Long range prairie dog, groundhog 600 + yds. heavy .223, .243 or what else.?

Question

I want a round that I can use cheap factory brass as the rounds above or maybe form one from cheap brass (as I reload). To practice, I will be using clay pigeons at that range. The rifle will be a blue-printed savage, heavy barreled, and for scope I'm going with a nikon for sure, just my prefrence. I don't understand why more .223 aren't used in say 600 yd benchrest as the are comparable to .308 in wind and drop when using heavy bullets.

Answer 1

grenade launcher - didn't you see the trouble Bill Murray had with that prairie dog?

Answer 2

For long range varmint cartridges don't forget about the .22-250 and the .220 Swift.

Answer 3

Out of the .223 and the .243 for 600 + yds shots, the .243 is far superior. The .223 has been known as a good rifle as all brands make them and are fairly cheap.

Although the .223 is a shocker, A 55 grain pointed soft point drops 58.6 inches at 500 yards, and only hits at 197 ft-lbs of energy at 500 yards.

A .243 75 grain accutip v-tail only drops 30.6 inches at 500, and hits at 671 ft-lbs of energy at 500.

So the .223 drops heaps and has no energy on impact, animal may get away wounded, .243 is flatter and hits with more energy, so .243 is superior. Although check out .204 Ruger 40 grain, is extremely flat and fast. I shoot foxes at ranges you talk about with my .204 and knocks them flat no problem, check out link CHEERS

http://www.remington.com/products/ammuni...

Show those groundhogs whos boss!