ARs for Varmints--Pros and Cons

[stinnett1981]

Just bought my first AR15. Its a Rock River ATH. It has a 1:8 twist 18" stainless match heavy barrel. I put a Nightforce SHV 5-20x56 with a illuminated MOAR on it with a Nightforce unimount. Im working on a load with the 53 grain Vmaxs and Varget.

 

[Big Bore]

Nice looking AR stinnett.
Barrel looks longer than 18", must be the pic.
I like the hand guard , what brand is that?

 

[stinnett1981]

Nice looking AR stinnett.
Barrel looks longer than 18", must be the pic.
I like the hand guard , what brand is that?

The hand guard is Rock Rivers advanced half quad free float mid length which is all aluminum. A lot of guys put lots of after market parts on their AR's. There is nothing I would do to this rifle. This rifle with its match grade barrel truly shoots Sub MOA, the Rock River 2 stage trigger is awesome, the half quad rail is better than all the other after market ones IMO and the Rock River CAR stock fits me perfect. The fit and finish is flawless too.

 

[sscoyote]

Couldn't help but tell the story of this long-range badger shot. It was actually 3 shots in a row at 460 yds. I spotted the guy at maybe 1500 yds. or so whilst scanning an east slope of a prairie drainage in the late afternoon with sun exposing everything on it practically using my Leica Geovid 10X's. The best of glassing conditions, really. He was just milling aroud a flat so I thought to head straight toward him and get up high for a shot as I descended into the ravine. I got to the edge of the ravine and climbed to the highest point and reacquired him in the binoc. I got set up prone off the bipod, and lasered him at 460. I referenced the dope I'd calcd. for the 53 gr. V-Max at 3500 along the 22 long-rifle ballistic reticle in the 2-7X Bushnell AR optic, and got set up for the shot. I think it was interpolated at 1.7 dots down from 225 x-hair axis zero. The badger was kinda' flat looking as I was about even with him, but although there wasn't much to shoot at I let her rip and heard the meat report of the bullet impacting him. He scrambled around a bit, and as soon as he stopped I shot again, and heard the 2nd hit. He scrambled around a bit more and since I figured the bullet wouldn't exit much at that range, and I wasn't about to lose him I shot again, and heard the bullet hit a 3rd time. He finally lay still and after a minute or so I hiked out after him, and found him dead. I hauled him about a 1/2 mile to a fencepost and skinned the guy, and he's awaiting processing in the freezer. What a great experience that was with one heckuvan' accurate rig. Gawd I love this rig, always in contention as it is for predator hunting with my specialty pistols--

 

[thekriebles]

Steve,

That is a nice sized badger. Congrats on your hunt and thanks for sharing!

 

[sscoyote]

thank you sir!

 

[stinnett1981]

Steve,

That is a nice sized badger. Congrats on your hunt and thanks for sharing!

I never seen such a fat badger! That thing is ginormous Where ever you killed it, it musta been eating well!

 

[GR5150]

In the past I have always bagged on my buddies for using AR 15s for coyote hunting. I have called them plastic guns, brass belchers, etc. I have always compared them to BR rifles. Now I own 2 ARs and love them. I love the fact that I can customize them and not be dependent on a gunsmith and a lathe. They will not shoot with a BR rifle day in and day out period. But for coyote hunting it sure is nice to have that quick back up shot for a double. I scored my first double in years last month with my SPR build … it was awesome. If you want to shoot BR … then build one from a BR action, by a noted BR rifle builder. If you want to have fun and build your own custom varmint rifle … get an AR they are neat. Just my opinion.

 

[sscoyote]

Steve,

That is a nice sized badger. Congrats on your hunt and thanks for sharing!

I never seen such a fat badger! That thing is ginormous Where ever you killed it, it musta been eating well!

Jerod, here in CO they're usually about this big when winter gets here. Never shot one that didn't have a nice hide, always healthy it seems. usually get 1 every other year or so during predator season. Sure are a lot lighter than a coyote to carry to a fencepost for skinning i can tell ya'.

 

[titanxt]

A LOT of years ago I went prairie dog hunting for the first time. I pulled out this freaky looking black, semi-auto rifle and all of the other guys who had bolt guns scoffed at it!!! I felt like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer... Well, once shooting began and I was able to immediately able to follow up near misses with hits and keep up, if not exceed the accuracy they were achieving, the attitude changed. Next year, ALL of the guys had the freaky looking black rifles.

Best thing for a varmint AR - comp for the barrel. Being able to see where the bullet impacts through the scope is very nice!

Andy

 

[Baddog0302]

Not sure if this belongs here, if so PM me and I'll move it.
Do any of the AR shooters here have an RRA Varmint with the E O P{Elevated Optical Platform} IF so please PM me with your thoughts

Thank you

 

[Hollywood]

RRA Lar-8 varmint. I shoot 168 smk over 42.5 xbr or 110 vmax over 49.5 of varget. Covers it all for me. Don't need to worry if I forgot my frt and rear bags. Mine are attached.

 

[mongochicago]

The problem with using ARs is shooter discipline. Been on a hunt with a guy that used one. As soon as we were set up and ready to shoot, the guy went rapid fire all over the place. The dogs went into their hole and never came out again. If he would have had a little discipline and slowed down, everyone would have had a fun shooting day. Otherwise, my philosophy is shoot whatever you can hit with.

 

[Sniper338]

An Ar can be custom built to fit exactly what your wanting to do... recoil wise all calibers feel about the same to me in an AR15 platform. Adjustable gas block help fine tune things.. barrel wise my satern custom machine has been the most accurate barrel ive ever shot in an AR.

Bob sled makes a mag to make them single shot... and you can buy a brass catcher that fits to the ejection port to catch brass.

accuracy wise ARs are no different than a bolt gun reloading for pertaining to brass prep... brass prep goes a very long way in an AR rig...

1:7.5 or 1:8 twist for heavier 223 bullets...

many have gone to truing up the receivers and such squaring everything out like one would do on a rem 700 action..

aerican rifle company one piece rings are the best on the market for an AR...

varminting wise the cons of an AR is they arent as easily benched... its hard to sandbag an AR with the pistol grip and mag... i only use 5 round mags so i dont have the length of a 30 round sticking out...

lots of accessories can make them heavy... but again you build it to what you want out of the rig... many timesi like to have my rifle rested up laying out ready... with a round stock it doesnt sit easily... but accessories can fix that...

I cant think of any other cons...its just the most customizable rifle out there to fix up to your needs...
24 inch barrel is a great varmint length imo and for longer range work..

in the end my bolt rifle is still my go to fr varminting unless multiple shots quickly is foreseen...

 

[jb]

try to shoot a triple,double,single,single,single in under 5 seconds with anything else. used a 20P

 

[TheOtherZilla]

. Ooops wrong thread

 

[olympian]

If you like the AR as a varmint platform, tell us why.

If you think an AR15 is over-rated as a varminter, explain.

To get back to the original topic, I like my AR for varmints where I do my varmint hunting. The target is usually a groundhog and the shots occur after some walking/stalking. The ergonomics of a good AR are so much better than bolt guns when shots are taken standing or sitting as they usually are for me. The gun is simply designed better for positional shooting and affords a quick follow up shot when needed. It is mainly about ergonomics for me since bench or prone shots are so rare.

When beyond 300 yds or on smaller quarry like ground squirrels out west, I prefer a bolt tube gun or prone stock.

 

[kmose73]

I shoot prone when prairie dog hunting and the ar works really well. It is not, however, my first choice for two reasons; I can't always find all my brass and follow up shots are so easy that I tend to burn through too much ammo because I can get in a hurry instead of focusing on the fundamentals. The ar is what I generally take for calling coyotes and it works extremely well in my opinion.

 

[mongochicago]

My only complaint regarding ARs for varminting is the users that I've seen aren't disciplined enough. The temptation to blast all over the countryside, scaring everything away and hitting nothing is too great. If the shooter is disciplined enough, then why not?

 

[stosh]

Have RRA .223 varmint heavy barrel, the thing shoots into .5" at 100 yds! Have killed thousands of PD's with it, lots of groundhogs! I dismissed all auto's for years because they just wer'nt accurate as a bolt guns. A few years ago went PD hunting with some buddies and saw how the black rifle shoots. So I finally bought one and I love it! It is death on PD's!