Just saw this post
Hey Glockamolee,
I have been going through this same selection process just recently looking for a carbine length .308.
Right now all my SHTF guns are 7.62x39's (chinese AK's and SKS's) which are pretty good, but I live out in the country with lots of big trees and stuff to hide behind where a .308 would come in super handy. I live alone with my wife and my nearest neighbor is at least a mile away and seperated by a couple of hills so I have absolutely no worries about overpenetration.
I test all my SHTF guns and setups by using them for hunting deer. I figure if you can use a rifle to kill a mature deer cleanly that it will work for hunting and you can use it for defense too cause a deer is generally harder to kill than a human. 7.62x39 makes a great brush gun and open shots out to 150 yards ain't bad for killing deer(although they do tend to run a good bit further than if they was hit with a .270win), but anything further than that and you've got holdover to make and you start losing a lot of power. My favorite cartridge for deer hunting is .270Win and if I could get a military style rifle chambered for it I would. I can get something that is pretty darn close though, .308.
So I've recently been thinking about going to a .308 battle rifle of carbine length and a .308 boltgun and a Browning BAR in .308(just cause I really like BAR's) to replace my .270's, and my 7.62x39's, and my 7.62x54R mosin-nagants. I want a carbine cause it would be handier to move around and store and cause I'm kinda crippled up(disabled army veteran), so I've been researching them some lately and this is what I've come up with so far.
Right off the bat I eleminated the M1A and other M-14 clones cause they are just too darned expensive for someone like myself who is on a small fixed income.
I also cut the AR-10 and clones out there cause they are also very expensive, and they seem to be (at least to me) to be to sensitive to ammo and dirt, etc. (although a AR-10 in .243win would be a cool rifle to just have).
I cut the H&K, CETME, PTR-91, etc. out of the running because all the FAQ's I read about them said that they have a problem shooting .308win instead of 7.62x51 NATO. Correct me if I'm wrong here but that means no good quality soft point ammo for these puppies. I prefer to use good quality bonded core soft point ammo that has good controlled expansion. I really only use FMJ surplus stuff for plinking and general target practice.
That leaves the AK style .308's and the FN clones.
The AK style .308s (Saiga and VEPR II) are extremely attractive price-wise and both seem to be sturdy, reliable, and fairly accurate. I think the VEPR II looks better but it is also more expensive. I think there is a poster here on the forums whose shop can customize a Saiga buy for roughly the price of a VEPR II. I need to check on that option more. The other thing in their favor, for me at least, is the fact that some of my stuff for the AK will switch over to these guns. I've already got a RSA trigger group and a Kobra sight that will move over to either of these guns. The thing that really bugs me about these guns is the fact that there are no hicap mags available for them. I don't know if that should really be a major sticking point, I mean a garand did just fine with 8 and a SKS does just fine with 10, but the fact that I can't get 20 rd mags for these rifles really bothers me for some reason. If I can get past that I might go for one of these.
As far as the FN clones go I cut the SA58's from the running cause I just can't afford them(but they are damn cool), and cause I'm really not sure how good it is to replace the lower reciever with aluminum. I really like the STG58s that DS Arms has. Quality construction, real Austrian military parts, steel reciever, bipod and a medium high(but barely do-able) price make these very attractive to me, as well as the companies reputation. The design is supposed to be very rugged, and fairly accurate for a battle rifle. The Century FN's are very attractive pricewise, but from what I understand the QC is hit or miss so you might get a good one or you might not. If you didn't you might have to hassle with getting it taken care of, but it still might end up being cheaper than the other options even with some extra parts and some minor gunsmithing.
So really at this point I'm trying to decide between the Saiga, the VEPR, the STG-58, or a Century R1A1. Any other thoughts on these rifles would be greatly appreciated and if I'm wrong in any of my assumtions in the above post I'd be happy for someone to clue me in on the real deal.
HillbillyChuck
