Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles New to AR rifles

I have been reading and looking at the AR platform trying to decide which to choose. Uses would be predator and deer hunting and if necessary home defense. DPMS and Rock River offer the calibers I feel meet what I am looking for, .308, 6.8 SPC and .243. Not sure about the .243 has home defense.

Your advise as which way to go will be greatly appreciated.

Deans

.223 with a 8 twist barrel and shoot the heck out of it until you've mastered it.

Then you select the load for the task all the way up to deer.


Mike

Two different actions from the cartridges you named. The .308 and .243 would be on AR-10's. These are big bulky receivers and would not be my choice for home defense.
.223 is not a deer round IMO and I know that will draw flak, it just isn't, anymore than a .380 is a man killer. Yeah, they both are capable of killing, but they are not optimum.

If you handload, I would recommend the 6.8. Will do just fine as a varmint rifle and with both Accubonds and Triple Shocks bullets for the 6.8 weight range, you have a capable deer round out to 200 yards.

That's not bad advice. With a 1:8 twist barrel you can stabilize bullets in factory loads up to 75-80 gr, and with careful handload development, as high as 90 gr.

If 6.8 SPC was our nation's military round (which it should've been for several years already) I'd say get the 6.8. But as long as 5.56 is military caliber, I'd go with 5.56.

i would go with a 223 just for the price of everything. and if you decided you want a beefy round get a 243wssm or 25 wssm upper

Houston TX... our deer are not that big or tough.....
Grab a 223 from a good maker, RRA etc....
Shoot it.... pick the bullet for home defense, plinking, targets, and deer/hogs. Yep you gotta be careful on game, but the 223 is just fine for most. And I just got done confirming some home defense ammo issues... seems like 64 soft points are the ticket. Which means I won't shy away from 55 soft points either, no fmj, no hollow points etc.... soft points... and I would not sneeze then at a 52-62 tsx on deer/hogs.

Graduate up to a 6.8 spc or 7.62x39 upper later if you need or want a boost in power from the same lower, or jump to wildcats.... 25wssm,458 socom, 50 beowulf etc...

6.5 Grendel's a better choice for both recreational and military use. It's what the 6.8 should have been.

I'm planning on a single lower with both 5.56 and 6.5 Grendel uppers.

Go with the .223.I bought the RRA entry tactical and shot a deer this past year with a 64gr power point bullet.This was my best killing shot on a deer.I shot it in the neck at 10yds.My gun is very accurate.

Ready on the Right +1