Pick an AR in 308 for hunting

[1stmarine]

1st Marine pleasure to talk with you and you are well versed in what the round will do. it is amazing what they are getting out of the 358 using expensive custom ammo maybe with their own type of high performance powder / rocket fuel. you are right they are all deadly rounds and I see no need for burning 75-100 grains of powder in a fire breathing magnum

Thanks. Same here, a true pleasure sharing ideas.
I don't think they use any special powders as IMR4895 and W748 work really well. I think using quality commercial brass and primers is essential.
Lapua palma brass necked up to 35 also works great like in many other offspring cartriges.
The 35 performs really well in short cases too. I created a 358 wildcat to hunt wiht the AR15 that uses the 7.62x39 lapua brass as the donor case.
It is not exactly a 9x39 but a tad shorter and wider with more freebore. This gives me about 2,380fps avg with 200gr FTX bullets and AA1680 powder
that are perfect for white tail. And this from a 16" barrel that is amazingly handy go hunt in thick brush country. This provides superior firepower
to the 35 remington like the old remington model 8/81 autloader and we know how good that one was to harvest deer and black bear for generations.
I also have the Beowulf that is great in short ranges but it behaves more like a shotgun just like the 458 so, to be honest the simplicity, ballistics and
power of the 35 are hard to match.

 

[salt&battery]

The only thing I do not like about 35 cal bullets is they are short and fat but they still work very well. 338 bullets are longer not for range for me but penetration. you are doing some fine work with your wildcats and making custom rifles. I think I remember you making an AR round I think in 6mm a couple of years ago. was that you?

 

[1stmarine]

The only thing I do not like about 35 cal bullets is they are short and fat but they still work very well. 338 bullets are longer not for range for me but penetration. you are doing some fine work with your wildcats and making custom rifles. I think I remember you making an AR round I think in 6mm a couple of years ago. was that you?

IMO the 35 caliber along wiht the 375 are probably the last two calibers that make sense in terms of decent ballistics with a decent assortment of bullets.

Of course you have a few bullets in the .416 department but those are very few and dedicated to huge cases and ultra long ranges, well aside from the 416 exclusive bullets and cases geared
towards the African cases and obviously also the 50 caliber for the BMG that is a complete different category all together.

So the 35 and the 375 can put one in the thumping category but with still pretty decent ballistics and cost is also still reasonable specially the 35.
In terms of sectional density none is going to have a problem wiht a tad more or less SD. In fact if striking speeds fall too low SD can become a problem that could lead to pin hole wounding
and because of the starting mass (momentum) already present is substantial is ok to trade off a bit of sectional density for starting speed. With the wider frontal section and decent mass the
shock and wounding potential increases a lot vs. smaller calibers. For long range one might rely on tumbling or fragmentation as the means to inflict more wounding in soft targets.

Bottom line, one needs to understand the bullets, the weight and type of animal and anatomy and the proper bullet for the job including one's own limitations and other conditions to accurately
place the shot and therefore assure the most humane kill possible.

I think we might be steering the thread away from the orignial purposse but yes I put together a few uppers like the 6tcu and 6x45 with larger chambers to shoot longer bullets including VLD loads from the AR15 from single stack magazines. These have been a lot of fun always and I thank sscoyote who introduced me to the long range coyote hunting with the affordable 6mm match bullets.

 

[Ks5shooter]

Dpms GII hunter very light very accurate.

 

[bigshark14]

I am in favor of a DPMS GII master thread. I have been eyeing the Hunter since it came out and the lack of reviews is the only thing holding me back