Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How about now? Time to buy that AR yet?

The better question... Is it time to use that AR yet?

Much going on that is sideways with the Constitution.. some very seriously sideways.

g

Hopefully all my parts show up for my AR pistol next week. 10.5 inch barrel in 5.56.

I have a built it myself version of this, but this Ruger looks to be all that.

Add can, light and laser and you have a home defense gun and a hog killer all in one!

Since astigmatism prevents me from using a red dot sight, I stuck one of these on my AR. Vortex discontinued them and were blowing them out for 50 bucks each. I'll probably go with something lighter eventually. But I couldn't turn it down for 50 bucks. It has a huge eyebox and is very clear,...plenty of eye relief.

https://vortexoptics.com/catalog/product/view/id/3447

Looking forward to the range report.

Let us know in the AR forum how it shoots and what it like.

Just put a Colt in the hopper...

My take on this is that if those 9 "friends" didn't think beforehand what could happen, they'd be pretty useless when the time comes. I don't think that you could count on them in a crunch.

I disagree. Out here in the country there are lots of folks who hunt, fish, shoot, and spend a lot of time outdoors. They may not keep up on the latest and greatest guns and gear, and may not have any real interest in semi-auto rifles. Their money may be spent on a million other things, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't know what to do and how to do it when the time comes.

Is that a true AR? I believe Ruger was producing an AR look a like for a while, but no parts compatibility.

The only difference that I believe Ruger made was with the barrel nut and the delta ring, IIRC.

All I know is AR's are a lot of fun...

Riddle me this: Seems that production in recent years has supported faster twists and heavier bullets. Too, it seems the 16" barrel is pretty much standard. Shorter barrels/heavier bullets = lower MV/louder muzzle blast. Out of curiosity why did we move in this direction? The question stems from baseline experience wherein the old -16 pretty much killed whatever one shot with it....

CQB -Close Quarters Battle

In a street fight, at across the street or across the room distances, an AR pistol or 10.5” SBR is handy and wicked easy to drive.

The M-16 and CAR 15 of the Nam era were pretty nimble as I recall. So, part of the riddle I ponder, if one is disposed to go full Monty in CQB why do we do so with quick twists and heavy bullets? Chop it down to a 10.5" barrel and one is pizzing away a lot of velocity and nastiness that follows a hit. I never, and mean NEVER saw anyone hit with a -16 or CAR15 for that matter that stayed in the game of life, not even for a short spell. Pop'n flop was their mode, usually not a lot of emphasis on the flopping thing. They claim it had to do with bullet tumbling, mebbe, mebbe not. Seems to me someone is selling horse feathers in the market place.

I like the shorties for room to room scenarios. At that range, velocity is going to be plenty high (about what it would be at a couple hundred yards from a 16 inch barrel), and you won't be banging the barrel on the tops of doorways as you pass through them.

I seem to recall that the "experts" went with a heavier bullet because of the expected increased range of combat in the Middle East.

I've also heard that the 55 grain bullet was designed to tumble on impact,....don't know if it's fact or not. I've seen tests in ballistic gelatin where the 55 grain bullet fragments at the cannelure.

One interesting aspect of the gelatin test was that the 55 grain bullet would create a large temporary expansion cavity that started almost immediately upon impact when it was traveling at around 3100 fps. But at lower velocities the expansion cavity would appear further back in the gelatin.

My takeaway from the test was, at 2700 fps or so, the bullet would just pencil through before it had an opportunity to disrupt. But a few hundred fps more, it would create a lot of disruption beginning at impact.

Maybe the lower velocities from heavier bullets/shorter barrels reduced the lethality of the 5.56?

,...just my ponderings on the subject. Maybe legit,....maybe not.

JFC, 11' or 20'' hitting the target and continuing to do so until the problem is solved is always the answer. I mostly shoot a DD or LMT 14.5" and regularly kill coyotes out to around 500 yards. I am guessing that they would have the same affect on humans. 55 gr V max and 77gr. BH OTM both work but I would take the BH for larger critters. That being said I have about 4k rounds of the latter so that may influence my choice.

Modern ARs from quality mfgr.s are very reliable and fairly accurate. Not all ARs are the same no matter what the poor folks say.



mike r

,...now ya done got lvmiker all worked up.

Colt made the stuff I used and I used it a lot. Never had a malfunction with the -16 or -15. Nor did my peers to the best of my knowledge. Engagement ranges varied from 20' to perhaps 300 meters. My opinion only but they been fixing something not broken.

Well, I have a carbine. No downside, but, I think a littler one would be handy as heck too. And very well could be unavailable sooner than later. I am not completely sold on the Ruger, S&W, PSA etc etc. However, I am not going to be buying a $1400 anything.... When it comes time I much rather have a heavier SP or HP rather than a 55 FMJ. I don't need to read or guess to arrive there either. And zombies at 50 yards best turn the hell around. LOL Payday today and nothing getting ordered. We'll see.