Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles First ar or tactical rifle

Think about getting a semi auto centerfire rifle for blasting away at targets and maybe popping a deer or pig in some state somewhere.

Local shop has an m1 springfield reproduction for 1050 with the short barrel but it has a plastic stock

Other shops have ar platform rifles in various calibers. I really like the collapsible but stock on the ar platform but sometimes I wish I had more bullet than a .224 diameter slug. Not saying a .224 bonded bullet or tsx is wimpy but some people feel the need to be macho.

Any recommendations?

The nice thing about the AR platform is that there are a lot of different calibers available. 17 rem, 204 ruger, 223/5.56, 6x45, 243 wssm, 25 wssm, 7.62x39, 30 AR, 450 bushmaster, 458 socom, and 50 boewolf just to name a few. They will all work on the stanadard ar15 platform. IF you step up to the AR10/LR308 then 22-250, 243, 260, 6.5 creedmoor, 7mm08, 308, 338 fed, and 450 marlin.

If you only get one I would probably go with a AR15 in 5.56. It sounds like your primary goal is recreational shooting and occasional hunting with someof the better loadings out there right now will be no problem.

Maybe a Ruger mini 30.

Get an AR and start tinkering with it.

They can be a lot of fun, and it's always easy to add a new upper for even more fun.

With the proper bullet for each task at hand you will soon forget about the tiny diameter bullets.

Mike

I like Stag Arms for a entry level AR. Rock River, Colt, DPMS, S&W, ect are all good AR's. Find the configuration you want and go from there.

It has been my personal experience that the little bullet provided its a decent bullet will kill any deer alive just as well as any 30-06, anyone that says different is ignorant.

Look up the CMP and buy a Garand.

I was at a range today and a nice guy let me shoot his dpms version of the ar 10. I was impressed with the way that the trigger felt on the gun however I think that the gun was a pinch too heavy at 7.5 pounds and the recoil seemed to throw me out of balance for follow up shots.

I was at a range today and a nice guy let me shoot his dpms version of the ar 10. I was impressed with the way that the trigger felt on the gun however I think that the gun was a pinch too heavy at 7.5 pounds and the recoil seemed to throw me out of balance for follow up shots.

7.5 lbs was too heavy? Was that your first time shooting a centerfire rifle? 7.5lbs is very and I mean very light for a scoped semi auto in .308. Thats even pretty darn light for a .223 with scope.

As for recoil management, semi auto's tend to magnify flaws in shooting fundamentals.

My suggestion would be build one yourself. You can put one together pretty inexpensive these days. SHoot the heck out of it and when the time comes, upgrade the bbl and trigger with some higher end stuff, or hell, just build a second upper with the higer end stuff.

I built the one pictured below for around $450 (minus scope) for my son.

war eagle...the rifle that I fired didn't have a scope on it. With a scope the rifle would probably go 8.5 pounds. Add in some ammo and the gun would probably start to push into that 9 pound range.

nice rifle v max...how does it shoot?

I was also thinking about getting a 6.5 Grendel ..what say you?

The weight was why I avoided an AR-10 gun. No personal experience with them but one hear of some being problematic. Also they are not like the ar-15 guns with parts/mags interchanging between makes. I picked RRA for the trigger and overall build. Others insist on total mil-spec (and argue over just what that means) most of the guns will work and will last a long time.

Thanks guys. I'm thinking about a 6.5 Grendel build or rifle but I need one with an 18 inch barrel that doesn't go over 6.5 pounds and has an 18 inch barrel. Oh yeah the stock must be the m4 style with the telescoping but stock.

you seem sold on the Grendal, if that floats your boat then why not? My hunting pardner just got a frankengun 6.8SPC and it seems to work every shot, I am warming up to that idea myself, 110 grain TSX seems pretty cool.

Grendel is a good cartridge. I have a 6.8 SPC which is very similar in performance. If you go the Grendel route, make sure you reload or your choices will be limited.

Have you shot it yet Jimmy? If so, what did you think of the AR-15 recoil of the 6.8 as opposed to the 7.62 in your AR-10?

if I don't like the Grendel or the .223 I can always change the bolt and barrel to the other caliber, correct?

Yep, bolt, barrel, and magazines.

I shot it off the bags and honest cannot tell you how it recoiled, it was insignificant to me, so I guess more than a 223 but not by so much. He was shooting hornady 110 vmax. The 11.5 pound full up Ruger does not recoil much at all with 150's, I don't notice it either.

I am moving in the 6.8 direction, I want to see how 62 TTSX will work on a big pig first however, the point may be moot if that works with one shot to the shoulder.

The 6.8 or Grendel do not recoil much more than a 5.56 and not near a 308. There are more factory hunting loads for the 6.8 and more usable hunting bullets in the correct weight range. A lot of the 6.5 bullets were designed for the 260 and 6.5 Swede, they will not expand at slower velocity. Anyone that has hunted with a 5.56, 300, 6.8 and 6.5 can tell you there is a difference in terminal performance on game, especially hogs.

Yet, dead is dead. Pig might run a bit further, but its never been an issue.

like anything else, if you need DRT its shot placement more than anything.

Poke em in the lungs, all that needs doing is to ventilate both... having done so a LOT with a 22lr cci mini mag HPs and a pistol over many yeras... they have never been that hard to kill.

obviously I'm speaking of not huge pigs... our average pig that was "adult" was probably 110-120 pounds... They die right fast with a 22....

It's true that the 6.8 has more purpose built bullets and a lot more factory ammunition choices. Bullet makers had to make them in the 90-120 grain range because almost all 270 bullets are 130 and up.

The Grendel has plenty of bullets that will work just fine out to 300 yards. There was always a plethora of 6.5 bullets from 100-120 grains that will expand down to 1800 fps so there was never the need for Grendel specific bullets.

If you reload, you'll have plenty of options with the 6.5 Grendel or 6.8 SPC. If you don't you are much better off with a 6.8 SPC.

Thanks fellows. Thinking that I'm going to find a used undocumented lower and build from there. How hard is it to build a lower if you have never done it? A local gunsmith told me to buy an aluminum lower and the maker doesn't really matter because they are all made the same.

what do you guys think?

Definitely go aluminum over polymer.

They're definintely not all the same, especially when you get into billet offerings. But any name brand lower should be fine. PSA usually has some for only about $50.

is Anderson arms a good lower manufacturer. I see some for sale for 65 dollars for a stripped lower.