shalako- in one of my 308's, i use 168 hornady a-max, andother gets 165 hornadys... the rest get 165 sierra gamekings. in the 300 wsm i use 180 sierra gamekings, the 7 rem mags use 162 hornady btsp, the 300 win mag uses 165 barnes xlc's, the 338 win mag uses 225 hornadys, one 25-06 uses 100 grain sierra, another uses 120 sierra, another uses 115 noslers....hell, i'm gonna stop there. you're gonna make me have to dig out my books... the premise is the same: whatever load i intend to use for my big game hunting, that's the bullet and load i use for prairie dogs; more practice w/ a load, the more proficient w/ that load. notable exceptions: purely target/varmint guns - those guns get whatever bullet shoots the best in it, w/o regard to any sort of terminal performance. typically, these bullets are hornady a- or v-max's, but i do have a 223 that thrives on 52 grain sierra match kings.
as for the light-for-caliber bullets (125's or whatever in a 30 cal), i never have had much luck w/ them. i mean, they are explosive and everything, but, accuracy can almost always be improved on by going to a heavier bullet - and that's what it takes to kill varmints: accuracy.
ggb- well, it kills 'em, but if you are after impressively explosive kills, i have yet to see anything do a more violent explosion than a prairie dog whacked w/ a 22-250 pushing 50 grain hornady v-max's at full tilt. a 223 pushing a 40 grain bullet comes close, but for ultimate explosions, it is awfully tough to beat a 22-250... but, the bigger guns undoubtedly mow the dogs down!
as for the light-for-caliber bullets (125's or whatever in a 30 cal), i never have had much luck w/ them. i mean, they are explosive and everything, but, accuracy can almost always be improved on by going to a heavier bullet - and that's what it takes to kill varmints: accuracy.
ggb- well, it kills 'em, but if you are after impressively explosive kills, i have yet to see anything do a more violent explosion than a prairie dog whacked w/ a 22-250 pushing 50 grain hornady v-max's at full tilt. a 223 pushing a 40 grain bullet comes close, but for ultimate explosions, it is awfully tough to beat a 22-250... but, the bigger guns undoubtedly mow the dogs down!
