My next AR upper - caliber choice for deer hunting

Status
Not open for further replies.
Gtscotty, I don't like fixed front sights, and they're particularly poorly-suited to a rifle you plan to scope. It would require the scope have a rather high riser to clear it. Given that the vast majority of 6.8 SPC rifles wind up with a scope on top, it seems to me that this is a very poorly thought out design. Not to mention the fact that I'd still have to buy a bolt assembly and charging handle, which would cost around $180 or so most likely. When you consider it all, it's really a bad deal.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:

$160 for a BCG and charging handle from PSA (PSA often puts BCG's on sale for much cheaper). You must be new to AR's, this particular upper may not be what you want, but $520 for a completed non-5.56 upper with a hammer forged FN barrel is, in fact, not a bad deal. If you've ever used a magnified scope on an AR with front sight post, you know that you can't see the front sight post at any magnification above 2x or so. The 6.8 AR that I used for hunting had a front sight post, and it didn't interfere with my 2-7 scope, even if it had it would have been easy enough to remove. For the record, some folks still like to have an iron sight option... even/especially on hunting rifles.

The AR's you posted would not be my choice for another hunting 6.8 AR due to their unnecessarily heavy barrels. A heavy contour barrel is not going to provide you with any more hunting accuracy over the few shot's you'll take in the woods than a thinner contour. One of the things I really liked about my 6.8 AR was that with it's 18" thinner contour barrel, it was very light and handy in the woods. I've had HBAR AR's as well, and wouldn't chose one for a hunting carbine.

I mostly suggested the PSA because you were limiting your cost to $500, and it's a good option in that price range. Without a hard price ceiling at $500, I would personally pick up a quality AR performance or Bison Armory Barrel and build an upper.
 
Last edited:
A vote for 6x45 here if you are a reloader. Huge selection of hunting bullets, better ballistics than 5.56 and easy to make. Dies are readily available,as are barrels. Only needed change is the barrel as it uses the 5.56 as the parent case which rules out custom magazines or bolts.
 
badkarmamib said:
When mounting a scope 3X or higher, the front sight practically disappears from view. JSE Surplus is another good company that carries more 6.8 options than PSA, as well as having customizable uppers. And I have spent far more money at PSA than JSE Surplus, so I am not trolling...
Click to expand...

There was a thread on here where someone (I think it was MistWolf) was running some tests with a scope on a gun with an FSB, he said even though he could not see the FSB in the scope, it did affect the effectiveness of the scope
 
HOOfan_1 said:
There was a thread on here where someone (I think it was MistWolf) was running some tests with a scope on a gun with an FSB, he said even though he could not see the FSB in the scope, it did affect the effectiveness of the scope
Click to expand...

If doesn't throw off your zero or anything, but there can be a little bit of shadowing due to the fact that less light is entering the scope. It wasn't a big deal to me, even at dusk, but the OP should get the configuration be wants. I do think 6.8 SPC is the best choice for his intended use and budget.
 
I was in a similar situation a year ago. I wanted to build an AR specifically for deer hunting, and more importantly, a deer gun that a kid could handle easily while walking through the pucker brush and willow sloughs, so a shorter barrel and adjustable stock of the AR were ideal.

I ended up choosing the 6.8 because it is well suited for accuracy out of shorter barrels not only at brush gun yardage, but also well out to distances farther than we would ever shoot while hunting.

Factory hunting rounds at your local sport shop are not as available as we might desire, but are improving. The price as you might expect is $1 or more per round. Too high for my tastes. Larger sporting retailers are much better but still too expensive in my view. On line sources for ammo are numerous and easily obtained. On line sources for reloading components are very numerous, very reasonable and there is no reason why a reloader can't produce sub minute of angle hunting and plinking ammo for well under .50 per round.

If you want to learn more about the 6.8 visit this forum, dedicated to it.

http://68forums.com/forums/forum.php

Good luck in your quest.
 
Gtscotty said:
:rolleyes:

$160 for a BCG and charging handle from PSA (PSA often puts BCG's on sale for much cheaper). You must be new to AR's, this particular upper may not be what you want, but $520 for a completed non-5.56 upper with a hammer forged FN barrel is, in fact, not a bad deal. If you've ever used a magnified scope on an AR with front sight post, you know that you can't see the front sight post at any magnification above 2x or so. The 6.8 AR that I used for hunting had a front sight post, and it didn't interfere with my 2-7 scope, even if it had it would have been easy enough to remove. For the record, some folks still like to have an iron sight option... even/especially on hunting rifles.

The AR's you posted would not be my choice for another hunting 6.8 AR due to their unnecessarily heavy barrels. A heavy contour barrel is not going to provide you with any more hunting accuracy over the few shot's you'll take in the woods than a thinner contour. One of the things I really liked about my 6.8 AR was that with it's 18" thinner contour barrel, it was very light and handy in the woods. I've had HBAR AR's as well, and wouldn't chose one for a hunting carbine.

I mostly suggested the PSA because you were limiting your cost to $500, and it's a good option in that price range. Without a hard price ceiling at $500, I would personally pick up a quality AR performance or Bison Armory Barrel and build an upper.
Click to expand...
$520 for a non-free-float handguard and a fixed FSB. They might as well do a fixed carry handle at that point, just to complete the stupidity. People who buy 6.8 rifles are looking for extra precision and power. Invariably they're going to scope them. It wouldn't have cost them any more to build it in a way that makes sense for its most likely role, but it sure costs a lot more for the consumer to fix what they did wrong. It looks like a great deal until you realize all the dumb things they did and look at the cost and effort to fix them.

So yeah, I'll probably go with the Stag Arms 7H. It's only $595, and would cost far less than to fix PSA's setup.
 
WardenWolf said:
$520 for a non-free-float handguard and a fixed FSB. They might as well do a fixed carry handle at that point, just to complete the stupidity. People who buy 6.8 rifles are looking for extra precision and power. Invariably they're going to scope them. It wouldn't have cost them any more to build it in a way that makes sense for its most likely role, but it sure costs a lot more for the consumer to fix what they did wrong. It looks like a great deal until you realize all the dumb things they did and look at the cost and effort to fix them.

So yeah, I'll probably go with the Stag Arms 7H. It's only $595, and would cost far less than to fix PSA's setup.
Click to expand...

That's the one I had. When I bought it they were more expensive ($850).

When I had it the only thing I would've changed about it was to add a rail to be able to add a light for hog hunting, but I was rarely going alone so one of us just handled the red spotlight and the other(s) shot.

Plus I don't know if you're hog hunting.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    134.7 KB · Views: 19
Browning said:
That's the one I had. When I bought it they were more expensive ($850).

When I had it the only thing I would've changed about it was to add a rail to be able to add a light for hog hunting, but I was rarely going alone so one of us just handled the red spotlight and the other(s) shot.

Plus I don't know if you're hog hunting.
Click to expand...
Nope, no hogs in Northern Virginia.

Browning, you could get an offset mount to allow you to attach a light to the gas block. Here's an example of one: https://556tactical.com/product/daniel-defense-1-oclock-offset-rail/
 
Last edited:
WardenWolf said:
$520 for a non-free-float handguard and a fixed FSB. They might as well do a fixed carry handle at that point, just to complete the stupidity. People who buy 6.8 rifles are looking for extra precision and power. Invariably they're going to scope them. It wouldn't have cost them any more to build it in a way that makes sense for its most likely role, but it sure costs a lot more for the consumer to fix what they did wrong. It looks like a great deal until you realize all the dumb things they did and look at the cost and effort to fix them.

So yeah, I'll probably go with the Stag Arms 7H. It's only $595, and would cost far less than to fix PSA's setup.
Click to expand...

What a rediculous and un-called for response. You asked a question about something I've done before, I respond, and you try to ridicule my suggestion and experience based reasoning, how small.

Buy whatever you want, but there is no reason to be low road about it.
 
Browning said:
Like I said on the first page I don't own it any longer, but I could text that to the friend I sold it to.

Good rifle, but I needed to thin the herd somewhat. Trying to stock 16 calibers was a bit much (at least for me).
Click to expand...
I hear you there. Look at my sig for my caliber footprint; it's not much better. I mainly stock .223, 7.62x39, 7.62x54R, and 8mm Mauser. Those are my defense and hunting calibers right now, and I own at least 2 rifles in each of those. 8mm with 196-grain bullets is a lot more pleasant to shoot than 7.62x54R with standard 150-grain bullets; the recoil is less sharp. As a result, I tend to favor 8mm over it. Though with 4 rifles to feed (2 Mosins, a PSL, and an SVT-40), I stock plenty of that as well.
 
I had the same problem you're trying to solve about a year ago.

I've used AR platform rifles for many years and wanted to stick with its simplicity, ease of maintenance and versatility.

I started with a DPMS LR 308 but the thing is so damn heavy (13 Lbs after accoutrements) that I just couldn't see myself trudging through the woods with it for very long. Then I started looking at the 6.5 Grendel. It has similar flight characteristics to the .308 with better terminal energy.

I picked up a complete 18" upper - no frills - from Radical Firearms for around $560 (they're a little more pricey now at $680) and assembled the lower. I had it out to the range a few weekends ago for zeroing the scope. Once zeroed the guy in the next lane over let me shoot a steel target at 100 yds. The three-shot group was under 1 MOA. After that my son took the rifle out to 200 and was still ringing steel (didn't get a chance to see his grouping, though). Since then I added a drop-in trigger but haven't had an opportunity to go back to the range.

Bill Alexander put a lot of thought into the Grendel caliber. There's an article on the development of the Grendel cartridge at:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/6-5mm_grendel.htm.
 
Last edited:
BigDinVT said:
I had the same problem you're trying to solve about a year ago.

I've used AR platform rifles for many years and wanted to stick with its simplicity, ease of maintenance and versatility.

I started with a DPMS LR 308 but the thing is so damn heavy (13 Lbs after accoutrements) that I just couldn't see myself trudging through the woods with it for very long. Then I started looking at the 6.5 Grendel. It has similar flight characteristics to the .308 with better terminal energy.

I picked up a complete 18" upper - no frills - from Radical Firearms for around $560 (they're a little more pricey now at $680) and assembled the lower. I had it out to the range a few weekends ago for zeroing the scope. Once zeroed the guy in the next lane over let me shoot a steel target at 100 yds. The three-shot group was under 1 MOA. After that my son took the rifle out to 200 and was still ringing steel (didn't get a chance to see his grouping, though). Since then I added a drop-in trigger but haven't had an opportunity to go back to the range.

Bill Alexander put a lot of thought into the Grendel caliber. There's an article on the development of the Grendel cartridge at:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/6-5mm_grendel.htm.
Click to expand...
Good to know their other uppers are that good, too. I really do love my Radical Firearms rifle. I've built a beast on a budget. Now I just need a magnifier.

sr0oiwuh.jpg
 
I prefer 6.8SPC. As there has been much standardization, more ammo manufacturers and general acceptance in the last 4 years or so. I started with just a generic FN barrel Palmetto upper. Turns out the thing is a tack driver. I got the 6.8 Super Bolt, I use a variety of lowers, a mess of different metal magazines from cheap to top grade and never had any feed or fire problems.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

American_Fusilier
  • Locked
AR-15 hunting calibers, what do/have you used?
2
Replies
27
Views
2K
American_Fusilier
American_Fusilier
tommy.duncan
  • Locked
Different AR calibers
2 3 4
Replies
75
Views
5K
gotigers
G
DesertFox
  • Locked
Alternate AR upper caliber?
2
Replies
32
Views
2K
dubya450
dubya450
L
  • Locked
  • Poll
AR Caliber Choices
Replies
9
Views
961
LJH
L
B
  • Locked
Alternative AR-15 caliber choices
Replies
14
Views
1K
Hkmp5sd
H
Back
Top