Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles anyone hunt with an AR?

I shot a doe with one a few years ago (AR 15 223) just to give it a try. My 10 yr old granddaughter used it this year to shoot her first deer here in Montana. It worked OK both times (62gr bonded) but it wouldn't be my first choice. Granddaughter used it due to the low recoil and adjustable stock. Hopefully next year she graduates to the .257 Roberts I have ready for her.

Carried one for 6 months in Iraq. Hated the damn thing. A bolt action slings over the shoulder so much easier

I hunt with both an AR and bolt. On a heavy AR-308, I find a sling attached to the side of the front forearm and to the rear of the receiver allows me to carry in the "patrol carry" or hanging straight down under my arm and it's extremely comfortable. No sling sliding off your shoulder.

Took my best buck with my 450 Bushmaster. Have taken a few hogs with the 5.56 and 300 Blackout. Building a 300 Ham’r for hogs and coyotes that will see night duty with a thermal scope.

Rugers SFAR puts .308 in an AR15 size and weight package.

I did all my hunting here for a long time with ARs in 6.8 and have zapped plenty of stuff with a .223. Lotta dead critters, but ARs are not as nice to carry as a bolt action, annoying to sling, noisy to go from clear chamber to hot chamber (or vice versa) and unless you're using a very fraggy bullet the wound channels are not impressive.

I've never lost an animal with one but it all depends on what you want to see when you open the animal up. I wouldn't have an opinion about anyone who wanted to use one, but I went back to bolt actions and cartridges which hold more powder.

I’m really not a huge fan of hunting with AR’s but all of my kids have started with one due to being able to fit the rifle. We’ve used .223 with 62gr Barnes as well as a 6.8 spcii that has killed a mess of deer and hogs. Now, I’d possibly go with the 6 ARC in that platform. I still prefer bolt guns and as soon as my kids grew, they switched to a classic style hunting rifle.

I hunt coyote and varmits with an AR .223 wylde. I haven't hunted deer yet with my AR. I have killed deer with a bolt, chambered in .223. It's works but I like a larger bore and heavier bullet, for hunting! We can only have five rounds in the magazine. I don't like the way AR's carry compared to a nice sleek bolt rifle. My two cents.

Why would you want to use a weapon of war to hunt with? The quicker this country bans them, the better off we will be! 🤣 Just kidding, heck I want to use my 6.5 Grendel on a whitetail next chance I get to hunt them.

I’ve killed a few does with an AR-10. My daughter started off shooting with a 15-22 suppressed and moved into a suppressed AR-10 for deer after that. Ease of adjustment with heavy clothing and being familiar with the controls make it a good choice for her. She killed her first buck with it. Now she’s gone to college and doesn’t hunt much so it just sits in the safe with the others.

I tried. I found it the most awkward/unhandy to carry of any rifle I've owned. Much prefer a lever or bolt.

I agree, which is why I don't carry them. I let the cross chest sling do it.


I love old "traditional" hunting rifles. 99's, 94's, old sporterized war trophies. I also really love singe shots and have many. I'm the kind of guy who will deer hunt with a .50 Sharps or with my flintlock in the regular gun season. Which is why it pains me to admit how much I love hunting with the AR. Gets wet, snowy, muddy, banged around, don't care. The pistol grip and adjustable stock are WONDERFUL for being able to shoot from various awkward positions I find myself sitting in, especially when bundled up in cold weather gear.

.223 wouldn't be my first choice when there are so many better choices.

I've killed a lot of varmints with AR's and a few deer but I just prefer a lightweight bolt action. Even if using "AR" rounds, I prefer the bolt action. I intended to spend some time with one during deer season this past year but I just kept grabbing the bolt guns. It's not a dislike of the AR, just a love of the bolt action.

Same here..

The first trick with an AR-308 platform, is to find a rifle that doesn't weigh 9 lbs to start with. I've been using a POF Revolution in .308 and it weighs 6.8 lbs before optics. Second, get a good sling and experiment with the best attachment points. I use a LaRue tactical padded sling and attach it to the rear side of the front handguard and the rear of the receiver. This allows the gun to hang with the muzzle pointed straight down. Easy to carry and even quicker to shoulder.

Carrying the AR in one hand gets old pretty fast with the mag at the balance point and the aluminum sucking the warmth out of your hand.

For hunting a good 2 point sling is pretty much a requirement.

I would have agreed with you a year ago, before I found my current setup of the POF Revolution and LaRue sling. Nothing will ever beat the lightweight, compactness and flat sides of a lever. Heck, a lever is so simple and light to carry, you almost don't need a sling.

I do a fair amount of stalking for hogs on my 2700 acre lease. Heck, I walked 4 miles beginning at first light this morning bumping hogs. If it wasn't a lever action I carried while working prickly pear and turkey pear for sleeping or rooting hogs, my usual setup would be a MRC X2 in .260Rem with a titanium suppressor and a Galco cobra style sling. Actually, my most recent sling is an elephant sling made by Will on Accurate Reloading.

I tried for years to carry an Armalite AR-10 SPR in .308, and it was so blooming big, heavy and "pokey", it was a chore to stalk with. When I "splurged" and bought the POF Revolution DI with a 16" barrel and a quality tactical sling, that changed. The rifle is significantly lighter and the sling and sling attachment points made all the difference.

On long stalks with a bolt, you sometimes fight the sling sliding off your shoulder (the reason I use lined slings like Wills) and you still find yourself swapping shoulders from time to time or doing the "PH carry" holding the barrel with the stock on your shoulder. With the POF and the tactical sling, the gun hangs straight down under my arm, the sling is over my neck so it can't slide off, and I never find myself needing to swap shoulders. It hangs straight down and I can shoulder it in an instant. (the Larue tactical sling has a paracord loop that allows you to tug a buckle and immediately lengthen the sling, or squeeze a plug together buckle and the whole sling breaks free.)

I have my POF set up with a Trij Credo HX 1-6 x 24 scope in a Larue SPR-104 (1.5") quick release mount and a Deadair Nomad 30 (not a titanium) suppressor and it's been surprisingly nice to carry.

Deer, bear, & coyotes with a colt 6920. Deer quite often.

Yea, the 223 will work for deer, I’ve killed quite a few with my 223 Montana. I do think you need to put more thought into bullet selection, at least be sure to avoid varmint bullets. Blood trails tend to be lighter when compared to larger rounds. The apparent reaction by the animals also tends to be less violent, IME, when compared to a larger round. To put it another way, shot placement is key, but I’ve killed animals with poor hits from larger calibers, like the 30/06, where the size of the round made the difference and killed the animal where a 223 would have likely led to a lost animal.

As far as hunting with AR’s…. They are heavy, akward to carry, bulky and loud to operate manually. I do hunt pigs at night with night vision, using a 300BO, but for real hunting, I’ll take a more traditional rifle every time.

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