I'm headed to New Mexico in a few weeks and will get a couple days worth of dog hunting. Plan on taking my R700 in .223 for sure. I've been debating on taking my Horizon Firearms 6.5 CM just to see how far I can stretch it out. What's the consensus?

I have made an annual prairie dog trip since 2010.

Here's what I know.

-High volume, high speed shooting
-Barrels get hot, hot, hot!
-Shots from 5 yards to as far as you can spot them.
-ALWAYS windy
-Usually lots of mirage
-Not much to bounce a range finder laser off of

So, absolutely take the .223 and try to shoot it most. You have about 2500 rounds before your Creedmoor barrel is done, so keep that in mind when taking it on a prairie dog trip. I always leave mine at home for this very reason. If I take it, I will use it, and before I turn around I will have shot up a 50 round box of hand loads.

I take a .22-250 pushing 75 gr A-maxes @ 3200 fps. 500 rounds of that in two days is my normal.

But hey, if you feel like making some real long shots on the little critters the 6.5 Creedmoor is one of the best cartridges to do it with.

I have a video camera rig for this year. The camera mounts to the scope tube with pan and cant adjustment available. Hopefully it will work this year and I can film making prairie dogs cartwheel ten feet in the air.

Heck yes! especially with that short barrel. and take a camera!

FJG, you're over your pm limit...

Standby

Although the 6.5 Creed itself is a fantastic LR round, I find that anything above about .223 recoil level makes it difficult to spot my hits in the scope with anything beyond 12X - 14X or so. You'd be surprised by how little recoil is just enough to jolt the rifle and take your target out of your scope's FOV. I like to see my impacts. You'd also be surprised how much weight it takes to minimize rifle movement enough to spot shots through your scope. I mill a channel inside the forend of some of my PD rifles and fill with lead shot mixed with epoxy to help keep rifle movement at the shot minimized only slightly beyond what a .22LR produces.

As Fireman said, barrels get VERY hot when the action is good. I've been on more than one PD shooting trip where I fired around 4,000 rounds in a single weekend. A 6.5 Creed barrel would be fried in 2 such trips. It's also a good idea to bring multiple rifles to allow you to keep shooting while barrels cool.

I do most of my PD shooting with a .223, supplemented by .204, a VERY heavy 6BR, 6PPC, and .17HMR for the shorter stuff. As Fireman said shots can be anywhere from 5 yards to as far as you can see through the mirage.

Yep! Take it.

What part of NM? If you need a backup hunting spot, pm me. I know a place south of Grants I can give you directions to. Always get a few there.

This is going to take place at a buddy's ranch outside of Eagle Nest. The last few times I've gone we only and up shooting a couple dozen dogs a day. He personally shot 6500 last year but that's not my goal. I just like reaching out to a few and then I'm done. I'll take the 6.5 and might put 50 rounds downrange with it. I won't even take but maybe 300 rounds of 223.

Aw heck! I thought you were going and getting serious about it. 10 hours of shooting each day. Still take both rifles, they could make a blitz attack and you want to be sure and have enough ammo!

But about this 6500, does he want some help?

He shoots a 243 WSSM and is on the 4th or 5th barrel. He's retired with a lot of time on his hands. Builds rifles and shoots dogs mostly.