ARs again

I don't know much about the 6mm ppc....any lower should work though.

Just remember....the more non-mainstream the caliber is, the less you will use it. I have learned the hard way ,LOL. If you like to shoot alot and often....get something more mainstream or stock up on all the brass you can find or afford. Until these odd ball cartridges have been out for awhile or can be converted from something else, It can be hard to get the reloading components needed.

Heck....even 7.62x39 will cost ya out the ying yang to reload...When it comes down to it...you can't beat a good 5.56 or 223 AR....excellent accuracy and cheap to reload. Down the road, get a 9mm upper for more cheap shooting fun but at closer ranges.

hawcer wrote:I don't know much about the 6mm ppc....any lower should work though.

Just remember....the more non-mainstream the caliber is, the less you will use it. I have learned the hard way ,LOL. If you like to shoot alot and often....get something more mainstream or stock up on all the brass you can find or afford. Until these odd ball cartridges have been out for awhile or can be converted from something else, It can be hard to get the reloading components needed.

Heck....even 7.62x39 will cost ya out the ying yang to reload...

Yep!!!! Those are very true words typed right there. I still have not hit the 200 round mark? yet on my 6.5 Grendel. Components are becoming more and more available now, but still, not something that you go out and shoot every day like the other calibers....

As someone who shoots a lot of non-main stream calibers and wildcats - the previous members suggestions are solid.

Even my S&W 5.45x39 upper has seen less than 300 rounds although for a while mil surp ammo was plenty and cheap, that caliber has gotten pricey too.

Thanks to large military contracts and contract over runs, you stll cannot beat 5.56 / .223 for cheap shooting right now whether you reload or not.

On the prarie dog fields here we used to see nothing but bolt guns usually .22-250 or something bigger. Now almost all the guns are .223 and many are shooting ARs.

Right now despite the increase in prices for everything, .223 is still about as cheap as you can get for a rifle.

I once had an Olympic 9mm AR carbine that was OK. It had a modified receiver to take old, cheap & plentiful STEN mags.

When there was a lot of cheap Chinese & Rusky mil surp 9mm on the market it was a fun gun at the indoor range but trying to shoot prone was a pain.

Although rare in a AR another round to consider would be the old 7.62x25 Toky round. You can buy old Commie, corrosive ammo in the spam can super cheap right now although if the politicos have their way all that old mil surp ammo will no longer be imported.

I've talked to the guys at J&G and they literally imported whole cargo containers of ammo before a certain prez was elected. For now 7.62x25 Toky ammo is cheap but when current stocks are depleted who knows?

For a while the 5.45x39 ammo was cheap and plentiful when you could not find 5.56 anywhere. Now the referse is true - lots of 5.56 but no 5.45x39.

ok thanks guys ill keep theses things in mind Because I do like to shoot alot . I am just looking around for a cal. to deer hunt here with in Va because the .223 -5.56 round we cannot use . I like this AR so much that if i find a upper in a good deer hunting cal. it well probably be the only gun ( Rifle) I take out in the field put it all in a bag and go. . I have fallen in love

I hate to tell anyone their business. as it almost always comes back to bite you in the bottom. But for me I think I would go with a round based on the 7.62 X 39 round. The reason is brass though it may be expensive is plentiful. I could be wrong and probably am but the PPC rounds are just 7.62 X 39 necked down. so I think for me it would be something in the order of a 6mm ppc. the Dies may set you back but 6mm bullets are cheap and plentiful. and you could always modify AK brass. well thats my .02 any way. Good luck and Happy shooting.

If you are going to hunt with an AR and plan to use it on deer-sized game, I would suggest an AR10 in either .260 Remington, .243 or .308.

I would avoid some of the newer cartridges like the .30 AR until they have proven themselves unless you plan on handloading.

If you want a deer caliber in an AR15 platform I would consider either the .300 AAC Blackout or .300 Whisper which are nearly identical.

The .300 AAC does seem to chamber and load easier and it appears the home hobby gunsmith are able to put one together easier than the .300 Whisper which can be a major PIA to get working correctly in an AR15.

Both the .300 AAC and Whisper are good 200 yard deer rounds and some have pushed it a bit farther than that using solid copper bullets like the Hornady GMX, and the Barnes MRX.

Other deer options for a AR15 would be the .458 SOCOMM and the .458 Bushmaster both near identical again. Both are great hog bustin' rounds in the brush and are about equal to a good .45-70 load.

Both the .458 rounds though are brutal on the wallet, and can be pricey to shoot even if you handload. They can also be rough on the rifle as both are known to slap the BCG around pretty good. Both require a good muzzle break and are loud because of the monster break required.

The .50 Beowulf is another good hog bustin' round and short range deer round in an AR15. Same problems as the above .458 rounds.

6.5 Grendel in the ar15 platform is an excellent proven round without having to move up to the ar10 platform. The 120grain Nosler BT puts them down where they stand no problem. My Grendel is my main deer rifle. I will get the 16" upper tho. My 24" is a bit much to haul around in the woods.

I would not personally use the Beowulf for deer. Bear, yes that is what I will be using mine for as soon as pick up the upper. Deer around here would be useless after being ripped through with the Beowulf round....

ok...a quick glance over the whole thread brings us to this conclusion. The best all-around AR15 would be one that would use a standard lower, be somewhere between a 6.5 and 7mm caliber, use a shortened,converted 308 cartridge that will feed from a modified 223 mag.

Anything fall in that category?

I agree with DW that depending on the deer I would be cautious using a 50 Beo on deer. It is a great feral hog and bear load. Muzzle flash even with the 18" barrel on mine is a bit shocking first time I shot in the indoor range.

6.5 Grendel is a great round and from what I have read and heard from others really a good deer and small feral hog (eatin' size) nailer.

I have a 6.5x284 and it really nails 'em too so I imagine its smaller brother would do pretty well.

First deer I shot with my .50 Beo was a big white tail/mule deer cross on my folk's place in Idaho. One ugly son of gun, but thick bodied. The Barnes 450 gr flat point round went straight through the buck at about 75 yards. The round knocked him off his feet, he rolled over tried to get up but both shoulders were smashed but still managed to run abut 20 yards on his back legs only.

When I cleaned him the whole chest area was one blood-shot ripped up mess. The .50 round had shattered both shoulder blades and shoulder sockets.

I shot a little too high and just missed the spine but shattered both shoulders. I thought the round would drop a little more than it did and instead of hitting the deer behind the leg I hit him right in the shoulder. Even though I missed the heart and most of the lungs, the bone chips still shreded the lungs and heart.

We had to pick bone chips out of a lot of the meat around the chest and ribs and ended up with a lot of ground Bambi.

then again if your longest shot is going to be in the neighbor hood of 200 or less and you want an upper that is just a switch out. why not a DPMS 7.62x39 that little guy will flat do the job on a deer its plentiful legal every where. and all kinds of ammo for it

I looked at getting a DPMS or Oly 7.62x39 upper. Main draw back is the magazines, which tend to be picky. C Products makes some of the best 7.62x39 magazines that seem to require less break in than others.

The 7.62x39 is a great round comparable ballistically to the good ol' thurdy-thurdy. A few guys in the TC and Handi Rifle guns are shooting an AI version of the 7.62x39 with no body taper and a sharp 40 degree shoulder.

Below is 7.62x39 AI russian round that is second from the left.

Left to right: 243 AI (another great round, altough I am partial to the 6mm Rem mag AI), 7.62X39 AI, 308 Win, 30-30 Win.

hey Hughie...take a good look at the 30 rar..[remington AR]. it will fit your needs and was designed strictly for hunting.

wow very good info here thanks alot you guys help alot now i must decide what will suit my needs for deer season . Budget is big factor and like everyone said go practical things easy to find like brass ect.

[url=ht
tp://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=41&u=16219045][/url] Made it to the range today got my scope on my AR 3-9x40 compact here are the results I was useing swaged bullets. some allgunjunkie made up

abeeb made a shot gorup to Seems like this AR likes all weights of bullets . We get use to the gun more i think the groups may get tighter.

Wow that is pretty good shooting for just picking a load and going with it.

Now comes the fun part of determining what load your gun likes best. My Bushy AR in 5.56 really likes the 62 to 77 gr bullets. TAC seems to be the powder it likes best, but AA 2015 and BLC(2) works well too.

My 5.45x39 S&W upper would make a great prarie rat round but finding loading components right now is a pain.

While it is not too common in an AR, I have seen a few of the old Thompson/Center Ugalde rounds based on the .223 in custom AR uppers.

While the .25 TCU is a very rare duck, both the 6mm TCU and 7mm TCU are easy to load and chamber in an AR requiring a custom barrel and some other fine touches but an able 'smith like Pathfinder should be able to put one together no problem.

One great thing about the 6.5, 7mm and .30 TCU is that they are real easy to load, no fire forming required and brass is easy to find and case life is pretty good.

The 6.5 TCU used to be the darling of the steel silhouette crowd although the Grendel and .260 Remington have stolen much of its thunder. Some of the newer 7mm bullets really challenge the high BC of the 6.5 round.

One draw back of the TCU rounds when chambered in an AR is the magazine limits, something us single shot shooters ignore at will. You have to seat bullets deep, losing vital powder space.

Another common custom AR upper is the .30 TCU which is basically the .300 Whisper but using a .223 case instead of the .221 which are nearly identical anyway when blown out to .30 cal.

I'm bidding on a 6.5 JDJ TC Contender barrel on Gunbroker now that used to be a 6.5 TCU.

algunjunkies bullets like to go FAST. In my 22-250 I am pushing them at close to 4k FPS and getting +/- .5" 5 shot group at 100. Problem is I am getting a flattened primer, I hate to go any faster.

Little work you should be able to tighten your AR groups up.

Here is one from last year 16" 1:9 w/ Iron Sights @ 100.


Here is my new 20" 1:8 w/ scope @ 100

WoW nice group Xbones hope to get mine to group like that .I am fairly sure the gun can do it but can I ?? Much practice I must do yes I am not really pushing the loads to hard if i need to I can bump it up a little. I tried 63 gr 68gr reload06 swaged bullits 55gr swaged by algunjunkie and 55 gr factory and 40 gr hornady Vmax all seen to group ok. I just need to find tune it now like scorge mention.finding what it likes the best. powder and bullet so far i have only used varget so some testing must be done. thanks guys . O yeah did i tell you i love my AR

Hey bones what kind of optics do you use on your AR?? ANd scorge that beowolf is massive how big of a hog have you shot with it?? Sorry little late wit the s busy here How much does that AR in the beowolf weigh scorge

I shot an eatin' size little squirt that was about 128 lbs dressed. We popped him whole on the BBQ.

Next time we want to dig a hole and try our hand at a Lauau pig.

I purposely shot a small one because they eat a lot better.

My Beo with the Leupold scope weighs right at 11 pounds. I got the Alexander Arms "entry" kit that Cabela's was selling. They had one in the discount bin that someone returned so I got it for under $500 or I would not have bothered.

I use either my Rock River or Bushy lower & I had EGW thread the barrel and install a monster break.

Muzzle blast in the indoor range is startling. I like the little 16" barrel but if I had to do it again I might have bought the parts & put one together myself. I would rather an 18" heavier barrel than this pencil-thin AA barrel. I thought my barrel was an 18" but I found the paperwork for it and it says 16" is the normal. Tape measure confirms 16" even minus the lil bit that EGW trimmed off.

I had a few FTFs with mine until after about 50 rounds when I bet everything worked its way together. Mine does stove pipe occasionally & seems to be a tad picky about cleanliness & lubrication. Mine seems to dislike Break Free & CLP.

If I had not gotten it so cheap while I happened to be at Cabelas, I would not have bothered. Impulse buy on the damn CC - still payin' for it.

Very nice i like it what about the 5.45x39 round?? just found out about it?? went back to your post scorge that round is hard to load for thanks.

a beowulf for upper for under 500, that is a steal. I would have jumped all over that in a heart beat and not looked back.

I am still in the pre planning stage of getting my Beowulf. It is something I will own and hopefully sooner than later. I too plan on getting their entery level Beowulf, no real need for the others I don't believe, especially what I will be doing with it and the area I live in.

If you use powerbelt bullets in your blackpowder rifles (while they are expensive to buy) you can load those for use in the beowulf. Alexander Arms has load data for use with PowerBelts. Just have to remember to take the squirt off of it.

wow that would be a good round with those powerbelt boolits day.

I have not used mine for deer. Mostly used mine to plink with & practice when the shelves were bare of 5.56. Used to be a few months back stores could not keep 5.56 in stock but had buckets of Commie surplus 5.45x39.

I think loaded with a better bullet the 5.45x39 should be a good deer cartridge. I know it works ok for prarie rats. As a combat round it is pretty effective but has some of the same limitations as our 5.56.

I have been wanting to hand load for my S&W upper, but have not gotten around to it.

I have been using the Nosler and Barnes bullets in my Beo but I do have a few of the Power Belt bullets laying around. For a while here we could only use pure lead in our black powder rifles, and I have a few jacketed ones somewhere. I had forgotten about them until you mentioned it DW - thanks.

Yeah when I saw that AA upper lying there on the shelf and did a double take at the $499 price tag - I snagged it. Guy next to me said some choice words & said he was waiting for me to move so he could grab it. Previous owner might have shot it once or twice there was barely any carbon on the BCG. Lady behind the counter said that they (Cabelas) sell very few of the .50 Beo kits but this was the first one she had seen returned.

Well I am truly envious of you for getting that at such a great price. Hawks makes bullets for Bill using copper tubing. I have seen Hawks sell them on his site as well. My plans once life slows down and I can get above water and breath is to make a set of swage dies for ther beowulf. Somewhere laying around I was given some schemadics for the beowulf rounds in hopes to make a set of dies with different punches for a friend that works for Bill. He has some great ideas on a new profile they don't have yet. We will see...

Ok, I will stop there so I don't hijack Hughies thread anymore than I have now LOL..... When it comes to the Beowulf, I just get all excited.....