ARs for Varmints--Pros and Cons

[Ackman]

As Keith stated very earlier in this tread they simply do unnerve your non-AR shooting buddies,
.......and they tend to put the dogs down somewhat sooner then slower paced shooting.
........That being said I bet that shooting a accurate AR with a good trigger in a dog town when one is alone would be a real hoot.

Actually, what you have no way of knowing is that the person Keith mentioned......shot free recoil. It took him 3-4x longer to get a shot off than someone would normally take even with a bolt action. An AR unnerved him but that doesn't make it typical of non-AR shooters.

Neither Keith nor I have ever noticed an AR having any effect on how quickly pd's,or squirrels) duck for cover. It's a non-factor.

It's true that a good shooting AR is useful on varmints.

 

[cliffy]

This spring, I hit Florida, but missed Texas by 'this much.' This winter will find me in Texas as originally intended. My .243 Winchester will accompany me, loaded for 'BEAR.' However, Texas has more pigs than bears. I still have some .243 hunting loads, although attaining new primers and bullets seems nearly impossible, at reasonable prices right now. Texans are still in the midst of the worst drought in years. When I hit Florida in May, it was in terrible drought conditions, but the day I left, it has rained almost everyday since. Okay, blame me for the constant rains since I left Florida. Cliffy

 

[Ackman]

This spring, I hit Florida, but missed Texas by 'this much.' This winter will find me in Texas as originally intended. My .243 Winchester will accompany me, loaded for 'BEAR.' However, Texas has more pigs than bears. I still have some .243 hunting loads, although attaining new primers and bullets seems nearly impossible, at reasonable prices right now. Texans are still in the midst of the worst drought in years. When I hit Florida in May, it was in terrible drought conditions, but the day I left, it has rained almost everyday since. Okay, blame me for the constant rains since I left Florida. Cliffy

WTF!!! Does this post have to do with an AR???? Does this guy even think before posting?

 

[uncleduke]

Amen to that.

 

[sscoyote]

Yeah really...x2!

Just had an opportunity to use my ISSI AR .223AI in a match. It's a steel PD match 4x9" silhouettes from 200-425 yds. I have a Weaver V-16 on top with a T.K. Lee reticle that looks like this--

.--.--.
---.
---.
---.

3/8ths MOA dot center, .25 next down and the rest are 1/8th. All 3 MOA apart and 4 MOA windage.

I lost my DPMS VLD bolt stop so i couldn't use my 65 JLK load to compete with,if anybody knows where i can get another i'd sure appreciate it), so i just loaded up some 69 Sierras, checked group size/mv, calcd. the trajectory to reticle subtension, and ran 1 relay in the informal match. Thought i did OK at 7 out of 10--about avg. i think,think i would've got another 1 if i could've seen it from my shooting position). Most guys were using high dollar optics and running turrets. I sort of wanted to see if my reticle would fair well enuf, and i came away satisfied.

Sure love that rig. Next up is testing the 75 A-Max to see at what range i can expect decent terminal effect on coyotes. I'm running 2950 with it out of the 26' Hart, so...any ideas?

 

[cliffy]

To TUCK2, I have a Ruger Model 77 Mark II with a 1-12' twist 22' barrel that shoots inside half an inch at 100 yards with 55 grain Berger varmint/target bullets. At a 7 3/4 pound rifle weight, less scope weight, this combo maybe what you're looking for. My Burris Signature Select 6-24x44mm is a bit pricey at $565, but sometimes you get what you pay for. This combination works for me out well-passed 200 yards. Cliffy

 

[ARCOREY]

I use to be one of those single shot guys, until my Encore started patterning instead of grouping. Accuracy just fell off with a very small round count. I traded it in on a RRA A-4 varmint 24" 1-8" twist upper and a decent varmint scope. Saved some money, bought a RRA National match A2 lower and pinned them together. No mods other than an ergo pistol grip with palm shelf. Worked up some 50gr. V-max loads and started whacking groundhogs like never before. I still fired 1 shot most of the time for 1 kill. Some required a quick follow up shot to end the suffering of a big eastern groundhog that the 223 didn't end due to distance or shot placement. I wondered if the semi auto was necessary until one day when I setup 200 yds off of a group of dens. A sow groundhog and 4 yearlings were out feeding. I managed to take all 5 of them from 200 yds in a matter of seconds. I was able to see every hit in my scope due to the lack of recoil. I have made hits to 450 yds with this configuration. My only gripe with my AR is the lack of 300 yds + killing power on these large eastern groundhogs. I have since purchased a 243 bolt gun for the longer shots, but sometimes wish I had just saved for another AR in 243 WSSM instead or an R-25 in 243. Had I not wanted the ability to have both rifles out at once, I would've been calling D-tech for another upper to fit my RRA. My AR is still the most accurate rifle I have ever shot. I love the 2 stage trigger. Many times I will stop at the end of the first stage when they are bobbing up and down in a hole then as soon as they hesitate, crack. The target below is 100yds, I pulled the 5th shot. Since the pictures I've added a Tubb flatwire spring, and Ace skeleton stock, and the Badger tactical latch in the picture. None of which improved accuracy, only comfort. These are nothing like the old A1's that gave them such a bad name. They have come a long way since the late 60's and early 70's.

 

[cliffy]

PLEASE never be negative toward anyone wanting to truly LEARN, Milanok! Direct your ire my way buddy. CLIFFY

 

[cliffy]

Ackman, old buddy, your posts of frowning upon my very existence are beginning to annoy me, and I'm a fun-loving guy with loads of ACTUAL EXPERIENCE to SHARE. Don't raise my dander, PLEASE. Love, Cliffy. p.s. please extend your personal experience as opposed to merely what you've read in magazines.

 

[US Handgunner]

I love the AR as a varmint rifle. This one was built off of spare parts. I took a Remington 700 VLS .22-250 barrel with a 1-12" twist, cut the chamber out and rechambered it for a .223 Remington and fit a barrel extension on it. I then profiled it, drilled out the gas hole and cut it to length. It is honestly a 1/2 moa shooter all day long with 40 gr Nosler ballistic tips.

AR's are accurate, provide fast follow up shots and are a blast to shoot. So many accessories are available for them too!

The target below was load development. I went with the first group and it shoots like a laser beam!!

 

[Ring31]

a few of mine
50bmg
24" heavy shot a gound hog at 460y this summer with this..
16" light

and i have a 243wssm upper on order

 

[cliffy]

I have access to a Stag 15 AR-Style .223 multi-blaster for varmint shooting any time I desire. Using 50 grain Speer T-N-T bullets in-front of Alliant ReLoder 10x makes an AR-Style rifle sing a deadly song. Not quite hitting the high-note of a 22" 1-in-12" barrel launch, but punching most adequately at 200 yards on coyote-sized vermin, and if I miss five times in rapid succession, I reload and try again. Cliffy

 

[JohnWayne]

Cliffy, you should write poetry.

 

[DEC]

I recently purchased a DPMS AR-15 with a 24" Bull barrel (1 - 9 twist). Trying to sight it in today. I could group right on at 100 yds., but when I moved out to 200 yds. the groups moved to the right by about 4".

Is this a typical or expected bullet behavior?

Thanks

 

[turbineman]

I just started to call in coyote's, not much experience doing this, but I'm using a ar because of the versatility of the rifle, it's just a plain bushmaster with a 20 in. barrel, not afected by weather shoots moa, plus I fell today going up steep incline in snow and mud, brushed it off kept going no worries!. would hate to do this to my $1500 plus varmint rifle!!!

 

[people]

The rifle being rugged helps a person feeling good about having a bad fall. When we go out now someone always has a 15 with. The old 12 ga will now probably never see daylight again for hunting anything but birds.

 

[ilbbd02]

Hey Guys, I was wondering if anyone has shot the AR in .243. I saw DPMS is making one I had a 700 but it's too big and bulky. The questions I have is; 1 are they accurate, do the rounds feed good and is the 1 in 10 twist fast enough for a varmit bullet ie 60 to 80 gr. Any help would be greatly app

 

[CPorter]

I have the DPMS LR243. It feeds well, the 10 twist is good for up to 100 grain bullets (yes that means 55 to 100 grain) depending on the shape. At 100 grains you need tangent ogive spitzers or round nose bullets. It shoots the 55-95 grain ballistic tips & 80 gr soft points just fine. I get one MOA easily with the 58gr Hornady factory loads and 1/2 to 7/8 MOA with handloads using PMC & Frontier brass, IMR 4350, Fed 215 primers and 70 gr Ballistic tips coated with Tungsten Disulfide

 

[tacgnut]

My PD gun battery includes a couple tack driving ARs. On my latest trip to CO, I took along my 17 Rem AR with standard A2 stock, forend is the carbon fiber Clark tube with Jard trigger. This is a great rifle for PDs out to 350 or so, loaded with 20-25 gr. Vmaxs, bullet impacts are easily visible making w/e adjustments easy for a quick follow up shot.
I have one of the PRS stocks on another lower, I used it on a previous shoot and decided I did not care for it when you constantly have targets at varying angles and elevations. The A2 stock with the sling loop removed is a much better stock for bench shooting, or whenever you are using a rear bag.

 

[trentalan34]

My brother and I did some highly unscientific testing concerning the rapidity of follow up shots with different firearms: bolt action 243, bolt action 308, and 6x45 AR-15. We set up 5 targets at 100 yards, and fired 5 rounds as fast as we could with the only stipulation being that they had to be touching the 2" diameter bullseye (it seemed counterproductive to demand more accuracy as more time would be spend resetting and 2" is a kill on a prairie dog). This was done from a steady bench. The average results of three rounds: 308-20 seconds, 243-18 seconds, and AR 9 seconds. The other thing is that the AR had another 15 rounds in the magazine whereas the bolt-actions were out. This just reinforces some of the arguments concerning follow-up shots. We are definitely going to take some AR's on our upcoming prairie dog trip.