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400 YARDS - FX Airguns Impact Prairie Dog Hunting with a Field Optics Tripod!

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UpNorthAirGunner

UpNorthAirGunner

Member
Oct 19, 2017
401
120
MI, United States
https://youtu.be/_laGWKqC7wU

Gear used:


Check this off the ol' airgunner bucket list! Not only was I able to go hunting with Justin Jacobson at Utah Airguns for these destructive and disease ridden prairie dogs, but I was also able to beat my personal record for my longest kill shot with the FX Airguns Impact. We got 278 - 350- and 400 yard kills shots on video, but I will tell you, this prototype of the 800mm FX Airguns Impact barrel kit in .22 cal was dropping slug bombs all around prairie dogs out to 600 yards all afternoon long. It will be a few months till we see these in the wild, but WOW! Just WOW! We are getting .22LR powder burner power with the precision of a Vudoo Gun Works .22LR competition rifle from an airgun!

What blew me away was the stability and adjustability of these new Field Optics ASFPL Tripods from Utah Airguns mounted with the Saber Tactical Arca Swiss rail for the FX Impact and FX Maverick. I have had a love hate relationship with shooting tripods and loved the idea of them to get up off the ground while shooting, but have hated some of the other options I have tried. The milky smooth gimbal head on this thing is what sets it apart from anything else I have ever used in the past. Quick rotation of the locking handle on the gimble and your tracking and adjusting to get on target. Lock it down and you are ready to rock.

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We showed up with our luggage thinking we were going to be checking into our hotel... NOPE! Get in boys - we are driving 4 hours to some ranch land that needs our services. Justin handed us all pre-tuned FX Impacts and every single one of them was dropping slug on slug on a 50 yard zero. All day long I was clicking all the way on on the scope and holding to the very bottom of the glass and consistently dropped MOA groups at HUNDREDS of yards away. Crazy good.
 
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I hope everyone throwing the "ethical" word around are not also fishermen. I mean.... a torturous hook through the cheek and ripped through the water against their will and then a barbed end ripped back through the wound and a slow death in the cooler and....

Anyway, elimination of vermin by any means is just that.... so what?
 
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Ethics is part of hunting and my experience is that the vast majority of hunters are very concerned about it I’d rather not see this thread go down that path because it has been discussed at length on previous threads. But it likely will.

Show me a five shot group at 400 yards under normal hunting conditions for prairie dogs ( lots of wind) and I’ll predict it’s in feet if not yards. SO pretty much just luck. And that’s ok if you are truthful about it. Seems like the video was trying to sell for this use .
 
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Yeah.

Take 7 guys shooting all day with scope mounted cameras and you're going to get some hits. 
I'm more interested in precision on paper myself. 
Don't think I'm writing bad about the guys. No problem with whacking them. I wouldn't say using a CF at $1.00+ is necessary for a problem animal. 
If a animal is harvested for food a Hunter definitely has a responsibility to make a clean kill.
 
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The narrator did say prairie dog size groups ethics aside if I had an opportunity to pop prairie dogs at those distances? It would be a powder burner. Shooting living things at those distances with Airguns is ridiculous. Windy high plains, over 200 yards shooting? Yes let me grab an airgun.🤔 I believe they are selling tripods, so you too can simulate a crew served weapon while lobbing projectiles out to 400 plus yards... Woohoo!🙀
 
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Thanks for all the comments about hunting ethics. It is good to see so many airgunners with ethical hunting top of mind. Personally, I don't consider this hunting and more about removal of an animal that is not only dangerous to the livestock on the ranch where we were, but also is a plague disease ridden animal that is now crossing over into the human population. This month a 10 year old child died of THE PLAGUE that has been tied back to prairie dogs.

Ranchers in this area loss many head of cattle and horses every year from stepping into these prairie dog holes snapping their legs which can not be treated and must be euthanized. So to all the comments about ethics on how this animal should be removed and dispatched by means other than shooting them with an airgun. Go read up on what the process of death when poison is used to dispatch these animals. That process is a long drawn out sickening of the animal which results in a painful death. Furthermore scavenger animals can eat the carcass of the poisoned prairie dog and also die from the poison. Domestic animals and children can also get exposed to these poisons causing illness or death. So before anyone gets up on a high horse on this ethics issue, I suggest watching out for prairie dog holes. That fall from horseback is a doozie. 
 
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@upnorthairgunner -We are getting .22LR powder burner power with the precision of a Vudoo Gun Works .22LR competition rifle from an airgun!

I’d love to see a shoot off Extreme FT style out to say 150 to 200 yards. FX .22 Impact 800mm barrel vs Vudoo .22 LR. It would be interesting but my money is on the Vudoo. Look at the most recent NRL-22 Nationals results to see why I think the .22LR would win easily.

Don't get me wrong, I think throwing mortars out there at 400 yards is pretty cool and I’d be right alongside you guys if given the opportunity. But let’s also be real about it. Even IF they shoot MOA at 400 yards, which is about 4.2 inches (the target is maybe two inches wide) and IF the wind drift is judged perfectly (10mph horizontal drift is about 5 feet), and IF the yardage is spot on (a 3 yard distance error at 400 yards is about 8 inches), and hits have a good deal or great deal of luck thrown in. So “walking the shots in” is about the only way to ensure occasional contact.

Nothing wrong with that and for pesting any hits are good hits. They aren’t hunting, they are pesting. There’s a difference. 
 
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I’m just relating my personal experiences. I enjoy long range shooting but at some point if you extend the range far enough a hit is just luck. It’s up to the individual to decide what that point might be and it varies from person to person and place to place and condition to condition. I’m very skeptical about air rifles at 400 yards. Some many years ago I watched a buddy shoot at prairie dogs at over 800 yards (center fire rifle) . He fired about 20 shots and gave up. Some of you guys would have fired until you hit one and then claimed what a great shot it was. And that’s ok . You just haven’t convinced me. And having said that if I had the right rifle and a spotter and dead calm conditions I’d give it a try. But I wouldn’t lob bullets just in the hope. Ethics? Only person you answer to is yourself. 
 
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Just curious if firearms are allowed by the rancher? At 400 yards I do see the ethic argument granted it’s not hunting at all to me either. This indeed is a grey area and before giving @upnorthairgunner a hard time I think we should understand the situation better. Personally it’s not hunting and straight up pesting and they need to be removed plus slugs have amazing terminal performance even at that distance. If I were the farmers I certainly would prefer my farm doesn’t sound like a war zoom and have to duct bullets. I’m a CF/PB fan but I still don’t think farms are a place for them. 



These Airguns have the same power as the finest 22LR subsonic guns but even with 22-250 a 400 yard shot on a target that small will require adequate skills. Then it’s clear that these guns are easy sub MOA even at 400 yards so it’s almost as good as a 22-250 round because @400 yards even a 17HMR or 22-250 round is not a guaranteed humane shot. Only way to guarantee humane shots would be carry everything and get to 50 yards or closer but that probably isn’t possible with how many there are and no hiding place. 


Personally I have no issues at all with what they are doing. I think so hunting ethics is extremely important, however this isn’t hunting at all. Right tool for the right job and I think in this situation this kind of airgun is the right tool.


just my 2 pennies. 
 
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Just curious if firearms are allowed by the rancher? At 400 yards I do see the ethic argument granted it’s not hunting at all to me either. This indeed is a grey area and before giving @upnorthairgunner a hard time I think we should understand the situation better. Personally it’s not hunting and straight up pesting and they need to be removed plus slugs have amazing terminal performance even at that distance. If I were the farmers I certainly would prefer my farm doesn’t sound like a war zoom and have to duct bullets. I’m a CF/PB fan but I still don’t think farms are a place for them. 



These Airguns have the same power as the finest 22LR subsonic guns but even with 22-250 a 400 yard shot on a target that small will require adequate skills. Then it’s clear that these guns are easy sub MOA even at 400 yards so it’s almost as good as a 22-250 round because @400 yards even a 17HMR or 22-250 round is not a guaranteed humane shot. Only way to guarantee humane shots would be carry everything and get to 50 yards or closer but that probably isn’t possible with how many there are and no hiding place. 


Personally I have no issues at all with what they are doing. I think so hunting ethics is extremely important, however this isn’t hunting at all. Right tool for the right job and I think in this situation this kind of airgun is the right tool.


just my 2 pennies.
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The difference between pest control and hunting that you are making is interesting. I’ll pass of that . 

You have mentioned that several different types of rifles and calibers. You seemed to suggest that an FX impact would shoot as accurately as a 22-250 at 400 yards. Do you really think so? 
Maybe I’m not as capable as some but I’ll state the following hitting a prairie dog at 400 yards with a 22-250 is a challenge doing it with a FX impact even the most tricked out gun is one of two things damned near impossible or damned lucky. Probably both. I don’t think the original poster would disagree. 
You are correct not every shot with a center fire rifle is a humane kill on a prairie dog . Percentages 
 
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@bubblerboy64: 

at the end of the day if a gun is sub MOA then it’s sub MOA. The 22-250 has more than 2x the BC , 15x FPE and 3x the speed makes it much easier to go out to 400 yards. BUT at 400 yards even a 55 grain 22-250 vmax @3000fps is NOT point and shoot! So it boils down to the skill of the shooter and @400 yards it certainly is not guaranteed easy humane shot. I have seen people on youtube hitting targets at 2000 yards with 22-250 but I certainly will be lucky to even get close, again it’s skill based. 


It is obvious these guys can hit GS at 400 yards and do put them down with authority most of the time, it means they do have their guns, ballistics and shooting fundamentals sorted very well. So are these impacts same as 22-250 or 223 or even 17HMR? Of course not but it certainly is good enough to shoot 400 yards and help the farmers in these guys hands. If it was me I will most likely be a vegan tree hugger and warn them of impending danger by making puffs of dust somewhere near them.
 
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@bubblerboy64: 

at the end of the day if a gun is sub MOA then it’s sub MOA. The 22-250 has more than 2x the BC , 15x FPE and 3x the speed makes it much easier to go out to 400 yards. BUT at 400 yards even a 55 grain 22-250 vmax @3000fps is NOT point and shoot! So it boils down to the skill of the shooter and @400 yards it certainly is not guaranteed easy humane shot. I have seen people on youtube hitting targets at 2000 yards with 22-250 but I certainly will be lucky to even get close, again it’s skill based. 


It is obvious these guys can hit GS at 400 yards and do put them down with authority most of the time, it means they do have their guns, ballistics and shooting fundamentals sorted very well. So are these impacts same as 22-250 or 223 or even 17HMR? Of course not but it certainly is good enough to shoot 400 yards and help the farmers in these guys hands. If it was me I will most likely be a vegan tree hugger and warn them of impending danger by making puffs of dust somewhere near them.
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Switch to 80 gn Sierras at 400 yards.
 
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