If you get a very accurate one. Remember that a big prairie dog is the size of a 20 oz pop bottle.Inevitably you will be shooting 200 plus yards in a 20 MPH crosswind. Needless to say, the more accurate your weapon the better. Even with a 1/2 inch rifle you will miss more than you hit.My dad shoots a DPMS bull barrelled AR and loves it. Cleaning is a chore though. The gas operated mechanism gets really "cruded" after a thousand rounds.