'There Goes the Neighborhood' -- again

Casper Star-Tribune ^ | May 19, 2008 | JEFF GEARINO

[Just another Joe]

Actually Aunt, I'm not a city boy.
However, I will say in my defense that I haven't ever had to worry about prairie dogs or rats to the point that I went hunting them to alleviate a problem.

I understand killing to alleviate a varmint problem. It's just that my varmints have always been coyote size or larger.

And everything you listed, Aunt, I have eaten. I really wouldn't want to make it an everyday thing but if pushed, I could. That includes prairie dog.

I understand the difference between killing for food and killing to alleviate a varmint problem but I'll be damned if I'm going to travel to kill varmints for someone else.

[Jeff Head]

For a racnher to be gratifgied and even happy over the elimination of such a varmin and the damage it can do does not seem twisted to me at all, which is what I was refering to.

There is a large difference between that gratification and sadism, which sounds more akin to what you are describing and which I agree is not healthy.

[Squantos]

Back at ya VA ! Wrung out a few thousand .223’s for use in my TC Encore Pistol with a 2-12X LER Burris and harris bipod on Sod Poodles this year ! So far they are still winning !!......LOL !

Thanks for the great post and your time Sir !

Stay safe ,

[NavVet]

Apples and Oranges. If the dogs aren’t endangered and they are a pest, then lock and load, but those doing it for pure sport are sick pups plain and simple.

[wastedyears]

Flamethrower

[wastedyears]

Thanks for posting information to clarify this whole thing.

[wastedyears]

How did you ambush them?

[hiredhand]

Good info! Thanks for the ping buddy! :-)

[Wpin]

I live in a county with one traffic light and I don’t live in town. I lived out west for a good chunk of my life and I never met a self respecting man who killed prairie dogs for pleasure. In fact, never met anyone I considered a man who did that kind of pointless killing. Like I said, that kind of activity is for fools and cowards.

[Wpin]

Now, I didn’t say hunting (which entails using the meat) is bad. Indeed, I have heard Prairie Dog stew is wonderful and would like to try it someday. I simply do not abide this “pleasure killing” of animals that is done simply for killing sake.

[NavVet]

Pick a good hiding place at the top of the hill and wait and wait and wait. Once they thought I was gone they would eventually come out to dine on fresh watermelon. Generally only got one shot. Often they would wait us out, until we gave up and walked back down the hill. Once we were out of range they would come out like they didn’t have a care in the world.

[DuncanWaring]

I checked out what I claim are “a few representative samples” of load data for jacketed bullets vs. cast bullets in my Lyman’s reloading manual.

The cast bullets almost invariably show loads which put them at about 75% of the velocity of the comparable-weight jacketed bullet.

[DuncanWaring]

Of Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs.

[hiredhand]

The cast bullets almost invariably show loads which put them at about 75% of the velocity of the comparable-weight jacketed bullet.

Somebody reading this will invariably know more about it, or in more detail than I do. But there are a number of problems using cast lead in modern high powered, center fire "varmint" cartridges such as the 6mm Rem, .243 Winchester, .22-250, and .220 Swift. Lead is much less forgiving to heat and pressure, and lest we forget, there is a great deal of both shortly after the moment of propellant ignition. Hence the entire reason for using gas checks...to protect the base of the (relatively soft) lead bullet from heat and pressure. I've never seen this personally before, but I've been told that a lead bullet loaded in front of a "hot" propellant charge will disfigure the base of the bullet, and cause it to spin off its axis immediately upon departing from the barrel.

For grins and giggles, try some performance and accuracy testing with "lead VS copper-jacketed" bullets. I don't "think" you'll hurt anything...other than making your arm sore getting the lead out of the bore after wards!

I guess the "exploding lead hollow-point bullets" is why Barnes, Berger, Hornaday, and Nosler (just to name a few) sell so MANY of them! (you KNOW I'm being sarcastic!) :-)

I'll try to get my hands on some lead .243 or .308 bullets soon and do some testing at 600 yards, which is a "decent" varmint shot. I'm used to striking "small critter" sized targets at this range and I can't even imagine keeping that sort of accuracy with a lead bullet, so we'll probably end up reducing the range to perhaps 200 to 300 yards. But I think it would be interesting to see the differences. :-) If you beat me to it, let me know!

I STILL say the best thing for exploding small varmints are Nosler Ballistic Tips. :-)

[hiredhand]

It just occured to me what the entire basis for this "exploding lead hollow point bullet" story is...

The author got a good close up look at somebody's moly coated HP ammo. Think about it. It "looks" like pencil lead, it rubs off on your fingers and leaves a residue like pencil led. You have to rub a LOT of it off to tell that there is copper underneath of it.

So somebody either used a moly coated bullet and fed this jack ass the story, and he repeated it... or he deduced it himself by making uneducated observations about moly coated ammo.

I've got a box of .243 ammo in the other room loaded with 6mm, 90gr Berger VLDs. I just peeked at them and by golly, looks like "hollow pointed lead bullets" to me! ..and I can tell you from first hand experience that they definitely "mist" small critters! So there you have it...non-jacketed, hollow-point, exploding (lead) bullets!

He's still full of crap, and waging an information war against the big mean varmint hunters with guns.

But I'm betting that he got a good close up look at a moly coated bullet. I'll bet that's what happened. :-)

[DuncanWaring]

That would do it.

[hiredhand]

I'll bet one of those hunters who told him all about the "evil ammo" is laughing up his sleeve over this! :-)

If the author believes crap like this, they could have REALLY had him going with some story about the differences in ballistic tip type bullets and the different colors. Hornady makes one that's red, Nosler makes them green, and purple.

They could have probably made up some story about the extra special "inertial guidance system" bullets that are literally "fire and forget"!...and how they "home in" on their target after being fired! :-)

They could have told him anything probably... :-) It just so happens that they most likely told him they were using "special", non-jacketed, exploding lead bullets. :-)

[DuncanWaring]

And the Nosler green tips are environmentally enlightened.

[Rick.Donaldson]

Images of “Caddyshack” lol

[hiredhand]

And the Nosler green tips are environmentally enlightened.

THAT is what I'm going to tell the next person who asks me why some of the ammo is green tipped...because it's "environmentally friendly"! :-)

In truth, that's not altogether untrue because those green tips assist greatly in starting the "dirt conversion" process of varmints!