Hunting Caliber AR Build

[tangodown]

So I have a good friend of mine who will be retiring from the Navy here in about 6 months or so. He is from the Great State of Texas, and He does hunt, everything from varmint, to hogs and deer there. I am wanting to build him an AR15 for a retirement gift, I just don't know what caliber to go whth. I want to build it as a general purpose hunting rifle, that hits hard enough to kill hogs and deer, yet not a huge caliber where as to ruing a coyote hide..... I was thinking like a 6mm/ 248 build...... I am all ears on yalls thoughts, remember this is a retirement gift and it is not being built for me.

[MarcSpaz]

You should check with the laws where he lives. Some states and counties have rules about minimum/maximum calibers, number of rounds the weapon can hold or ar loaded while hunting, etc.

If he can legally use an AR or SR25 style rifle with no capacity limits, I would recommend a legit Armalite AR10 in a 7.62 NATO. Its afordable, reliable and will drop deer and pig like a champ.

[OakRidgeStars]

Local Firearms Ordinances, Laws and Regulations (VDGIF)

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hunting/re ... nances.asp

[Ironbear]

You should probably answer the question of whether he reloads or not. If he relies on factory ammo, about the only realistic choices would be 6.8 SPC or .300 Blackout (if you limit yourself to an AR-15 platform).

[jdonovan]

I'm with Marc on this, and a ar-10/308 platform would give a lot more hunting utility. If you want 6.5mm, than 260 rem/6.5 creedmoor would be the short list of choices.

If you're married to the ar-15 platform, then the hunting choices tend to
6.8 spc
300 blackout
458 socom

The 6.8 has some history, and baggage, it has not become a strong commercial success, and I'd be hard pressed to pick that for a cartridge today.

458 socom would be my personal choice. But my hunting area is < 200 yd shots and I'm a fan of big holes. But ammo is a bit hard to find and kind of expensive.. but its essentially a 45-70 in a semi-auto. If its closer than 200 yds, its going to have a bad day getting hit by one.

300 blackout would probably be my choice. its main stream, ammo is readily available, and for deer/hog sized game it seems to work well enough.


of all the choices above, my personal pick on would be ar-10 platform in 6.5 creedmoor.

[tangodown]

Y'all did read the fact that this is a retirement gift right?

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[tangodown]

Y'all did read the fact that this is a retirement gift right?

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[MarcSpaz]

Sure did. Why do you ask?

[dorminWS]

If you're married to the ar-15 platform, then the hunting choices tend to
6.8 spc
300 blackout
458 socom

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'll just mention one other possibility; the 6.5 Grendel.
http://www.alexanderarms.com/products/65-grendel

[tangodown]

He lives in Texas, has a rather large ranch he will be returning too. I am fairly certain that you can hunt large game there with .222 or bigger. So a .223 or bigger AR build will suffice for this gift.

So out of the three .300AAC BlackOut, the 6.5 Grendel and the 6.8 SPC what would yall feel would be the best Ge.P. caliber out of those? I know the .300 BO has very similar performance to the 7.62x39, and I would consider that more of a brush round for hunting. So how about the 6.5 or 6.8 how are those performing compared to the .300 BO??

[jdonovan]

all of them have adequate energy to do the job. Right now the 300 bo has the best market support. If I had to pick 6.8 vs 6.5.. I'd pick the 6.5. I like the projectile selection better, the 6.5's tend to penetrate better due to higher SD, and also tend to have very good ballistic coefficient.

[dorminWS]

all of them have adequate energy to do the job. Right now the 300 bo has the best market support. If I had to pick 6.8 vs 6.5.. I'd pick the 6.5. I like the projectile selection better, the 6.5's tend to penetrate better due to higher SD, and also tend to have very good ballistic coefficient.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I would add that I'd want to check out market support on the 6.5 Grendel. Alexander Arms is/was the sole source for their .50 Beowulf round, and availability for it, the last time I tried to buy ammo, was pretty bad. I don't know if the 6.5 Grendel round is the same or not; but if it is, I might rule it out for that reason.

[jdonovan]

both the 6.5 and 6.8 suffer from lack of popularity. Parts/ammo are hard to find, and more expensive when you do. Also mags require different followers.

All of that really tips the hand to the 300 BO, unless you REALLY want to be in the 65/68 projectile range.

[Ironbear]

All of that really tips the hand to the 300 BO, unless you REALLY want to be in the 65/68 projectile range.

Kind what I was getting to, with my earlier comment about reloading. If he reloads, and is willing to venture into wildcat country, then 6mm TCU, 6.5mm TCU, 6.5mm PPC, 6x45mm, 6mm/.221, 6.5mm/.221 all become possible. For off-the-shelf ammo other than .223, I don't think there is any realistic choices other than 6.8 SPC or .300 BO.

Personally don't think you can really turn an AR-15 into a long-range/big-game rig. You can have one or the other.

An AR-10 platform, however, gives some interesting options.

[MarcSpaz]

Ironbear, I am going to use your post as a chance to put some opinions out there. Hope you don't mind...

...Personally don't think you can really turn an AR-15 into a long-range/big-game rig. You can have one or the other.

I have only been into the AR scene for about 4 years, but in that time I have learned a lot. However it was at great financial expense as well as learning who the right people are to listen to when it comes to advice.

What I have found is, in my own personal experience, that the AR15/M4 and clones in .223/5.56 NATO are fantastic weapons when dealing with soft targets from 100 to 300 yards. They are good to marginal from zero too 100 and 300 to 500. They are really not usable on soft targets beyond 500 yards... regardless of projectile and barrel length.

If you step out of defense/offense and try to adapt to hunting... the .223/5.56 is really not the proper round for animals around 180-200 lbs. They would perform very well for animals between 40 and 80 lbs. (again... all just opinion based on my very limited experience).

So... to sum that up... AR15/M4 platforms are not really for big game or long distance.

When the 300 Blackout was introduced, that really changed the use of the platform. At 500 yards, it has more energy and is more accurate than .223, 5.56 NATO and 7.62x39. Plus, its usable range on soft targets is 200 yards more that .223/5.56 and (depending on the "expert" you listen to) 300 yards more that the 7.62x39.

IMHO, if you want an AR15/M4 style weapon to hunt medium to large game, the 300 Blackout is the only way to go due to performance, cost to feed, availability of ammo, parts and support.

An AR-10 platform, however, gives some interesting options.

As I mentioned earlier, the AR10 in a .308/7.62 NATO is a great choice. Though it is capable of an effective range of 800 yards, I would still keep the AR10 to 300 yards or less for hunting. There is a lot of recoil with AR10 and SR25 style weapons. They do well for combat, but are not for long distance sharpshooting.

If you want to do long distance shooting with a .308/7.62 NATO... get a bolt gun. AR's are not really the right choice. I am working on getting some cash together for a .338 Lapua... but after that, this GAP rifle (or one like it) is next on the list...

http://www.gaprecision.net/ga-precision ... rifle.html

[bali]

223's plenty on hogs and deer, to 150 yds, if you use the 60 gr Nosler Partition softpoint and aint dumb enough to shoot at the south end of one that's headed north.you shouldn't be shooting at live targets at anything like 500 yds, cause one step by the critter, during the bullet's flight, will mean a gut hit, and an animal suffering for perhaps hours, marking you as a pos.

furthermore, the 308 won't expand a big game softpoint at 500 yds. that requires a remaining speed of at least 1800 fps and the 308 aint got it, not at 500 yds.

[M1A4ME]

I'm not saying I ever shot game at 600 yds.

I'm not saying I ever used Sierra 180 grain match boat tails on game.

I am saying that at 600 yds., the 180 grain match bullets fired from my M1A expanded to dime sized lumps of lead when they hit the dirt bank behind my targets. I dug up several of them. The jackets peeled back along the lines in the jacket, the lead expanded fairly evenly and the core popped out of the jacket.

Plenty of people gut shoot deer at much closer ranges. Too many people don't practice, don't know how to estimate range and don't know when to take the shot.

[Nrah]

OR, you could have one mil-spec lower, with both mil-spec 5.56 and 300 Blackout uppers.

Even the mags are interchangeable. So you would then have a choice of a varmint round or medium game, at the very fast change of an upper.

If you want a really cool gift, get the special case, which holds both the complete rifle, the 2nd upper, a few mags, and gear.