The last two Friday afternoons alone I have made over 200 confirmed prairie dog kills with a 16" barrel on my ZM LR-300. Most were between 100 and 300 yards using 40 gr. Hornady V-Max hand loaded rounds. My longest shot has probably been just short of the 400 yard range. The wind would have to be very calm for me to hit anything further than that. I prefer my 16" barrel and the folding stock as it is light weight and easy to move from dog town to dog town. I have it equipped with a Millette Mil-Dot 4-16 power scope. For purposes of speed and fuel savings I now do my hunting from the back of my KTM (dirt bike). This allows me to get to more remote dog towns quickly and economically, so everything needs to be light and fold up into a pack for ease of transport. Nothing better than watching those dogs explode when hit by a fast moving V-Max bullet!
You will lose a little velocity with the shorter barrel, but prairie dogs and coyotes are small enough that you will not notice the loss. To me, the benefits of keeping my equipment light well out weigh the loss of a little velocity. My hand loaded 40 gr V-max rounds are moving at an average of just over 3300 FPS out of my 16" barrel with a 1 in 9 twist. I find with the V-Max bullet, you also get a good report back from the exploding prairie dog - if you happen to miss the carnage through the scope, you still know you got it.
Enjoy the hunting!
