...much better than expected. In fact, I think it almost makes my 26 inch barrel White Oak upper unnecessary for the "walkabout" style of pdog zapping this time of year; given their education throughout the year.

I put down about 80 rounds throughout the day. My brother-in-law and his co-worker also fired it and really liked it. Highlights were a shot I took at 399 yds, range finder verfied and witnessed by both brother-in-law and his co-worker. I was using 52 grain JHP Federal White box ammo for that shot...nothing special and it still had a "dynamic" affect on the dog. Another highlight was when I got 3 dogs at around 320 yds in 4 shots in about 5 seconds. Most were in the 250-300 yd range.

I'm really starting to see the value of the AR platform for pdogs (holdout, I know). It is certainly accurate enough and the fast follow-up shot was very nice. I also like the throw lever scope mounts from Larue. I used my Lepuold VXII 6x18 from my heavy LMT/WOA for this pdog trip and took off the Mark AR 3x9...simply for a bit more glass for the long shots. I simply threw the levers, rezeroed and was ready to go in 6 rounds for zeroing. Pretty slick.

Brother-in-law was using my old Remington 700 .223 that he bought from me and had a hard time keeping up. But when it did connect, it did just fine.

I ended up using 3 types of ammo and all peformed well. The aforementioned 52 grain JHP, 40 grain Fiochi v-max and the biggest surprise, 55 grain FMJ Wolf. It really did quite well out to 300.

The weather was absolutely perfect. The skies were a bit cloudy which helped cut the sun and the temp was about 80 at the most, which kept the mirage down. Very pleasant and with a slight breeze but not your typical ND winds.

Granted, 399 wasn't that impressive when compared against what the guys from the Varmint Hunters Clubs are doing with their wildcats and 1000 yd kills but I was using a mat and going prone. No silly table or RV to shoot from. Overall, a good time with a second tier beater :)

http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/uu2/NorthDakotaGlocker/PDog2011/200yarder.jpg


http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/uu2/NorthDakotaGlocker/PDog2011/283yarder.jpg

http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/uu2/NorthDakotaGlocker/PDog2011/Folded.jpg

http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/uu2/NorthDakotaGlocker/PDog2011/HeartButte.jpg

http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/uu2/NorthDakotaGlocker/PDog2011/TheBattlefield.jpg

[NWPilgrim]

Looks like that one prairie dog almost made it into your position. Nice 3 yd stop. :D

Nice report. Did you zero for 200 and then hold over, or were you dialing elevation for the longer ranges? Were you hitting on the first shot, or having to walk it in at 300 yds. I never hunted prairie dogs efore and they look pretty small to be shooting at 300 yds. Nice shooting.

[Fullauto]

A friend and I are trying to get hooked up with a friend of a friend in SD to do some P-dog hunting / Pest Control. Not going to happen this year maybe next year. Looks like you ad a better weekend then I did, Family reunion outside, in the rain it sucked. i have not tried any wolf ammo through my RRA yet I'll have to pick some up and give it a try. thanks for rekindling my want to take out son varmints.

[NorthDakota]

Looks like that one prairie dog almost made it into your position. Nice 3 yd stop. :D

Nice report. Did you zero for 200 and then hold over, or were you dialing elevation for the longer ranges? Were you hitting on the first shot, or having to walk it in at 300 yds. I never hunted prairie dogs efore and they look pretty small to be shooting at 300 yds. Nice shooting.


Ha - that "3 yd stop" reminds me - I had one pop up in a slight defilade from our rise at about 80 yds. I thought this was going to be easy. I ended up hitting the protective berm and sent a piece of hard clay into the air and the lil guy disappeared down the hole. The other 2 guys thought I severed his head but when we investigated, no blood trail.

Those mounds create a nice "obstacle" to cleanly smacking them. The best time to get them is when they are outside the hole grazing or on top of the mound. But once they go down and peak their head out, one has to be sure the bullet will clear the top of the mound. In a nutshell, they have a pretty good defensive position:)

I zeroed at 100 yds as there will always be the dumb young one that pops up to chatter and scold you close in.

I was using this optic:
http://www.leupold.com/hunting-and-shooting/products/scopes/vx-ii-riflescopes/vx-ii-6-18x40mm-adj-obj/

with the LRV reticle. The hash marks were pretty close at 2 and 300 yds respectively and the transition point from thin to thick crosshair was close at 400 yds.

If I were set on making it into the 600 yd + club, I'd look to lazing and dialing vs holdover. But then one would be far enough way to keep them oblivous and would have time on your side.

The varmint reticles are nice for the relatively quick engagement times in the 200-400 yd range.

Going fwd, I'll probably use my LMT PRS stocked lower w/JP trigger and 26 inch WOA 1/12 upper setup for 40 gr v-max loads. I would also like to get one of these for it though:

http://www.leupold.com/hunting-and-shooting/products/scopes/vx-3l-riflescopes/vx-3l-6-5-20x56mm-long-range-target/

w/varmint reticle.

[NorthDakota]

A friend and I are trying to get hooked up with a friend of a friend in SD to do some P-dog hunting / Pest Control. Not going to happen this year maybe next year. Looks like you ad a better weekend then I did, Family reunion outside, in the rain it sucked. i have not tried any wolf ammo through my RRA yet I'll have to pick some up and give it a try. thanks for rekindling my want to take out son varmints.

SD is where it's at for Pdogs as well as WY and southern MT and I heard CO has a bunch too. ND doesn't have as much overall and it's getting harder to find land to do it on. Many farmers have resorted to poisoning them out or charge exhorbant prices.

One of these days I want to go to SD for some pest elimination.

Have fun!

[KingCobra]

NICE!

looks like alot of fun!

[SkyPup]

Nice pics, that looks like a great time!

[tommyh]

i have always wanted to do that myself. watching the videos on youtube has me rolling with all the aerobatics those little guys do :)

[Zhurdan]

A buddy and I go out about every other week in the summer.

Our favorite phrase after pulling the trigger... BOOOOOM SPLATTER!!

The ranchers around here happily let you on their land as long as you clean up what you brought in. Their cows end up stepping in the holes and breaking legs so, population control is necessary... and extremely fun!