What's the longest shot?

[woodnut]

Hey, I want to know what the longest shot either you or someone you know has made on a prairie dog with an AR 15 in 223 cal. What cartridge and what bullet was used, what distance, and how verified. I'll ask this on the Ar15 forum as well. Now be honest, ok? Only interested in the 223 or 223 A.I. cartridges for this question. if you answer here that the shot was with a bolt gun,(and specify that please) I would like to know that ,too. But not on the AR15 forum.

 

[COBrad]

My grandson made a head shot one one at just over 320 yards last month.
Handload using H335 and 55 gr Sierra

 

[woodnut]

AWESOME ! Great to have granddad watching the shot, eh? I am especially encouraged that there are some youth still getting in the game. Congratulations on a tough shot!

 

[MudRunner2005]

The military claims the 5.56x45's max terminal effective range for humans is somewhere around 660 yards.

HOWEVER, I have heard folks accurately shooting paper at 1,000 with .223 bolt guns...

We don't have P-Dogs down here, so I can't be of help in that way.

 

[woodnut]

Mudrunner2005, Over here in Va. we don't either. But we used to have a lot of groundhogs til coyotes took over. As to the effective range of the 223; prairie dogs KNOW it's lethal past 600 ! More on this later when some more respond about their shots. Thanks for the input !

 

[MudRunner2005]

Mudrunner2005, Over here in Va. we don't either. But we used to have a lot of groundhogs til coyotes took over. As to the effective range of the 223; prairie dogs KNOW it's lethal past 600 ! More on this later when some more respond about their shots. Thanks for the input !

I just figurd I'd put what little input I have on the .223/5.56 caliber. I have no doubt it would be lethal past 600 on something as small as a P-Dog. They're thin-skinned and very small. I could imagine it being possible to kill them at 800-1000 (tops), if I had to guess, if you could make that shot with that caliber, losing that much momentum from the lightweight bullets.

I know there's guys shooting P-Dogs over 1000 with .22-250's. I bet that's a sight to see.

 

[LDHunter]

Assuming one isn't worried about missing and/or wounding the critters I'm gonna opine that there are a bunch of shooters capable of regularly taking them out to 600 yds with good and fairly frequent results assuming the wind behaves and good rests being used.

I personally have witnessed a fair amount of shots in the mid 400 range and don't consider that to be much more than a good shot and not really some kind of miracle or worthy of YouTube videos.

I only wish I had the opportunity to take trips out to prairie dog land several times a year to sharpen my shooting skills. Not much will keep you more finely tuned than a target rich environment at medium to long ranges...

Bob

 

[joseph]

The military claims the 5.56x45's max terminal effective range for humans is somewhere around 660 yards.

HOWEVER, I have heard folks accurately shooting paper at 1,000 with .223 bolt guns...

We don't have P-Dogs down here, so I can't be of help in that way.

They also shoot paper with AR15s at 1,000 yds. with open sights (peep) in High Power competition. gun) - - - - - - - - - - - -

joseph

 

[woodnut]

Well, it looks like it's time to explain why I asked this question. Last June I made a very , very long shot with my 223AI. It goes to prove a blind squirrel can find a nut. But, I'm that squirrel.
I took my favorite AR named Wicked Wanda to S.D. It is loaded with a 55gr. Sierra BlitzKing bullet and the load has been chronoed (at 900ft. elev.) at a sizzling 3600fps. And very accurate. The elevation at the prairie dog was about 2000ft. so at the target I'm sure it was still sonic. Oh, the target was 862 yards out!!!!
I had a spotter who used a high quality pair of range finding binos and was spotting through the same high quality brand spotting scope and witnessed the shot. I don't know who was more excited, him or me ! In the excitement, we didn't get the cardboard sign and photo op. I knew a fellow had shot a longer shot last season , but with a bolt gun in 6x284 and 105s. It didn't hit me til much later what I may have done. It was a very long shot with only a 55 gr. bullet ! The scope was a NightForce 5.5x22x56. I didn't dial the range, and I was out of mil dots! I had it inside the rectangle at the bottom of the wire! I think I need to learn to dial.