The Marksman's Game

It was pleasant lying prone in the warmth of a morning sun while I eyed the goings-on across the valley. A prairie dog was down on all fours eating grass while another stood watch as I got an up-close view through the rifle's 24X glass. Neither gave any indication that they were aware of my presence on the low knoll nearly a quarter-mile away. The air was nearly calm as I raised the crosshair to what appeared to be about a foot over the vertical dog and took slack out of the trigger.

In a split second, the rifle bucked and a 55-grain bullet was drilling through the atmosphere as it headed across the valley. Even before I could realign the scope I heard the distinctive "plop" that a prairie dog shooter describes as satisfying.

The plop is satisfying because it signals a solid hit, an accomplishment on a small target at long range. It also indicates that a good portion of the bullet's considerable kinetic energy was expended for a clean kill.

I worked the bolt to chamber another round because there were other prairie dogs. It would be only a matter of time before they again forgot the noise from my distant hill and would offer another shot.

Varmint shooting generally takes two forms. You can walk and sneak within a hundred yards or so and dispatch a small critter with a .17 HRM, .22 Hornet or larger centerfire .22. This is great sport where the terrain and varmints lend themselves to this type of shooting. Starlings, woodchucks, jackrabbits, ground squirrels and sometimes even prairie dogs are candidates for this type of shooting.

The second type of varminting involves a super-accurate, long-range rig that you can use to shoot varmints way over in the next zip code. Here, cartridges such as the .22-250 Rem., .220 Swift, .243 Win., 6mm Rem. and .25-06 Rem. are the rounds of choice. In this latter situation, the rifle takes a whole new form. Since a shooter usually doesn't carry his rifle far, a heavyweight rifle works well.

Heavy-barreled rifles don't always shoot better than rifles with lightweight barrels, but the heavy barrel has other advantages in some situations. The added mass of a firearm with a fat barrel reduces recoil. Even though most varmint cartridges don't kick much, you can sometimes do a lot of shooting. Repeated firing can make a shoulder sore and induce a flinch. Rifles that recoil less are easier to shoot well.

Another advantage to the added mass up front is that it tends to dampen the wiggles and wobbles when you're aiming at a small varmint in the distance. It is often said that a heavy-barreled rifle "hangs" on target better--the wiggles and wobbles are more efficiently dampened.

While heavy-barreled rifles don't always shoot more accurately for a few shots, their stiff barrels tend to keep shooting well even when the barrel gets hot from firing many shots. Barrels usually heat and cool unevenly; the top side of the barrel is exposed to the air while the bottom is kept warmer by the fore-end. This temperature difference can cause shots to disperse, and the tendency is reduced with the stiffness of a large-diameter barrel.