I'm thinking about buying (or having built) an AR-15 for hunting. I'd like at least an 18-20" barrel and to end up with a relatively lightweight rifle...not a dedicated varmint rifle. It'll wear a scope and have no need for BUIS.

I already have a high-quality home-defense AR but I don't want to look like a SWAT guy walking through the woods.

Thanks for your ideas.

Did you fall down and hit your head?

How about a 6.8. I built a parts bin 18" CAR with a nikon 3-9. It's fun. Shoots 100 and 110 very well.

6.8s are popular for hunting. I like my Remington R15, 223, 18", camo finish, Leupold 2.5x8, factory target trigger, half MOA out of the box. Will do it all, especially with heavy bullets.

The 6.8 or the 6.5 Grendel are the best ways to go.
I have hunted a 7.62 x 39 but feel the others offer a better choice in the current marketplace.



Nothing wrong with hunting an AR type rifle. And I'm a fudd geezer according to family and friends!

I like the Rock River Arms.. have 2 complete rifles and several uppers.. in .204, 223, 6.8, and 458 socom... have 2 S&W m-15s in 5.45 x 39 and .300 blackout... 3 armalites in 7.62 x 39, .243 and.308...and I guess my favorite is the RRA in .223 with a 16"stainless bull barrel...it'll shoot the 70 gr blackhills loads into about 3/4' at 100... 2nd is the armalite ar-10 in .308...I can go subsonic or full power with it...

I'm lucky enough that I can choose between a 458 SOCOM and 30RAR if I'm hunting larger game. For smaller prey at long range, I'd grab my 6.5 Grendel and shoot 123 gr A-max Hornady ammo, otherwise it would by my 16" Colt 7.62x39 with a red dot sight. Cheap ammo you can find anywhere and a fine cast bullet shooter.

Depends what you will be hunting. I have 223, 6.5 Grendel, 6.8, and 308. Overall I'd say the 6.8 is my favorite round (very versatile). However, I really enjoy shooting my 308 (SCAR-17 Heavy) while deer and hog hunting.

Assuming you're hunting deer-sized game, a 6.8 SPC would be my pick. If you already have a lower you like, you could always just buy another upper.

I've built a lot of AR's and my favorite is by far the 6.5 Grendel. 18 or 20" barrel,, .750 gas block, Clark Custom carbon fiber free-float tube, two stage match trigger (take your pick) and the Ace skeletal stock. Makes for a very comfortable, lightweight rig. Most are easy 1/2 to 3/4 MOA rifles and a great selection of bullets, 100-120gr being the most popular for hunting. A friend has one and uses the 120gr TTSX and it works very well for deer and I would imagine would be great on hogs too. The 100gr load would probably max out at 2650-2700fps, the 120's are in the 2500+ range. Very good deer medicine.

consider a 300 Blackout. Easy to make from surplus 223 brass, uses the same mags. 125-135gr JSP at about 2300fps. Lots of folks in the SE part of the country reporting good results on whitetail and hogs.

Im not warm to the Blackout or the 7.62x39 but they'd work.

If choosing on an AR15 platform I'd go with the .264LBC(grendal w/ no rolalties paid) or a .458SOCOM. I will own both of these when I can. The SOCOM is an absolute hammer out to 150 yards.

Forest, what game do you want to hunt, and how far will you be shooting?

I have had excellent results with my Wilson Combat 458 SOCOM.

I have killed several deer, several pigs, coyotes, a bobcat and a couple of turkeys.

My longest shots were a deer at @142 yards and a big pig at 155 yards.

It has a 14.7" barrel pinned to 16+", and is very light weight and handy.

I can tell you what not to get. A .450 bushmaster. Biggest piece of crap I ever held. Never fired a single round that didn't jam. I've built multiple ar's all run fine. Had a US army armorer work on it and he couldn't make it run either. Maybe it was a dud but it soured me on big bore ar rifles. Have a bushmaster in 6.8 that runs fine. That's my suggestion.

I have never had a single malfunction with my Wilson SOCOM. Being a bottle necked round helps in 100% feeding.

Another advantage of the 458 SOCOM is that it uses unmodified AR 15 magazines.

The 20 rounders hold 7 rounds, the 30 rounders, hold 10 458 rounds.

The 325 Hornady LeverEvolution is my favorite SOCOM bullet, but the 300gr Hornady HP and the 300 Remington HP work good as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Nicholosi:
I can tell you what not to get. A .450 bushmaster. Biggest piece of crap I ever held. Never fired a single round that didn't jam.

My experience is the exact opposite. Mine was a carbine built by Bushmaster and it was really something sweet to shoot. It fed wonderfully. In fact, I let one of my sons shoot a few rifles and let him take his pick to go home with. He chose the .450 Bushmaster.

I don't know what happened with your rifle, Nicholosi, but problems with feeding big bore cartridges can often be attributed to the feed ramps. Building an AR for a big bore requires a barrel extension with proper feed ramps and proper modification of the feed ramp area of the lower receiver. Sometimes people think they can just use a standard AR barrel extension and dremel the feed ramps in. Though it can be done, it is difficult to get the contours correct. It is much better to use a barrel extension that is purpose built for the caliber.

I think the 6.8 spc is good round. I have a Ruger Ranch Rifle in the caliber as my truck gun. I've reloaded for it some but I've just settled on using factory Hornady 120 SST. On a hot day, I clocked them at 2550 fps from 18.5" barrel.

Hi Forrest, I'm down to two AR-15's. One is strictly for home defense, all Colt 14.5" barreled M4 style. The other is a mix of parts that makes one of the best hunting AR's I've ever owned. It may give you some idea's.

It wears an 18" 1 in 8" twist Lothar-Walther barrel that's very deeply fluted and comes in at a featherweight 31 ozs, about the same weight as the 18" "pencil barrels. It wears a Troy TRX forend. I really like these because they do away with the side and bottom rails. This makes the tube very narrow and it feels better in hand than the wide ones. For an AR hunting trigger, IMO the best out there is the Geissele Hi-Speed Match triggers. These are two stage triggers that adjust down to ounces if you like and have a clean crisp "wall" in between the first and second stages. IMO, I've tried a bunch and these are the best. For the stock I'm using an ACE LTD FX unit. These look a little funny but they are light, strong and one of the most comfortable AR stocks out there. The rest of it consists of a Magpul MOE grip (very comfortable,) VLTOR MUR upper receiver, Young National Match bolt carrier group and Stiller Precision billet lower.

The other cartridges are fine but after trying a lot of them I'm back to the .223.

For a walking around hunting AR this one is my all time favorite. It's light, amazingly accurate, comfortable and the sum of all the parts adds up to a pretty cool looking rig.



Terry

quote:

Originally posted by TC1:

The other cartridges are fine but after trying a lot of them I'm back to the .223.


Terry

I thought the 223 was too light for deer. Perhaps someone should start a thread on the subject.

Ya think?

quote:

Originally posted by TC1:
Hi Forrest, I'm down to two AR-15's. One is strictly for home defense, all Colt 14.5" barreled M4 style. The other is a mix of parts that makes one of the best hunting AR's I've ever owned. It may give you some idea's.

It wears an 18" 1 in 8" twist Lothar-Walther barrel that's very deeply fluted and comes in at a featherweight 31 ozs, about the same weight as the 18" "pencil barrels. It wears a Troy TRX forend. I really like these because they do away with the side and bottom rails. This makes the tube very narrow and it feels better in hand than the wide ones. For an AR hunting trigger, IMO the best out there is the Geissele Hi-Speed Match triggers. These are two stage triggers that adjust down to ounces if you like and have a clean crisp "wall" in between the first and second stages. IMO, I've tried a bunch and these are the best. For the stock I'm using an ACE LTD FX unit. These look a little funny but they are light, strong and one of the most comfortable AR stocks out there. The rest of it consists of a Magpul MOE grip (very comfortable,) VLTOR MUR upper receiver, Young National Match bolt carrier group and Stiller Precision billet lower.

The other cartridges are fine but after trying a lot of them I'm back to the .223.

For a walking around hunting AR this one is my all time favorite. It's light, amazingly accurate, comfortable and the sum of all the parts adds up to a pretty cool looking rig.



Terry

Terry,
Do you know what the diameter of the barrel is under the handguard, and at the muzzle? I like the looks of that rig and have a 300 BLK build starting. I'll be profiling the barrel myself and would like to keep it as light as possible.
Greg

It's .750 at the muzzle. I'm not sure what the measurment is behind the gas block through and I'm on my way to Dallas TX so I can't measure it for you. It's just a deep fluted SPR contour though.

Here is picture of it off the rifle


Hope that helps.

Terry

Here you go, Forrest. Right up your alley:



I believe it can be had in exhibition grade, too. When you look this good, caliber is irrelevant.

Or:

Thanks for all the ideas. I'm set on going with 223. Terry, you have pretty much what I'm looking for. Harry, I think I'll pass on the exhibition grade AR...I'd rather look tactical than bipolar. Mike, I hit my head pretty hard a long time a long time ago...it accounts for all my idiosyncrasies.

When I wanted same I went for a Daniel Defence V7, swapped the trigger for a Geissele SSA-E, threw a 2-7X FF-II On it and called it good. Nice and light though with a 16" barrel.

I stayed away from the AR-15 fever for a long time and about 3-5 years ago decided to join in the club.

I was a little uncertain on what to get as most of the hunting I would be doing with it would be longer range varmint hunting but then again I already had 3 rifles set up for varmint shooting at long range.

My initial thought was to get a good lower and have two uppers all in 5.56. One upper a dedicated varmint rig and the other for HD.

Then came the start of the AR-15 scare and I bought a Sig M-400 Enhanced, 16" 1/9 twist. I thought that would be great for the HD and later when things cooled down I would buy the varmint upper. I put a 1-4X scope on it after doing some due diligence on red dot sights and finding out they didn't fit me or the use I had. Then off to find a factory round to stock up on and some sampling of different ammo. I was sighting in my scope and testing velocities through my chrony at the same time and found a factory round that I could get good velocity from and accuracy of right at 1-1.25" at 100 yards. Stocked up on that factory stuff before the really big scare started.

On a thought, the next time out to practice I brought along some of my reloads for my varmint rig in .223. It's RL-7, LC brass, and a 40g Nosler BT. It runs at 3975fps out of my .223 varmint rig and 3650 out of the AR. Accuracy moved a wee bit better with that load.

I thought hmmmmmmmmm maybe this could work as a deer rifle on some mule deer that are not real large. I found many mags but used a 20 round for hunting due to the length of the mag and carrying the rifle. And with that mag loaded at 12-15 rounds you've got all the ammo you need for the day.

So far I've taken two smaller mule deer bucks with that AR and that handload. One at 288 yards and one about 175 yards. Both one shot kills with the 288 yarder taking about 7-10 steps backward before going down and the 175 yarder going down in his tracks.

I've been impressed with the accuracy of that combo and a little surprised with it also. I had thought that the black rifles did not have the potential for that kind of accuracy. Trigger is not like the other varmint rigs that are very light, but it's where it should be for the multi purposes I now use it for. It sits in the off season in my home office with a 30 round mad with 25 factory loads in it for the social work.

Love that 5.56/.223 caliber.

Scott you are correct a .223 is too light for deer. They like carrying heavier stuff to get a good workout.

My 6.8 SPC with 110gr Accubonds has been a deer/hog killing machine with no less than a dozen kills at 235yds. A stiff load of IMR-4198 or H-322 and you are in business.

I have 4 ARs. Two are 5.56, one 6.5 Grendel, and one AR-10 .308Win. If you are not going to step up to an AR-10 then either the Grendel or 6.8 SPC with the improved chamber. If you go the 6.8 SPCII route you should also ensure it has a 1:11"-1:12" twist.
There are so many other offerings in caliber for the AR it's actually hard to recommend.

quote:

Originally posted by ForrestB:
I'd rather look tactical than bipolar.