considering building new AR upper, help please?

[defense1]

Hello all, I'm about as green as it gets in terms of the long range shooting game. I have a RRA 16" stainless upper and until recently, was pretty happy. I'd take my rifle to the 100yd range and shoot fairly tight groups and really enjoy myself. Recently, I attempted the 500m range at our local club. I was quite disappointed in the amount of drop with my current configuration.

I have for the longest time, wanted to some day, get out west and do some prairie dog hunting and don't want to put all the time and $ into going on a trip only to find out my rifle wont reach out far enough to enjoy myself.

So if I may, could I ask a few questions?

First, will I get better long range accuracy out of a 24" varmint rig versus my shorter 16"?

For you folks that do a lot of the PD shoots, what kind of ranges do most of the shots come at? I know you can do 1000 yd shots if you want but can you have fun a 300yds as well?

Does anyone still shoot .223 Rem or is that simply not enough to reach out and touch somefun?

Ultimately, I'm considering building another upper for the long range stuff and am torn between a .223 Rem or the idea of some goodies from Robert's 6mmAR website. In a perfect world I wouldn't have to ask these questions, I'd just send Robert a blank check with a you fill in the #'s note but my world isn't quite that perfect. If its the best way to go, I'm willing and I'll start saving now. If however; I can in fact have fun with a .223 Rem and continue using my current reloading equipment and brass, I'll just build a 20" or 24" varmint and save a few of those pennies for the actual trip.


Thanks to all who share

 

[cmillard]

a longer barrel will get you more velocity versus a shorter. i had a 24" hart on my longrange ar and put on an 18" douglas and lost 100 fps. if you want less drop, order a ready to install barrel from hart, krieger, obermeyer, or bartlein. get a match chamber and order with a 1-8" twist, and while you are at it, you might as well get 5R rifling. shoot the 69 grain sierras all the way up to single load 80 sierras. with the 69s, you will have laser beam like trajectory out to about 300 yards. for the longer shots, go with 75 hornady's or 77 sierras. i am shooting 77 sierras out of my 18" 1-7" twist at about 2700 fps and have many hits on target (DS welding steel target) at 891 yards. hope this helps. feel free to pm.

 

[jesker]

If you are serious about praire dog hunting a small caliber in 204 or 223 is plenty of gun. Most of my shots are between 100yds and 500yds. If you want to go long rangeing you need to have another gun built for that purpose. The smaller guns allow you to see your hits or misses and change point of aim for the next shot. Just my $.02 worth

 

[defense1]

thanks for the tips. I think I will stay with the .223 and go with a good barrel. I looked at the Krieger site and the Hart site as well, still have to look at the other recommended manufacturers.

 

[Stoner25mkiv]

I've built several AR uppers in .223AI for P'doggin in South Dakota. I used 14" twist barrels because I wanted to use 40-50 grain bullets. They have performed well at 500 yards, with enough hits at close to 600 to make it interesting. I used Douglas barrels, because they are cheaper than, say, Kreiger, Bartlein, Hart....although I have used both Kreiger and Bartlein on bolt guns, and they are excellent. I used Douglas chromoly because they are cheap enough to get abused on a dogtown, and that is what happens with AR's on a dogtown. I like the 40-50 grainers for their explosive performance. I couldn't argue against the 69-80 grain bullets for the longer shots, but they are not designed for hunting. They will kill a prairie dog, but not always quickly. I used some 52 and 53 grainers one year, and was dissapointed with the results. One of the things about prairie doggin' I have found that lets you use light bullets, is the fact that you can usually shoot with the wind. You can maneveur around a town, and get in position to shoot with or into the wind. You usually don't have to shoot across the wind, unless you want to.
.......more rambling upon request, lol.