A freind of mine says prairie dog hunting/shooting is a blast and wants me to go with him next summer. We'll go to the Dakotas somewhere.
My question is which of the hundreds of choices between rifles and calibers will work the best.
He uses one of his AR in .223 because the ammo is cheap. Don't know if that's true today.
I've been searching the net for info and found that the Ruger .204 seems to be a good one for PD's.
A lot of the stuff I'm reading may be several years old as stuff seems to hang around on the web forever.
I would like something light, somewhat cheap but accurate.  
I would also like to know more about scope options. The only scope I own is on my pellet rifle.
At this time I find it hard to believe that I would be able to shoot a praire dog out at 300 yeads
I'm thinking 50 yards is as far as I've shot so this is really getting exciting for me
Thanks for any info on this,
Oscar
 

Light & accurate huh?
I would suggest you take a very close look at the CZ-527.
 
It is an exceptionally accurate light rifle right out of the box.
 
I have one in .223, and my hunting bud has two, one in .223 and one in .204.
 
All three are capable on one-hole groups at 100 yards.
 
http://cz-usa.com/products/view/cz-527-american/
http://cz-usa.com/products/view/cz-527-varmint/
 
As for scopes?
A quality 3x-9x or 4x-12x variable is plenty enough for PD's at 300 yards.
If you go with the 12x, be sure and get one with adjustable parallax or AO.
I would look at Leupold or Pentax.
Forget the cheap Chinese scopes like BSA, Leapers, etc. Any cost savings up front can quickly be lost in ammo expense and shooting confidence if you get one that doesn't track right or hold zero.
 
As for caliber?
Either is a good choice.
The .223 is easier to find ammo for, and has a better selection of bullets if you plan to reload.
 
The .204 shoots a little flatter, but is more susceptible to the wind.
 
rc

Thanks guys.
I think you have me heading down the right track.
isn't looking for the perfect weapon fun.
Seems like just a couple of weeks ago I was thinking I don't need another.
Then the Prairie dog thing came up.
I U-tubed it and was LOL. Hope the boss didn't here me.

Savage 17 HMR BTVS
 
I like to shoot them with my remington VTR R-15 chambered in 223 but 17 is cheap and good for atleast 200 yards.  
 
http://www.ktog.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1228255229
 
Somewhere I have pics of prarie dogs after meeting my 17 grain bullets...I'll dig them up at home.
 
aha!  Found it.  Don't mind the p-dog lover dialogue:
 
http://www.ktog.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1244052031/0

We don't have P-dogs in South Tex. Instead, we smoked jackrabbits for the local farmers. Bounty hunters sorta. A buck for every pair of long ears. At least it kept me supplied with ammo.  
 
In Jr. high school, I was using a Savage in .222 Rem. It was popular before the .223 came along. Of course I used the old triple duce for deer as well back then. Biggest problem with the .22 cals is wind drift at long ranges on small targets. If I was using a .22 cal for small stuff, I would get a .22-250. Might still get one cause I don't have one.  
 
Later moved up to the heavier varmint cals to buck the wind better at long ranges. Started using the .243 in a Sako Forrester and .25-06 in a Remmy. Sometimes even used the .270 in a Ruger handloaded with a light weight bullet.  These all work great for deer also. Found myself using the .243 in the Sako for everything. Had a 3X12 wide objective Redfield scope on that gun. Had a built in range estimater.
 
Savage makes a great and accurate gun in the 110 series for a good price. Comes in a package with a Simmons 3X9X32. Have one in a .243 with a polly stock that will take a beating. Load alot of .243 now. A Savage combo is around 4 bills for the combo in any standard cal. at most Wallys and Academey sports around here.  
 
The .25-06s in a Browning and Remmy 700 won't see alot of use in the field cause they have the fancy wood stocks.
 
Tried a few of the heavy barrel jobs. Dont talk yourself into a heavy unless ya just have to have it. Had a Winch Mod 70 and a Remmy 700 with the heavy varmint barrels in .243s and one Ruger 77 stainless in .25-06. Didn't find that the extra barrel weight made a whole lotta difference in accuracy. Ain't worth the extra weight. A consistantly  accurate porter weight barrel will work.  

How about the 5.45 x 39? Looks to be really cheap and would do the job. Is there an accurate rifle out there for this caliber? I started a search for a bolt action but only come up with AK74's and an AR style from S&W.
Would any of those work?  
I would prefere a nice bolt action though.
Oscar
 

Thanks rcmodel. Looks like I was about to waste a lot of time looking into that.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/22_250_Remington.html
I'll look into that rifle and caliber.
Don't know about the qualitiy of the ammo link but it looks like a great price.
I was leaning towards 22-250, 204 ruger or the .223 in a CZ 527 or I may just go with the AR as I don't have one yet....
OK I'm not foolin anyone. I'll end up with both