AR Cartridge Help

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mwsenoj

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Trying to decide what cartridge to use in my first AR.
Here are my two criteria.

1. I want to hunt pig, mule deer, and coyote

2. I may shoot it out to 6-800yd on rare occasion.

This puts 223 out of the picture. Any advice welcome!
 
Are you just wanting to shoot 6-800 yards, or are you wanting to take mule deer at that distance?

If the former, the selections above are great. If the latter, there are going to be very few options...
 
I recommend staying away from the "pet" cartridges.
Good 'ole 30.06 or 308 as long as the barrel is long enough to utilize the potential of those cartridges.
Everybody makes rifles chambered in it, they can be found anywhere, they lend themselves perfectly to reloading, they will take down any animal in north or south America, they are proven competition accurate out to 800 yrds. and beyond, wide variety of choices for bullets, very cost effective.
I would think this would be a no brainer as far as which cartridge to choose :scrutiny:
 
The 6-800 yard really puts you in 6.5 Grendel territory. There really isn't anything that will go out that far. 6.8 would be another option, but not out to 800 yards.

Ballisticly, my personally feeling is I also would not trust anything out of an AR caliber to take game out to 800 yards. 300-400 with a 6.5 or 6.8. Sure. 800 no way. Get a full power rifle cartridge for that, not an intermediate one.
 
noob alert: i didnt know you could even get ar 15s chambered in 308. Wish i wouldve known when i got mine. are those hard to find?
 
Ballisticly, my personally feeling is I also would not trust anything out of an AR caliber to take game out to 800 yards. 300-400 with a 6.5 or 6.8. Sure. 800 no way. Get a full power rifle cartridge for that, not an intermediate one
Click to expand...
Why not get both? :D

There are options, but they're few and far between.
 
if you are hunting and you dont mind a big heavy gun an AR-10 in .260 is going to offer the best ballistics.

If I were shooting hogs or mulies within 150 yards I would personally choose an AR-15 in 7.62X39. AMmo is cheap and plentiful and packs a bigger wallop over .300blk or 6.8 SPC

I hunt with an AR-10 in .308 but consider it a 200 yard gun. Mine is a pig with a 24" bull barrel tipping the scales at 11 lbs unloaded. I hunt blinds and if I am stalking I take a bolt gun or BAR.

Other option is an Olympic Arms WSSM AR-15. Dont believe the hype Oly is putting out good stuff.
 
adelbridge said:
if you are hunting and you dont mind a big heavy gun an AR-10 in .260 is going to offer the best ballistics.

If I were shooting hogs or mulies within 150 yards I would personally choose an AR-15 in 7.62X39. AMmo is cheap and plentiful and packs a bigger wallop over .300blk or 6.8 SPC

I hunt with an AR-10 in .308 but consider it a 200 yard gun. Mine is a pig with a 24" bull barrel tipping the scales at 11 lbs unloaded. I hunt blinds and if I am stalking I take a bolt gun or BAR.

Other option is an Olympic Arms WSSM AR-15. Dont believe the hype Oly is putting out good stuff.
Click to expand...
an AR 10 with a 24 inch barrel a 200 yd gun?? did you mean an ar15 in 223?
 
I have an AR10 and the 6.5 Grendel. For varmints I prefer the Grendel but like the AR10 for my meat getter.
 
5.56 is fine for hunting hog within 200 yards. Now, dropping a hog 800 yards out with 5.56 is another story. You're probably better off going with an AR-10.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 
A large frame AR chambered for .260 Remington or 6.5 Creedmore.

Both offer light recoil, long high sectional density bullets with good BC for long distance shooting.
 
+1 for the AR-10! As Tony the Tiger would say "they're great!" I've had 3 1/2 (one had 2 uppers). By far the best one I had (in my opinion) was a Rock River Predator in 308.
They claim 1 moa accuracy with it and it can certainly do it and better. Mine was stolen a little over a year ago:fire::banghead::mad:
 
If someone figures out how to build a 54r and feed reliably with the rim then I'd like to see the technology utilizes for a 44mag ar:evil:
 
I agree that .223 is too small of a cartridge for the game you describe. If you're sticking to the AR-15 platform, you are limited by magazine length - but among the workable options 7.62x39 and 6.5 SPC both offer greatly improved performance and range.

If you want to step up to the AR-10 platform you have the additional options of choice of 7.62x51 and .338 Federal, both proven intermediate range calibers.

Hope this helps!
 
With those animals and then shooting paper/steel etc. on out there, I'd consider the .243.
It's a superb long-range target performer and readily available.
Barring that, a .308.
 
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