PD shoot coming up

RB II

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Texas
We leave SE Texas Saturday morning headed for White River, SD to shoot PDs. My first trip out. Got my .223, 22-250 and 22 mag rifles tuned up, loaded up ammo and ready to go. Very excited!!!!!
The 223 is shooting lights out with the 55 SGK bullets and H4198 powder......of which I have no more and I found a hen with a full set of teeth the other day but no powder.
The 22-250 is pushing the 55 gr V-max flat base bullets at just under 3500 fps. They won't be dodging them!!!! It likes 35 grs of Varget powder.
The 22 mag is kinda weak at 100 yds but figure most of the shots with it will be somewhat less than that. Factory Hornady Varmint 32 gr.
 

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I will say, early to mid June is my favorite time. The pups aren't all born on the same date anyway, size & age vary. Years ago I took two 17 HMR's out dogging. We used them some but only brought them one year. Since I reload, mostly just use the 223 & 22-250s.

Hopefully you have cooperative weather, doesn't have to be perfect, but not much sinks a doggy outing like rain & prairie muck.
 
Had a great hunt, shot a LOT of ammo and rid the area of a bunch of dogs. The trip was awesome as were the accommodations and hunting grounds. I will be going back again in the years to come.
Longest confirmed with the 22-250 was 405 yds, 223 was 390 yds and 22 mag was 145 yds.
 

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We had an outfitter/guide that had the ground to hunt (although we hunted the reservation the second half of the second day), and the accomodations. We were in a TINY town in SW South Dakota, so not a lot of options for a place to stay. And since it was my first trip, I felt much better about going that route vs DIY.
 
Would you recommend that outfitter, or have any advice for first time PD trip? I am looking at taking two teenage grandsons next summer.
 
Would you recommend that outfitter, or have any advice for first time PD trip? I am looking at taking two teenage grandsons next summer.

Yes, he was very accomodating and worked hard to get us on the best shooting. He does have another full time job, so if him not being right there with you might be an issue then just understand that. We text all day as needed to coordinate our next steps. Not an issue for any of us, but we are all 4 of us are older seasoned hunters. He has access to private shooting as well as reservation shooting, but each has their own licensing, so to shoot both costs a bit more for those separate licenses.

We had issues with access to the grounds due to rain, so not an issue under his control, but he worked with us to provide a place to shoot and all of them had at least a good shoot, others were much better. But that is just hunting, IMO. His first spot for us was completely inaccessible, but we did not miss more than a short period of hunting time while he re-organized our shoot. He actually got stuck that first morning on the way into that place, we had to pull him out of the ditch!!! LOL

I will say, that I consider being able to shoot and hit a 2" +- circle at a minimum of 200 yards a prerequisite to a fully enjoyable PD shoot. Rifles must be capable of that as well. After the first few shots, the ones closest to the muzzles will not surface again and they seem to get further and further away as the shooting continues. 200 to 250 yds +- seemed to me to be the "magic" number for the distance that they would continue to surface out of their holes after the shooting starts. We had good luck with 22 mags to about 150 yds, 17 HMR to about 200 yds and 223 and 22-250 out further. I am sure a 204 Ruger type would have worked very well also. But the wind wasn't really bad. I think my biggest wind hold was about 3 MOA. Generally we tried to setup with the majority of the shooting directly up or down wind so as to not fight the wind.

I shot to about 400 yds, but only because I wanted to take longer shots. We generally had good shooting inside of 300 yds most of the time.

Additionally, IMO, each shooter should have two rifles at his disposal as they get hot after 20 rounds or so, even fluted sendero/varmint barrels. Maybe three rifles between two shooters would work, but it really depends on the rate of fire. But the best shooting will lead to hot rifles in pretty short order. Also a range finder and a ballistics chart for each rifle. For the best results the scopes should have target/adjustable turrets of some type to allow the correct adjustments for the distances to be made. Even one or two clicks at 200ish yds helps hit that small target.

This guide has shooting benches that were very nice, but he didn't have shooting bags or rests so I would recommend bringing those.
 
Very good information, thanks! I do have several PD capable rifles that I have built over the years (.20 practical, .223 rem, .223AI, and fast twist 22-250), I just need to find someplace to put them to the test. I used to shoot in a local F class match so am used to shooting at a small target at 600 yards, but have not done that in a while. Thanks again!
 
Very good information, thanks! I do have several PD capable rifles that I have built over the years (.20 practical, .223 rem, .223AI, and fast twist 22-250), I just need to find someplace to put them to the test. I used to shoot in a local F class match so am used to shooting at a small target at 600 yards, but have not done that in a while. Thanks again!
Cool, you are certainly geared up and ready for the hunt. Obviously, I wasn't aware of that, just trying to convey my thoughts on my first PD trip and how I wasn't completely prepared.

I have been thinking about building a 20 Practical. Sounds like an awesome caliber.
 
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