SmallCaliberCentral

This shoot was in August of this year.I hate posting pictures so much that I waited for a boring rainy day to work on this. Capt probably thinks I was holding out, but I'll try to make it up to him in the blood and guts section.

Place: the middle of Montana




Players: Dale, retired army col. very dangerous at all times. Muff' retired Fargo cop always armed and dangerous. Jay, farmer from North Dakota good shot but not too dangerous. Myself, retired car dealer never dangerous but don't hand over your keys.





The guns: 6 Savage 204's, Bushmaster 223, Savage and Ruger 22-250's and the debut of my newest The Ugly Stick-a Browning A-bolt in 204 with a very heavy Shilen 1 in 12 that is a fine shooter.



I can already hear RIO and the capt "How can anybody with all those Savages call a Browning ugly" Well this rifle earns the title. Very ugly gray stock, poor finish on the receiver from previos owner neglect, and rediculously fat taper unfinished stainless barrel, beat up Burris 6-24 Sig in old Weaver tip-off mounts. THIS THING IS UGLY!



The results:


























This was one great setup for shooting. We could shoot 360 degrees, spread out for all 4 shooters, close as 50 yards and far as 600 yards. Everybody got prairie dogs at over 500 yards and we each shot between 300 and 500 shots for the 3 sessions we were here.


Had to shoot one more on the way out with my 223.




Hot enough so that rifles had to rest in the shade when possible.


This is my real Prairie Dog rig.






Worst part of the trip was flat tire on day 2. That wouldn't be so bad except the dang spare wouldn't come down because the cable was jammed up. Good thing the Dodge spare fit (both 3/4 tons with 8 hole rims) so we could get back to town that night. Take a few minutes once in a while and check your truck for this problem. Farmer Jay was more dangerous than usual when he brought the cut up spare mounting bracket back to his local GMC dealer.

Most of the pd's were shot with 39 gr 204's, some with 32 gr 204's, a few with 40 gr 224 in the AR, and some 55 gr vmax's in 22-250.
The overwelming opinion is the 204 with 39 Bking outshines the others in the wind and over 500 yards.
The dogs didn't seem to care if they were dipatched by a 40 vmax in224 diameter or a 39 bking in 204 diameter-they did their acrobatics either way.

PS: Did you see the snake in there. I threw that in for acloco. We noticed him in that prairie dog hole, the pieces all went down.

Hotshot: Great story and pics there, buddy. It's always fun to see the setups others use when sniping our buddy Skippy and his pals. Looks like you and your crew all had a great shoot, even though you were forced to use Savages (Flame suit on and zipped up!)

All kidding aside though, I doubt any of those dogs hold a grudge because they were shot with a Savage instead of a Cooper or Remington. Heck, they probably don't even know you consider that Browning ugly! It appears it does what it was intended to do quite well. Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and also the song that went something like "if you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make an ugly woman your wife"....... (but we all like pretty girls anyway.... )

Now it's about time for mulies in the canyons, coyotes after that (no elk tag), and then they tell me spring WILL come, and we get back to having "fun with rodents". Batten down the hatches there, Skippy!

Thanks for posting, looks like big fun to me!

(By the way, this is about the only site that permits so many pics per post......no wonder we all love it here! )

I DID notice the snake. Distant cousin, but still blood!

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm26 ... 0_0076.jpg

Hotshot........ I have second RIO's comment.......
""Thanks for posting, looks like big fun to me!""
Great setup with shooting 360*.................Yep I found the snake in the hole. and looks like all had a grand time.
Great feed back from different shooter that the lil Ruger 204 is great cartridge and highly accurate.
Later and realy enjoyed the photos...............boy I miss being out their!!!
Ray P

When I took a walk to get some pictures the Colonel came with me and asked why I took so many pictures. I told him they were to share with my friends on the forum. His reply "don't they know what prairie dog guts look like?" Yes I said, that's the problem they do know what they look like and these guys demand to see pictures. Hope you all enjoy.

Great pics!

In Christ,

Song Dog

Hotshot, Nice write up and pics. And yes we do need lots of pictures! Thanks for sharing. Gary