P
lace: 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.
(Flame suit on and zipped up!)
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