Prairie Dog Recommendations

[jimreed1948]

Ultimate Prairie Dog Hunting (http://www.ultimateprairiedoghunting.com/)

Take a look at this website. I don't know anything about any of the guides listed nor anyone that has used any of them.
I was going to use one of them 2 years ago, but ended up hunting sage rats in Oregon. If you want to hunt sage rats, I can give you and excellent person in Oregon.

[SageRat Shooter]

Ultimate Prairie Dog Hunting (http://www.ultimateprairiedoghunting.com/)

Take a look at this website. I don't know anything about any of the guides listed nor anyone that has used any of them.
I was going to use one of them 2 years ago, but ended up hunting sage rats in Oregon. If you want to hunt sage rats, I can give you and excellent person in Oregon.

I'd sure like to know who I could call to hunt Sage rats again... the property I used to hunt has been bone dry the last couple years. I miss it.

[Gopher Killer]

Look at a Boyds varmit thumbhole stock. I have one on My axis in .223 I also have a Pro varmit on my B mag. Both stocks greatly improved the shooting on both rifles

[Balvar24]

I ended up with a 112V stock from the older J-series rifles that I'm adapting. I think it's going to turn out ok, If I can get it done in time. Having trouble running down a matte blue trigger guard.

[GaCop]

When I was stationed at Cannon AFB, east central New Mexico in the early 70s, prairie dogs were numerous on the ranches and I had no trouble getting permission to eliminate some of the little buggers. I used a SAKO 243 and handloads with 87 grain BTHPs and the combo did a very good job out to 500 yards as long as it wasn't too windy on the plains. I know many of the areas I hunted back then are now over grown with housing developments and businesses.

[Balvar24]

Got the 223 thrown together. Hoping to sight in this week. 243 is behind it. Both are in similar Wundhammer style stocks, mostly by coincidence. Heading out in a couple weeks.

https://i.ibb.co/SBFVYhk/20210518-083027.jpg

[yobuck]

Got the 223 thrown together. Hoping to sight in this week. 243 is behind it. Both are in similar Wundhammer style stocks, mostly by coincidence. Heading out in a couple weeks.

https://i.ibb.co/SBFVYhk/20210518-083027.jpg
Rifles look very nice, i hope you have a great trip.
The 6x24 Balvar appears to be in mint condition.
Have you done much shooting with it at various distances as you will be with the prairie dogs?

[Balvar24]

The Balvar had been serviced prior to coming to me, so it's clean inside. Glass is superb. I'm going in green with a 100yd. zero and some ballistic charts.

[hamiltonkiler]

A scope with some moa or mil marks in the glass will help tremendously with quick hold overs.
Gun looks sweet. Cheers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[yobuck]

The Balvar had been serviced prior to coming to me, so it's clean inside. Glass is superb. I'm going in green with a 100yd. zero and some ballistic charts.
Well please dont take what im about to say in a way in which it isnt intended.
Dialing scopes is something we all take for granted today.
But fact is that until pretty recently, it wasent something to be taken for granted.
Today we can buy a scope in many different choices of reticle, click value, etc.
But back in the day when your scope was built, and others of a similar design like Unertl, Lyman, and a few others, there was no absolute click value.
The click value could pretty much be what ever, and fact is most people who owned those scopes, myself included didnt realize that.
The dial on the scope might in fact be made so that it could be say 1/4 minit clicks, or 1/8 minit clicks.
But the determining factor isnt just the dial.
It is the dial, in combination with the spacing of the scope mounts.
Your new Weaver scope as with all others have internal adjustments, so the mount plays no role as to the dialing aspect.
But the old target scopes were externaly adjusted, therefore the mount plays a critical role in click value.
For 1/4 minit click value, which most balistic charts are, the scope mounts on your scope need to be 7.25 inches center to center.
And just by observing the picture, i dont think they are.
Meaning, your chart will be useless.
Now you could in fact make a chart that would work for your gun.
But not without going to considerable effort.
Another problem is the device on the scope used for dialing.
Ive owned 3 of that exact scope over the years and i frankly wish i still owned one.
But the first thing i did was change out that original adjustment device for a Kuharsky mount setup that looks just like the Unertl and the Lyman.
You know how i knew to do that? Because i had friends that told me the same things im telling you.
Even Bausch & Lomb realized it was a mistake and would swap it out if you sent the scope back to them.
My suggestion to you would be to take the gun with you and find a prairie dog hole at about 400 or so yds and zero in on that.
Then just leave the scope adjustment there and hold up or down on the dogs as needed.
I would personaly do the same thing with the 223 at a closer distance.
Dialing and redialing chews up alot of time, and quite often you will find you dont have the time before the dog disappears.
You wont hit anything unless you put lead in the air, and if you miss you will at least know why and be ready for him the next time he pops up.
Im assuming you are taking a decent pair of hand held binoculars, and some type of a bench or table to shoot from?
A lazer rangefinder is certainly worth having also, but not absolutly essential. I like the high 6 gallon size buckets with the swivel lid for my seat.
Good place to put sand bags, ammo, and even the glasses and rangefinder. I use the same seat setup when deer hunting.

[Balvar24]

You'll get no arguments from me.

I don't trust scope adjusters. I'm figuring on using Kentucky Windage. Like you said, I can dial in when I get there, if I need to on a hill, etc. That's all I plan to use the ballistic charts for, guestimating hold-over. I think the spacing on the Balvar is supposed to give me 1/10 or something like that. I was surprised to see that the Browning (Bushnell 3200) scope was as close to 1/4" as it was. The Balvar Glass is 10x the glass in the Browning/Bushnell by the way.

Plan to range with the dots in my scope.

I'm taking something to peak thru to spot shots and some help. Some targets and stand. I'm finishing up my portable shooting bench over the next few days. If I need to readjust when I get there, I'll deal with it. Heck all my time setting up/leveling my scope was thrown out the window first thing this morning at the range when I bore sighted.

I've got one of those Kuharsky (or similar adjusters). It's a project for another day. The 223 has the internal adjustment scope.

I'm well under 1" at the range, if I do my part at 100 yards. I know my rifles will shoot. The rest is on me, I suppose.

[yobuck]

Well unless the mount you have was made for the Balvar, you will probably find it wont fit due to the Balvar having a bigger diameter tube than the others.
The reason for the tapered cross hair reticle in the Balvar line of scopes is because they were first focal plane scopes.
That reticle is a separate glass lens with the cross hair etched into it.
There were a few mounts made by various machinists back in the day for those scopes also, and i had one on my first Balvar scope.
But you needed to furnish the actual knob itself, which could be taken from a Unertl mount.
The bases are a standard Unertl block with the shallow cut for the target model scopes.
They, meaning Unertl, also offered the Posa mount and base which had a deeper cut.
I felt that was the only weak point of those scopes, but mine held up well for many years with lots of rounds on a 30x378.
Imagine, a company 60 years ago offering a first focal plane scope with a 30 mm tube. lol

[Balvar24]

The mount I have appears to have Unertl turrets. Have yet to pick up a true Kuharsky.

I like the donuts coarse adjustment option. Especially when sighting in.

[Balvar24]

Got back from our trip out last week. We had two good days of shooting. I made a bench from a transit level tripod and a sheet of plywood I had laying around. I could swivel across the two towns we shot of off and scan for dogs pretty good. Had a good time.

[yobuck]

Got back from our trip out last week. We had two good days of shooting. I made a bench from a transit level tripod and a sheet of plywood I had laying around. I could swivel across the two towns we shot of off and scan for dogs pretty good. Had a good time.
Most important thing is that you went, followed by got back safely, and had a good time.
No doubt it was also a learning experience, with the mind already engaged for next time.
Hope you didnt use the whole sheet of plywood for that tripod ? lol
You are on the right track with your thinking, many mods will follow however.

[Balvar24]

https://i.ibb.co/hcQw1CK/20210522-132059.jpg

Used a piece already on hand. Only had to cut the handhold. A couple of 2x6's mounted side by side would have worked pretty good in place of the plywood. I'm pretty tall, so I can carry this from the truck with my arm fully at rest. I shot over 600 rounds and had very few pieces of brass get away from me and onto the ground. Had room for my charts, binoculars, rifle, box of shells, bottle of water, ear protection, sandbags, Rock shooting rest etc. When the feet are staked into the ground it's pretty darn stable. 600 yard shots missed are shooter problems. Not rest problems.

[yobuck]

https://i.ibb.co/hcQw1CK/20210522-132059.jpg

Used a piece already on hand. Only had to cut the handhold. A couple of 2x6's mounted side by side would have worked pretty good in place of the plywood. I'm pretty tall, so I can carry this from the truck with my arm fully at rest. I shot over 600 rounds and had very few pieces of brass get away from me and onto the ground. Had room for my charts, binoculars, rifle, box of shells, bottle of water, ear protection, sandbags, Rock shooting rest etc. When the feet are staked into the ground it's pretty darn stable. 600 yard shots missed are shooter problems. Not rest problems.
Well im glad the trip went well for you.
I suppose we could say that all misses are shooter problems.
But then it can be argued that at least some could be eliminated with better equipment and technique.
Its up to us as individuals to determine what degree or number of misses is acceptable.
For prarie dog hunters a miss isnt a big thing because right over there is another one, which is why it is so much fun.
Actually i find the close misses can be more entertaining than the solid hits.
The WTF look on their face can be a priceless moment, far more entertaining than flying body parts at least for me.

[Balvar24]

My bucket lid needs a bit more padding. And you're right. Shooting at them is about as much fun as shooting them.

[yobuck]

My bucket lid needs a bit more padding. And you're right. Shooting at them is about as much fun as shooting them.
You can buy them on Ebay, most will rotate also.
I also use a 6 gal bucket for a seat on the front of one of my boats.
I have 2 seats for that one, one swivels, and one dosent, but the lid lifts up on that one.
Very handy thing those buckets.

[ragsflh]

looks like a good time