RE: What Would be Better For Prairie Dogs???
 

220 Swift. If your planning on making reapeted kills at 300 Plus yards you'll probably be reloading anyhow just for an accuacy standpoint. Like Dan said I love mine too. I have a 22-250 also but It's hard to leave the house without the 220. Flat shooting and hard hitting. I like either the 52 grain Sierra Match King or the 50 grain Sierra Blitz King

RE: What Would be Better For Prairie Dogs???
 

Will you be reloading your own ammo?
IF you reload I would buy a 22-250 or 220-swift.
IF you will be buying ammo off the shelf,pick the 223.

RE: What Would be Better For Prairie Dogs???
 

A 22-250 in Remington 700 anything

RE: What Would be Better For Prairie Dogs???
 

I have strong faith in the .243 Win, but it is spendy.

RE: What Would be Better For Prairie Dogs???
 

I dont think anyone wants to shoot 400+ rounds out of 220 swift in one days shooting and or a 22/250. Look around 223 or 222 Remington is the cartridge.

RE: What Would be Better For Prairie Dogs???
 

Actually, Gophers are NOT Prairie Dogs...

Both belong to Family Sciuridae, but do not belong to the same Genus. Prairie Dogs belong to Genus Cynomys, while "Gophers" belong to Genus Spermophilus.

The term "Gopher" is actually a bit misleading, too. Most people refer to any burrowing rodent (Richardson Ground Squirrel, "flickertails", etc.) as a "gopher", though true gophers belong to Genus Geomydae.

300 meter shots on gophers fairly well excludes all of the rimfires. Since ground squirrels (I don't call them gophers) are smaller than prairie dogs, they're a bit more difficult to hit at longer ranges. I'd probably look at one of the .22 centerfires, you might include the .204 Ruger or .17 Fireball, though I know little about either of those new cartridges. I use a .22-250, a .243, and a .308 on prairie dogs out to and beyond 300 yards. Glass!Scopes get to be important when you're looking over 300 meters of windblown prairieobscured byheat waves. I tend to spend as much or more on the scope for these little critters as I do on the rifle.

As a kid, I used to pop ground squirrels with a .22 LR and open sights, and they're witless enough to afford you multiple chances to terminate them if you miss at first. Unless you're cursed with an exceptionally intelligent colony of ground squirrels/gophers that won't let you get any closer than 100 yards (though we used to try stalking to within feet of their burrows), you might be tempted to stick with a good .22 or .17 rimfire. Heckuva lot cheaper, and quite a bit of fun.

RE: What Would be Better For Prairie Dogs???
 

220 Swift is one of my favorite rounds, but if I'm looking at a gun strictly for prairie dogs, I'd go with one of the new Mini-14 Target models with the laminate thumbhole stock. Seems pretty much perfect for prairie dogs:
[ul][*]accurate (necessary for small targets)[*]semi-automatic (there will often be multiple targets and it's good to have quick follow-up shots)[*].223 is capable of shooting 200 yards or more (wouldn'trely muchon rimfires for that)[*].223 = cheap ammo (if you get into a good 'dog town, there could be MANY rounds fired)[/ul]

RE: What Would be Better For Prairie Dogs???
 

Around here we shoot pds all the time. Rimfires don't cut it at all............unless you are proficient at 300 yds. with it. .204 Ruger will do that nicely.

prairie dogs are not the same as gophers...........