AR for farm patrol

If your going to pack the rifle around, I'd suggest a 16” gun with a collapsible stock. The lighter, the better. I'd also get the flat top upper and no front sight for optic duty. Range to target will determine what optic to use.

I use a 16" with an Eotec for similar use and the sight without the magnifier is pretty good to a couple hundred yds. on coyotes and the like.

Check out BCM for just about any configuration you can think of. I would look at a 16 inch light weight profile.

http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/AR15-Upper-Receiver-Groups-s/1.htm

I often use the buis on mine. I've never taken it to a range, just for around the property plinking.

16" barrel with an eotech suits me nicely, although lately I've been wanting a magnifier. I've also been looking at the specter length yankee hill machine free float rail fore ends. I'm wondering if the extra inch or two of sight radius will make a difference. Since the yhm rails join to the flat top upper rail, it seems to me that I would have a ton of room for the eotech, magnifier and buis.

I honestly feel quite unprotected with my Sig P220 on my hip.

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Really?

You might want to consider some more practice/training with your Sig, as opposed to looking for security from a different weapon.

Basically, I am wanting to hit these animals before they are within .45 ACP range.

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Understood.

Instead of walking every day with a pistol, perhaps just a few days with a scoped rifle? If they are dangerous, and on your property, can you eliminate them as you see fit?

10.5” with a suppressor and an ACOG. No batteries to die, no buttons to push, always on and ready. With the suppressor you don’t need to spend any time protecting your ears and with the 10.5” barrel you are still shorter than a regular 16” AR.

txhoghunter said:

Range out there varies from one area to another. I'm considering an Eotech with a magnifier on a QD mount. Has anyone used this setup? And if so, how does it handle?

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If your going to use a 1x red dot and magnifier: The Aimpoint CompM3 in a Larue Lt129 and the Aimpoint magnifier in a Larue flip mount match up perfectly. Far better than the Eo combos I've tried.

Handles excellent. Very durable. The magnifier is a bit of dead weight, but that's why you put it in a QR mount.

A 1-4x Trijicon Accupoint or Nightforce scope may work for you as well.

A 14.5 with fixed flash suppressor can be had for not that much or under $1000. It is light and maneuverable; put a cheap $150 Vortec Strikefire on top, zero in, and u be ready for anything you are likely to come across. I have no problem taking game up to 200 yards with that rig ( I use a scope out further but I am old ). You can spend more and even get stuff that works better but for the money what I posted is hard to beat. Ammo from aimsurplus and tell the dogs to "bring it on"!

txhoghunter said:

Range out there varies from one area to another. I'm considering an Eotech with a magnifier on a QD mount. Has anyone used this setup? And if so, how does it handle?

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I carry an Eotech equipped AR-15 for LE duty use, and I love the Eotech. It provides fast target acquisition, and works great in a low-light environment. I haven't added the magnifier to mine, but the non-magnified Eotech still works well for my needs (I've shot to 300 yards with the non-magnified version).

My only concern with an ACOG would be that it will be too much magnification should the dogs catch me off guard a little closer.

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The ACOG reflex (center below) is just like a battery powered zero magnification red dot, except that it uses tritium and fiber optic. It is self adjusting with no buttons or batteries. I also have Aimpoints, Cmores (top/bottom) and others but they require the user to do something at some point to turn on or adjust for ambient light. The rifle at the bottom is one of my 3-gun rifles with the 1-4 scope and 1 o’clock Cmore, it is both quick up close and accurate at distance but if you shoot a compensated rifle like that without plugs you won’t hear anything except ringing in your ears for a few days. That is why I use suppressed for non game animal, “surprise” type situations.

I use 55g soft points most of the time, they cost less than the other bullets I use except for 55g FMJs. If you don't mind the cost ballistic tips, V-max and some hollow points perform better. Some hollow points with thin "varmit" jackets come apart leaving fast twist AR's, just so you know.

I have EO Techs on my ARs and love them. I wouldn't bother with the magnifier since they are perfectly fine for a few hundred yards without it and adding one will get the price up towards ACOG territory.

For dogs any 5.56 ammo will do as long as it shoots ok in your rifle. Lately the prices are down to about $300/1k for M193 (mil-spec type stuff which fragments nicely out to about 150yds in a 16" barrel) from the major online retailers. You can get steel cased non-reloadable ammo like Wolf for around $200/1k but buy a couple boxes first to make sure it functions reliably in your particular rifle. They are fine in most ARs but there's a few that don't like it. It's not usually as accurate as the brass cased stuff, it stinks, and the bullets have thicker jackets and usually won't fragment, but it'll do the job on dogs and it's cheap.

txhoghunter said:

...when there is a pack of pit bulls around you, a .44 mag can make you feel inadequate. I have had a .45 round ricochet of the skull of one.

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I think you missed, or perhaps grazed the target....45ACP has a nasty habit of penetrating pretty well. That said, I too feel more comfortable with a long gun. In this instance I believe a shogun may be the best medicine as it affords near instant incapacitation with a decent hit as well as a little more forgiveness in shot placement than the average rifle. Range shouldn't be a concern unless you are hunting dogs and, well, that'd be a bit weird. I would recommend No. 4 or 1 buck, but Double Ought will work pretty well too (and do a bit better on bigger critters).

If you just want a rifle (nothing wrong with that), then the AR-15 would be a decent choice, as would most other SA intermediate cartridge rifles (like the M1 Carbine, Mini 14/30, AK, SKS, et al). Loaded with most any cartridge, any of the aforementioned should work well enough, though a good Ballistic Tip, HP, or SP will probably afford the best performance.

Pack of feral dogs? Benelli M1 with #4 or 00?

My only concern with an ACOG would be that it will be too much magnification should the dogs catch me off guard a little closer.

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That's why you practice transitioning to your sidearm. I have no doubt in my mind that a .45 ACP will absolutely destroy the dog, pitbull or not. Pitbulls aren't bears. Just don't miss.

txhoghunter said:

Thank you very much for all of the suggestions, now for another question: What ammunition do yall recommend? What ammunition do you use in your AR when you are on duty colorado kev?

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Just get some Tula from Wal-mart. It's more accurate than you might think, and it's only $5 per box of 20.

BTW, if you get an AR, you can lighten it up by using a MicroDot RDS and a carbon fiber floating hand guard. If you want magnified optics, I'd get a quality 1-4x scope instead of having a rds and a magnifier.

I am going to go with the scoped rifle crowd. AR's are not truck friendly. The mag sticks out and cuts the interior, the rifle is tall with the PG and Scope and sometimes is difficult to stick out the window and you need some type of tactical sling to carry it around comfortably. We made good war on the maurading dogs up near Telephone, Tx with Remington M-700's and Ruger M-77's. I would look at a good .22-250 or a .243 with 80-85 grain bullets. They both have very light recoil, can shoot far and come in ranch friendly packages. One day we were shooting some big, white, furry, dogs. I had a .223 and my partner had a 250. He dropped his dead and mine took a couple more rounds to help him down the highway to the hereafter. I am not saying the .223 is not lethal, I like it a lot, but the 250 or the .243 just work much better especially on bigger sized dogs. Get a Leupold 1-4 if you want low magnification.

Hope this helps.

Matt

Yeah, I'd try a BCM.