What’s the difference in having one built or buying a brand name? Would use this for coyote hunting which I do 1 or 2 times a year. The guy recommends a 6.5 caliber over a .223 I really don’t have a clue on what to get. And what would be a good scope? Where I hunt I would have a max of 200 yds a night vision would be nice but can’t justify spending that much on something I don’t do to often.
Purely personal opinion here.
If you’re going to use this once or twice a year and shoot at less than 200 yards you don’t need a 6.5 anything. You probably don’t need an AR either. I’d find a nice bolt in 223 or 22.250 and put some decent glass on it and be happy with an ideal coyote gun.
On the off chance you find yourself really enjoying shooting it for crows or just target shooting, the .22 cals are way more common calibers for cartridge buying and they’re both very affordable to reload if you go in that direction plus they’re much safer if you’re going to be popping prairie mutts where the population [people that is] density is higher.
You don’t need or even want a 6.5 to kill coyotes. A .223 is more than enough. Also, ammo is a fraction of the cost of 6.5.
Overall, I agree with Tom. For your needs, buy a bolt gun. A Ruger American or Savage Axis are better shooters out of the box than any AR you will find at ever 2x the cost of the bolt guns.
I have an AR set up for varmints. After spending $500 more than a Savage Axis, I finally have it shooting as well as my .223 Axis. Enough said.
Grouse
If you are set on an AR, it would be hard to beat a Rock River, if you are ok at that price range. They are some of the most consistently accurate AR’s available. I have a Rock River with an 18″ fluted barrel that will easily shoot in the .4″ range with the right loads. To be honest though, AR’s can be picky about what loads they like. Your run of the mill AR’s would be lucky to see 1″ groups, and usually are realistically in the 1 1/2″-2″ range. My Rock River cost about $1300 through my FFL, and that was about a $250 savings. That being said, I have two Remington bolts, that will easily achieve the groups of my Rock river. One cost me $600, a model 7 Predator, the other a heavy barrel at $750, that will group in the .3″ range with the right loads, and .5″-.7″ with most any load. Savage makes very accurate bolts at a very attractive price point also. Do not expect an $750 AR to be accurate, while some are, it’s not the norm. I can walk out my door to go coyote hunting, and most always will grab my Rem Mod 7 bolt, before any other I have. 300 yards and under, you do not need more than a .223
If you really want an AR, get one. If not, the other route makes way more sense for your purposes.
Agree with the comments above regarding the 6.5. .223/5.56 is all you need in a varmint rifle, IMO. My experience with the AR’s is minimal, but I picked up a Ruger MPR 556 late last year. Cost is about $600-700 for the rifle. The sky is the limit on what you can spend on optics, but I’d say no less than $250-300. I’m still very early on in my search for the most accurate load for mine. But, I was very impressed with a friends load I tried this past weekend, shooting sub 1″. What I’ve learned so far, is these AR like the heavier bullets, 60g and up. I will say, personally, I’ve been pretty impressed with how the AR’s I’ve been around can shoot. And none of them are high end models.
x5 on buying a bolt gun if your primary objective is punching holes in varmints. I have an SPR style AR that I use for hunting varmints, but I didn’t built it for that purpose specifically. I wanted specifically an AR in .223 wylde that I could push out a little longer distances, but if having an AR for the sake of having an AR isn’t that important, buy a bolt gun and spend the difference on glass and ammo.
Thanks for the advice I’ll be getting a bolt.
While overall I agree with everyone here about the bolt gun for hunting here’s some advice ion the AR end of things:
– don’t build it completely from scratch. Buy a lower, buy a lower parts kit, and then buy a complete upper. Modify from there as you see fit, but by doing this you have made 3 purchases and have a complete rifle.
– 5.56 is the best caliber for your application. It is abundant and cheap Although currently this panic buying has screwed that up somewhat it will return to normal eventually. Whoever tried to up-sell you on 6.5 is full of it. 5.56 is effective out to 600 depending on barrel and ammo. 200yds is easy mode for 5.56 even using cheap ammo.
– Contrary to one comment above, a $700 AR is plenty accurate and will easily exceed your capability as a shooter. So will a $500 AR. I would not recommend that price point for bench rest competition shooting. That is not what you’re doing with it as you indicated.
– For a quick and easy intro to the AR world, Go for something from Palmetto state armory. Be advised their “Freedom” brand is where the quality starts to decline sharply. Use their PSA brand and you have a very respectable entry level AR.
Best of luck hope some of it helps
– For a quick and easy intro to the AR world, Go for something from Palmetto state armory. Be advised their “Freedom” brand is where the quality starts to decline sharply. Use their PSA brand and you have a very respectable entry level AR.
Odd thing is regarding Palmetto….both of the Freedom 1/7 twist 16″ stainless barrels I’ve put rounds through shoot sub MOA with factory match grade ammo. My brother’s barrel really likes the 69 grain black hills stuff, and my co-worker’s loves a 72 grain load. the Palmetto CHF FN barrel on my carbine upper is 1-1.25 MOA with the same ammo.
Accuracy on ARs comes down to barrel and trigger. You can get lucky with a basement priced AR (up until last week when the panic started again) and get exceptional accuracy, but more often than not you’re looking at a 2 MOA gun in your run of the mill $350-$600 carbines. Even a lot of more expensive ARs aren’t built for shooting tiny groups.
If you build your own gun, you’d want to look at using barrels from brands like Ballistic Advantage, Faxon, Criterion, White Oak Armorment, Larue, Noveske, Seekins. Barrels from those manufacturers combined with a good trigger and glass will have you shooting 1/2 MOA groups. And why not build the most accurate AR you can if it’s your first?
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
