AR for hunting

[HES]

Well my birthday is coming up, and so is hunting season. Plus I am having a good year business wise.

So I want to make the transition from bolt to AR for hunting. The question is which caliber & manufacturer. I am trying to stay under $2,000 and would ideally like to stay closer to the $1,000 side of life.

With that in mind I am leaning towards 6.8. My reasons are weight, the fact that I am going for deer and hogs in Florida, the ability to use a 6.8 upper on an existing lower (saving big bucks), and the fact that hunting ammo for 6.8 is about half that of .308 / 7.62. With that in mind I am leaning towards and upper from AR15Performance.

Does this sound good or should I really take another look at the 7.62 platform?

Again, which caliber for my needs would you choose and what manufacturer keeping in mind that this will be a hunting platform, not a SHTF platform. For that I will stick with 5.56

Thanks in advance and let the process of me taking my lumps begin.

[Suwannee Tim]

With the right bullets and accurate shot placement within reasonable range, the 223/556 is marginal at best. There is a reason 30-06, 270, 243, 30-30 and so on are hugely popular deer and hog cartridges and that is because they work. The 223 is but a fraction of these cartridges. I personally would not use a 223 for deer or hog, not under any circumstances. That leaves 6.8 as a minimum. 308 will kill any deer or hog in Florida. I'd go with the 308. Congratulations on your successful business. What do you do?

[ehcarl2983]

My dad has killed several deer in GA with a 5.56. Regardless of what you hear it will do just fine. I'll let him know about this post and he can post his results.

[kartoffel]

Well since you're already invested in one or more 5.56 weapons, something like 6.8 could be very economical. You might even consider 30-AR for a dedicated hog gun.

It would be real tough to buy an AR-10 lower and stay within budget, but it would be a fun project.

[Suwannee Tim]

Regardless of what you hear it will do just fine.

Kind of reminds me of my youth, I hunted with a group some of whom were enamored of the 30 carbine. Guns were cheap, ammo was cheap and you could get a 20 round magazine and shoot the whole thing at a deer. I heard lots of stories, all of them successes. Never heard anyone talk about the deer they had shot at or shot and failed to drop. We found a lot of deer being eaten by buzzards, shot with something that did not bring them down. The 20 and 30 round magazines were outlawed and you began seeing less and less carbines in the field. Men have been hunting deer with center fire rifles for more than a century and with that vast experience a conclusion can be drawn. Use enough gun. And 223 is not enough gun. Some folks do it, some even do pretty well. Some folks are lucky. Some folks tell you about the deer they have dropped but forget to tell you about the ones that were wounded and died miles away. The hunting literature is full of advice about firearms for deer and hogs. In a nutshell that advice is "use enough gun." The 223 is not enough gun. I would second the motion for the 30 AR. Ballistically very similar to the 30-30, a time tested deer and hog killer.

[ehcarl2983]

I've killed six deer with six rounds of .223 from 16” AR carbines. All with a TA01 ACOG.

1 doe with a 68 grain OTM Black Hills at 20 yards. Doe bolted and ran 15 yds into a tree and was down. Both lungs completely scrambled rolled out like so much pink scrambled eggs. The heart was shredded into finger sized petals. Only small frag exited.

1 large buck with a 55 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw at 20 FEET - 1.5" hole bored through both lungs and recovered under opp side skin. Perfect textbook mushroom. Buck ran about 20 yards and was down. Oddly two broken ribs under the ENTRANCE wound.

1 medium sized buck with a Win 64 grain PP to the neck at 100 yards. I wasn't as impressed as the buck was. Slug exited out the same side of the neck just a couple inches from the entrance wound shedding it's jacket at the exit. Didn't even break the spine. Go figure. Still dropped in it's tracks.

1 small buck hit in throat from straight on with 60 grain Nosler Partition from Black Hills at about 30 yards. Buck fell backwards and was down. Penetration about 17" and tremendous 3-4" diameter wound channel the first oh 6-7 inches through front of throat.

A 6pt while still hunting along a north GA ridgeline in the Chattahoochie National Forest. One Black Hills 77 grain OTM into the front shoulder/neck junction at about 40 feet dropped him literally in his tracks. Bullet did not exit. Under the skin at entrance wound was a quarter sized hole into the chest cavity that broke shoulder bones. Chest cavity full of blood but I did not get a good look at lungs and heart. This has been an insanely accurate load from my Noveske N4 Recce upper.

And a small doe shot in the neck at about 60 yards with the BH 77 gr OTM. It was a BANG – FLOP. There was a massive 4” diameter exit wound.

This is ground hunting in fairly close cover. The light bullet means I've passed up shots on deer behind cover and deer moving in general. Sorta like archery that way. The round is easily up to it, if the hunter is.

I suspect the 62 grain TAP barrier round would be a very effective softpoint on whitetail.

As quoted from my father JHC from this thread https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...871#post568871


Before we open a thread that's gonna be 7.62/6.8 vs 5.56 I'll clarify a few things. I live and hunt in the N. Georgia region where a 100yd shot is a rarity unless you know someone with farmland. I don't think I've ever seen a deer greater than 75 yds away. That's just how my AO is. If you plan on hunting farmland and could see yourself taking a deer at 200yds I can definitely see the argument for a heavier bullet. If you're planning on hunting close range 5.56 is good to go.

I'm sure that we can agree on one thing, that no matter what caliber shot placement is still number 1.

[Suwannee Tim]

You can place a bad shot on a deer with a 458 and have him run away and you can drop one stone cold dead with a 22 long rifle. The smaller the cartridge the more important shot placement and bullet construction are. I would be very careful about bullet selection using a 223 on deer.

[Gunpowder]

Don't forget the 6.5 Grendel. Alexander Arms has some that should be great for hunting for around $1400 just add sights or optics. I know other companies make them I just can't think of any off the top of my head.

[rob_s]

Is .223 legal on deer in FL? I can't recall.

I bought a 6.8 barrel & built an upper with the sole intent of using it on hogs first and eventually a deer. Still haven't so much as zeroed the thing. Hopefully when it cools off a bit I'll get a chance at another hog.

[MarshallDodge]

Take a look at the 30 Remington AR while you are at it. While I have no personal experience it looks promising based on early reports.