Which AR round for whitetail deer?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Essayson21 - not sure how many rounds will feed out of a usgi mag that was designed for a .223.

Krochus - true, but it doesn't mean they need to limit themselves to 5 rounds either.

Mld...... - I would love to see it... In my county you can't hunt with anything but shotgun or ML. In other counties... I work with a single shot.

WEG - interesting....
 
devildog32713

Your amount of posts seems to answer you question, at least at this minute it does, (308) in TN, ANY Centerfire bullet is LEGAL for deer hunting.
Click to expand...

except for like the third time in this thread I'm pointing out that 308win DOES NOT work in the AR15 platform
 
Yep, the 7.62X39 has it's problems out of an AR unless you partially load a standard 20 round magazine and you use hunting ammunition instead of milsurp. Then it behaves well.

Ideal, probably not considering you have to feed it ammo it likes, but then you have to find out what any rifle performs reliably and accurately with.
 
Ive witnessed a deer being dropped instantly by a single cheap target rd from a .223 at over 300 meters with sights. Im sure plenty here have experience with deer being dropped easily by the .223.
 
Holy crap do people read threads anymore before replying?

We all know .223 will take deer. But it is not legal in my state.

We all know that .308 is a great deer round. It will not fit in an AR15 lower receiver.

To everyone else who has made constructive replies, thanks.

7.62x39 is appealing. I'm curious about reports of unreliability with cheap ammo. This would be primarily an upper for hunting with handloads, but I like my guns to be extremely reliable and multipurpose.

I didn't realize the bullet selection for 6.5 was as good or better than 6.8. I'm going to have to go to my local gunshops to see what the real availability of components is in my area.

The 6x45 is intriguing. Will they feed from USGI magazines? How is reliability?
 
My understanding of the 6x45 ie 6mm-223 is it will feed just like a 223, I have a 24 inch AR barrel and dies but can't get my act together to do the reloading for it. Friend who finally got his Grendel together is looking for a new project, maybe I will lend it to him to play with.
 
I have a 6.8 SPC CMMG upper I purchased for my AR 15 lower for deer hunting. The ballistics are similar to that of a 308 in velocity and energy. The round was primarily designed around a 16 barrel which makes for a great field carry. You will not get very much additional range going to a longer barrel like you will with other calibers. It has gained a lot of popular here in Texas lately and proves to be a great deer rifle. I shoot a SSA 110 grain Pro Hunter load and feel very confident with this set up out to 300 yards. The recoil is light so keeping on target after the initial shot is no problem. As far as mags, there are several companies (cmag/PRI) that manufacture 6.8 SPC magazines. I strongly suggest you only use mags made for the 6.8 SPC.

My current set up is a Eotech with a magnifier that allows tight groups out to 100 yards for shooting hogs and varmints (coyote, bobcat and hogs) For deer season I will mount my Leupold VxIII 4.5x14. This is a fantastic round and very versatile.

DSC_0022.gif
 
Last edited:
my .02 again,
i personaly have takin deer here in tennessee with the 6.8 spc as fars as 300 yards and if the shot is well placed it will do the job just fine, here we can use any centerfire, and i have seen guys use 17 fireball but i draw the line at the ol 223. the 6.8 has plenty of punch to get the job done with out sacrafising accuracy one bit but to be truthfull all the cals your listed are great, hornday even offers up the 6.5 grendel in there new match line up this year. i would realy rethink the 458 socom, theres going to be a lot of blood shock from that bigun
 
ive used my 16 inch ar10 but found it a bit on the heavy side for toteing around all day. Lately ive been useing my newest. A bushmaster in 762x39. Its light handy and hits deer with athourity. Ive also used my beowulf but again its on the heavy side. Ive also shot a few with .223s in the ar using the 60 grain nos partition and it does a great job.
 
by the way my bushmaster 762 is a 100 percent reliable. I use the most recently updated cproducts mags or use the older ones with wolf ex power ak springs in them and it shoots wolf all day long reliably. the only other upgrades were a xtra power extractor spring and black donut and an extra power hammer spring and a bill springfield trigger job. Since the work ive put over 1000 rounds though it without a bobble of any kind.
 
This is my 7.63x39 AR with a 16” Model 1 Upper with a RRA trigger, MGI bolt and C-products 10 round mags: http://www.pixagogo.com/2651684975 Gun is very reliable. Work in progress. Very ammo sensitive. I have old East German surplus that shoots better than some of the reloads I've made with AA 1680 powder. .310 Hornady 123grn V-max has been the most accurate so far, but opens up after loading much hotter than midrange velocities. That's a 3/8s dot at around 100 yards for the targets. The one “nice” one was at 50 yards using IMR 4227 just for giggles.
 
6.8 spc

I'm very pleased with the performance of my AR chambered in 6.8 SPC. Kills hogs DRT. MUCH better performance on deer/hog size animals than 5.56, and I have used that round also:rolleyes:

In my way of looking at it, the 6.8 not only does a great job of improving the killing performance of the AR platform, it is also the second most common chambering for that platform. Also there are at my last count, 6 different companies loading factory ammo for this round[ that was before shotshow, probably more now]. There is good quality, relatively well priced[ about the same as .223 loaded to the same spec] ammo available. Mags aren't a problem. And making a AR run in that caliber is a no brainer.

Whats not to love;)
 
I went with the 6.8spc and that's my recommendation. I'm not sure how or if the grendel will be around for 20 more years. But 6.8 seems to be growing a following. I see more 6.8 locally in the prk. I have not seen 6.5 for a long time out here. But that could mean nothing. 6.8, 6.5 or 7.62x39 will all work. I think the first two will do better at longer ranges. Just my .02 ymmv. Goodluck
 
I'd go with the 6.8. It's widely available and about the perfect size for deer.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Lennyjoe
  • Locked
Which AR to build next?
Replies
8
Views
588
Ranger Roberts
Ranger Roberts
C
  • Locked
new to ar rifles neeeed help!
Replies
9
Views
476
68wj
6
S
  • Locked
Colt SP 901
Replies
0
Views
409
surfinUSA
S
G
  • Locked
Lightweight 6.8 SPC II AR
2
Replies
34
Views
2K
Skylerbone
Skylerbone
A
  • Locked
Sub-short-action calibers: 6.8 SPC future?
Replies
21
Views
1K
GunTech
G
Back
Top