Oh wow! What a beauty! I love old rifles, there is nothing like them ( to me anyways ). I definitely don’t think you are on a fools errand by any means. I was just throwing out what my time in the p-dog fields has taught me. Four different cartridges come to mind for the project you are looking at. The 6mm Remington Ackley Improved, 6-284, 6mm-06, and the 6mm-06 Ackley Improved. Any of those with the 87gr vmax would easily achieve what you are looking for.

My varmint rifles include:
17 fireball Rem700 sps varmint
17 Remington tikka varmint
204 ruger Rem700 vls
22 hornet NEF handi rifle
223 Rem700 ADL
22-250 Ackley savage bvss
22-250 Ackley Rem700 lilja barrel
220 Swift Rem700 vssf
220 Swift ruger no1
6ppc Williams action hart barrel
6mm Rem700 vs
243 Ackley Rem700 vls
6-284 Rem700 Kreiger barrel
240wby Rem700 lilja barrel

I’m hoping one of these days to hit the prairie dog fields again.


JTD