Anyone here use and AR15 as a varmint rifle? What's your set up? How do you like it? What do you primairly us it for? Ranges? I've seen several with heavy barrel configurations and they look kinda slick. What's the skinny on these ?

ive got a olympic arms lower half with some sort of after market trigger. the upper half is a bushmaster with 24 fluted barrel and floating hand guard. it also has one of those wedge things in it between lower half and upper half rear pins. its a flat top with a leopould 3.5x10 tactical milldot. i also use 10 round bushmaster clips and i have 30rd ones to but dont use them unless i put on my american spirit arms upper half its just a standerd upper with handle style. i mostly target shoot with it. ive took it coyote hunting but never got seen one to shoot at. right now im shooting 50 varmit bullets from cabelas. i got some loaded with v-max 35gr that have hit 4100 fps. its a fun gun jason

The 20" Bushy flattop V-Match I use sometimes is a great rig for gophers and the like. Very accommodating load-wise as it seems to shoot anything well. It's had several scopes on it thus far but I think a B&L 3200 10-power will probably do it. Haven't turned it on anything larger than rats, but sure hope to!

Redial

I have an Armlite upper and lower with a 20" heavy floated stainless Wilson barrel (1" at the muzzle) with a 1-8" twist. I shoot the big .22 caliber bullets 68 grains on up. It is the most accurate gun I own...that includes my Cooper 6PPC. Shoots halfs and quarters with boring regularity. My only complaint...too heavy to carry all day.

I have a Colt HBAR elite. It's a 24" stainless barrel, free floated, with a flat top. I put in a JP Enterprises adjustable trigger that has almost zero creeep, no let off, and a 3.5 pound pull. The scope is a Leupold 4.5 to 14 by 40mm tactical with target knobs and a mil-dot reticle. I only shoot handloads anymore, but have used a lot of factory ammunition with good results. The load I like the best is a 50 grain Vmax on BLC-2. It shoots under a half inch at 100, I haven't shot paper past that. The Vmax tends wreck most anything under the size of a coyote, but usualy doesn't exit on a dog sized animal. As far as packing the thing around it isn't too bad, but forget about shooting it offhand with any accuracy, a bi-pod is a must. The best thing about the AR is that you don't have to treat it like a Mercedes, it was orriginally designed to be used in adverse conditions, and I have never had it fail on me. It's best to stay with the ABC's, Armalite, Bushmaster, and Colt, though I have shot DPMS uppers on my lower and they functioned and shot really well. So, maybe it should be the ABCD's. Hope this helps.

I've been toying with the idea of picking up an AR of some sort for use as a called varmint/"truck" gun. I've never owned an AR nor have I ever shot one. (We Squids were still shootin' the M-14 back in '75.)

I am amazed at the weight we're talking whenever I look at the specs of HBAR variant AR. I just didn't think that they'd weigh 9 lbs and sometimes more.

Still it's something to think about. Always need another gun it seems.

Tim

Tim,The ar's are a ton of fun,a must have for your colletion! Some day i'll get one in .243. Happy Shooting!

I bought an RRA Varminter 24" last august, its great for groundhogs, but at 12.5# its tough to carry but man will it shoot, chambered in 223wylde with a Nikon Monarch 5.5x16.5 and a versa-pod. Puts most 55 gr. factory loads into way less than an inch, and the BH's 68gr. mhp's into a little better. took 40 groundhogs with the rig last summer, 2 of those were at 550 yds. If you want a varminter check out the RRA's, total cost if you order it in pieces is 870.00
RR

Calling settup


Prairie dog setup

I have a Colt Car 6724 Elite. 24'' stainless barrel with a Jewell trigger. Have a 6-18 x 50 Bushnell Banner for a scope. Super accurate.
Loves 55 gr. ballistic tips.

I built a few AR's for myself and friends this year. My first lower was a Bushmaster with the two-stage trigger and the rest has RRA lowers with their two stage trigger design. I was impressed with the Bushy until I used the RRA, it seems to be a bit better and has a better reputation from what I have read on a few sites.

The uppers were made with RRA flattops and Lothar Walther stainless barrels with free-float tubes. Accuracy has been great in all rifles so far. Every load I've tested so far has been MOA or better, and one load with 50gr V-max's shoots in the .3's in my rifle. In fact I shot a sub .5 10-shot group with that load.

I'm building two lighter weight predator calling uppers at the present in 17 Remington, but am waiting on the barrels right now. Those will have LW barres and free-float tubes, but with 18 and 20" barrels in a lighter contour.

Oh, and I topped my heavy gun with a 5.5-16.5 Nikon Monarch in an Armalite one-piece mount, and couldn't be happier with it.

I have a DPMS Panter with flattop 24" heavy bull barrel. It is one of the most accurate rifles I have ever shot. I have the laminated thumbhole stock from DPMS that puts your finger at just the right spot on the trigger. It wears a 6-24x40 B&L elite 3200 scope with target dot reticle. It is not uncommon for it to shoot 5 shot 200 yard groups under 1". I shoot mainly reloads from 52-69gr. The 68gr black hills load shoot very well out to 400 yards. The picture is an older one of it with an old redfield 6-18 scope I had on it while looking for a springfeild armory 6-20 3rd generation mildot scope, never found one but got a really good deal on the B&L so I have stuck with that.

Got a Rock River ARMS 24in varmint upper on a EA lower and it sure is a tack driver. Good stuff.

I have a DPMS Panther 24 in on a Armalite Lower. I use the gun for a lot of control work. In fact, it is the weapon of choice for everything up to deer. Mine shoots very well with most loads. Mostly 55 Speers. I shoot a tremendous amount and the Speers will do a fine job on anything and hold together very well. Most of the time they will be in the off shoulder of a deer. Complete penetration on lung body shots. I also have very good luck with the Hornady or Sierra 60's for longer shots.

I have had an AR in flattop configuration for many years. Started with Eagles and have recently gone to DPMS. Les Baer has a really good gun in you can afford it.

I highly recommend them. Personally and Professionally.