I got a very early start this morning and found that there really wasn't a traffic jam at the intersection of US Highway 2 and ND Highway 85 this early in the morning. The sun was shining and the prospects of a good day of load testing and shooting prairie dogs brought a big smile to my face. I had taken four extra rifles along and 20 different loads I needed to shoot through those rifles to try get a reading on velocities and accuracy. I had the same two rifles along as last time that had barrels that had been given the BLACKNITRIDE™ treatment. One was a Pac-Nor 1 in 11 twist barrel I’m testing 39 gr. Sierra BlitzKing bullets in. The other nitride treated barrel is one I’m testing 30 gr. Nagel T-000 bullets out of a Remington Varmint contour Lilja barrel with a 1 in 9 twist. I also had my Stiller Predator action .17 Remington along again testing loads for the 30 gr. FBHP Starke Red Prairie Varmint bullets. Another rifle I had along was a used Remington 700 BDL with a Lilja 1 in 9 twist stainless steel barrel that I bought last fall. I bought it mainly for the action and the scope that was on it and some 450 rounds of .17 Remington brass. When that barrel gives up too much accuracy, I will have a new Remington Varmint contour Lilja barrel with a 1 in 9 twist chambered and installed. I already have the barrel, but need to order a reamer and will have the barrel fluted and threaded on the muzzle for my suppressor. I will also be using the 500 new Nosler .17 Remington casings that I’m neck turning and will have PT&G make a reamer based on several dummy rounds I’ll send in for them to make up a reamer print for me to look at.When I finally got down into the dog town the grass was still pretty wet so I was happy I was going to do my load testing now so the grass would dry up when I got after shooting prairie dogs. There’s no way I wanted to be lying on my belly on wet grass. On this trip I had my chronograph along so it took me a while to get that all set up so I was shooting bullets the proper height above the electronic eyes and I had that set up and ready to go by 8:35 a.m. and the temperature was around 71º. I set up my target boxes and started shooting my test loads. Once again the tailgate of my pickup served as my shooting bench.
During my load testing a couple of fellows pulled up alongside my rig and wondered what I was doing. I explained I was load testing and then I would be out shooting prairie dogs. They wondered if it was alright if they shot a few prairie dogs while I was load testing. I told them to go have fun, but PLEASE DO NOT SHOOT IN MY DIRECTION. They were road hunters and poked their rifle barrels out the windows and began shooting when they got about 200 yards north of me. I think they left the dog town around 12:30 or 1:00 p.m. At least the shooting stopped. The temperature was up around 83º.
I finished up shooting the last of the test loads and had one round that had a primer that wouldn’t detonate so I shot 99 test loads. I was rather surprised about the high velocities I was getting out of the BLACKNITRIDE™ treated barrels compared to what I got with those same loads in barrels that weren’t treated. I will definitely have to adjust the weight of my powder charges a bit lower! By now my Caldwell Wind Meter gave me a temperature reading of 90º.
I was going to use my Savage target action .204 Ruger for PD shooting today so I got that out and checked the point of impact. I use 39 gr. Sierra BKs with hBN coating seated .005" off the lands and pushed down the barrel by 27.2 gr. of IMR 8208 XBR fired up by Remington 7½ primers in the Savage target action. I’m using Nosler brass with the neck walls turned to about .0111" thick all the way around and I’m using a .225 TiN bushing in my Redding Type S die. I have a Nikon Monarch 6.5-24x50mm scope on this rifle with the Nikoplex reticle. It took me 6 shots to get the scope adjusted and make sure it was shooting 1 inch high at 100 yards. I have my trajectory charts taped to the stock of my rifle and prefer to have my scope set for 1 inch high at 100 yards so I was ready for some PD shooting.
Once the Savage target action was shooting where I wanted it, I put it in the case and drove to my target boxes and loaded them up. I parked in the shade of a couple of big trees and got ready to eat lunch around 2:50 p.m. I had taken one bite out of my sandwich when I noticed several young PD pups having lunch about 25 yards west of me and was also listening to an adult PD barking at me about 75 yards NW of where I was sitting trying to have a peaceful lunch. I had my Savage target action sitting at the ready at the rear of my pickup so I sneaked around and got the rifle, rested the bipod on the tailgate and put that barking prairie dog down dead in the dirt. The two young pups to the west of me didn’t seem fazed by the shot and were busy eating grass. I sneaked around to the front of my PU and rested the bipod on the hood and managed to shoot both of the pups. It was only 2:55 p.m. and I had scored 3 hits on 3 shots. Here’s the only piece I could find of the first little pup I shot. I could see parts flying in all directions when I squeezed off the shot.
I finished my lunch in peace and quiet, got my gear and put two boxes of shells in my backpack. One box had 30 loaded rounds in it and another box had 101 loaded rounds. I started to walk along the east side of the little rise to the north of my pickup at 3:27 p.m. By now it was near 99º, but there was a little bit of a breeze to help keep it almost comfortable.
I figured since it was so hot that I would try to stay in the shade of trees when I could. When you get to be my age you have to be cognizant of dehydration so I try to stay in the shade and drink plenty of cold water on days like this. I shot 15 shots right after lunch and killed 15 prairie dogs so I had a body count of 18 PDs for 18 shots.
Here’s one of the unlucky PDs that was 25 yards from the end of my barrel when I squeezed the trigger.
I took another photo showing the badlands type area I was in with the decapitated PD & my Savage target action .204 Ruger.
I moved northeast to another location and stayed in the shade. I could feel my left calf cramping up, but there were prairie dogs begging to be shot so I just gritted my teeth and kept firing shots. I shot 7 more times and hit 7 more PDs before walking out into the sun where I could see lots of PDs out by a small grove of trees. I intended to shoot the PDs that were up in the tree grove and slightly north of the trees and then walk into the tree grove, lie down in the shade and shoot a bunch more to the north side of the trees. The shooting was so good I never made it to the other side of the trees before I had shot the last of the 30 shells from the first box. I took out the box of 101 shells, loaded up my ammo holder on the stock. I moved 25 yards closer to the trees and shot 9 more shots. I bagged my first double of the day on one of those shots. It was 5:00 p.m. and I decided to take some photos and then walk back to the pickup and get ready to head for home. I gathered up a few of the closest dead PDs for a group photo and managed to get myself in the photo too.
I managed to shoot 6 more prairie dogs on my way back to the pickup so I wound up bagging 46 prairie dogs with 45 shots. The longest shot was 183 yards, but most of the shots were from 25 yards out to 150 yards. The targets were plentiful and I’m sure I could have shot up every one of the 131 shells I had in my back pack, but I’ll be back and hopefully I’ll have loads worked up for the rifles with the BLACKNITRIDE™ treated barrels. Until then, I bid you farewell for now and hope you enjoyed the little hunt and the photos. I got home at 7:52 p.m. and I was beat!!!
