Maybe I'm not necessarily asking a specific question but looking for advice and giudance from those that have been down this road before.

I have a 22-250 BVSS I bought around 2002 to use on prairie dogs. This is the old style flat back with the internal staggered feed magazine. It's had a couple thousand rounds thru it now and the accuracy has gone down hill.

I haven't been out west to shoot prairie dogs in years and have been considering switching the barrel out to a 6, 6.5mm Creedmore, 260 or something similar so I don't have to replace bolt head. Obviously I'm thinking about doing just a barrel swap at this time. Will the blind stager feed magazine cause a problem with feeding or will I need to replace the follower?

I would consider modifying the stock to add bottom metal for detachable magazines, but I've heard there is much material to work with on them.

Ideally, I'd like to get a new barrel with the same varmint contour, about 24" inches long and thread so I can mount my 30 cal suppressor. Detachable magizens would be nice, but not needed if the internal mag feeds fine.

I thought about selling the rifle and buying one of the new 6.5 tactical models from Cabela's, or another brand. Although I'd probably end up with a better quality rifle by replacing the barrel even thought it would cost about the same.