What calibers are available in the AR-15 platform for hunting?

[ohearchai]

00scot, heres a partial list ofcalibers for the standard lower, obviously grabbed from another posting
•223/5.56
•6x45 •7x40 •357 Mag Rimless •300 Whisper/.300Fireball/300-.221 •6.5x40 •.30 Coyote •.17 Remington
•.17 Mach IV •.20 Tactical •.19 Calhoun •5.7 FN •.204 Ruger •6.8 SPC •30 HRT •338 Spectre •10 mm Mag
•35/40 •219 WASP-C •5.45x39 •7.62x39 •.338x39 •6 PPC •6.5 Grendel/6.5 AR/6.5 PPC Improved
•22 PPC •30 Carbine •5.45x39/.21 Ghengis •7 BR •6.5 BR •300 Sabre •458 SOCOM •44 Mag
•440 CorBon •44 AMP •.475 Tremor •50AE •499LW •50 Beowulf •.50 BMG (single shot)
•338LM (single shot) ••17 HV •7.62x25 •224 BoZ •7.62x24
Obviously theres lots of options out there, I lowered the playing field to two choices 6.8spc and 6.5 grendel. I decided to go with the 264LBC just a slight change of the original grendel chamber. I have an 18 inch polygonal rifled barrel with a 1 8" twist, I shoot primarily the 123 scenar, but theres lots of 6.5 bullets out there. Its a great little rifle, super accurate, compact and handy. I feel confident that I am even going to use it for deer season although with a different bullet.

 

[00Scot]

00scot, heres a partial list ofcalibers for the standard lower, obviously grabbed from another posting
•223/5.56
•6x45 •7x40 •357 Mag Rimless •300 Whisper/.300Fireball/300-.221 •6.5x40 •.30 Coyote •.17 Remington
•.17 Mach IV •.20 Tactical •.19 Calhoun •5.7 FN •.204 Ruger •6.8 SPC •30 HRT •338 Spectre •10 mm Mag
•35/40 •219 WASP-C •5.45x39 •7.62x39 •.338x39 •6 PPC •6.5 Grendel/6.5 AR/6.5 PPC Improved
•22 PPC •30 Carbine •5.45x39/.21 Ghengis •7 BR •6.5 BR •300 Sabre •458 SOCOM •44 Mag
•440 CorBon •44 AMP •.475 Tremor •50AE •499LW •50 Beowulf •.50 BMG (single shot)
•338LM (single shot) ••17 HV •7.62x25 •224 BoZ •7.62x24
Obviously theres lots of options out there, I lowered the playing field to two choices 6.8spc and 6.5 grendel. I decided to go with the 264LBC just a slight change of the original grendel chamber. I have an 18 inch polygonal rifled barrel with a 1 8" twist, I shoot primarily the 123 scenar, but theres lots of 6.5 bullets out there. Its a great little rifle, super accurate, compact and handy. I feel confident that I am even going to use it for deer season although with a different bullet.

I immediately narrowed the field to those two calibers as well. But I noticed 2 cartridges that stood out that I have never heard of that peaked my interest by name alone. That would be the 30 Coyote and the 6.5AR, both interest me simply because of the name. The 30 Coyote because that is what I hunt (Coyote) and the 6.5 AR because I am looking for a 6.5 for the AR. With the way you have it listed that the 6.5 AR looks like it is another name for the 6.5 Grendel. Is that correct? I will have to take a look at the 30 Coyote and see what the balistics are like. That would be an interesting caliber to hunt the dogs just because of the name of the caliber.

 

[Varminterror]

I'm in the same boat. I built a 6.8mm SPCII upper a few years ago for hogs and deer (in KS .230" is minimum for deer), now it's time to rebarrel it and I'm looking for something with a little more range and better ballistics than the 6.8mm SPC...

What these guys are talking about is pretty much what I'm finding out. By the time you build a "long range" cartridge AR-15 upper, you're talking about a lot of cash.

For feasibility, the 6.8mm SPC is definitely the easiest. Change out the bolt, barrel, and magazine and you're good to go. Everything else is the same. I shoot 115grn at 2850fps from a 24" tube, ~50MOA total drop at 1,000. Poor ballistic coefficients though, transitions at 700ish, energy is low low at 1,000 (250ft.lbs. ish).

The 6.5mm Grendel/.264 LBC-AR is another easy drop in. Relatively speaking, it's supposed to push about 3000-3100fps with a 115-120grn pill, although I've never seen it personally. This is my front runner unless I can get a .243 WSSM in the works (see below).

Other options that I've researched include:

6mm BR (105grn at 2800fps+): requires new bolt, bolt carrier, opened ejection port (debatable), barrel, mag follower (6.8SPC mags work from what I hear). Seems it'd be easier to have an assembled upper contracted rather than buying all of the parts. DTech may be only source. Personally, I don't see the 6mm BR doing anything that the 6.8 SCP or 6.5 Grendel/.264 LBC can do, except cost more to set up (and look better doing it of course). For hunting, the 6 BR doesn't handle 115-120grn bullets like the others either.

.243 or .25 WSSM: My favorite option thus far. I'm personally considering a .243 WSSM. Only source is Olympic or DTech, and seems to be an assembled upper only deal (at least from Oly). Same as 6mm BR, requires Upper mods, barrel, bolt, bolt carrier, mag follower (.450 Bushmaster mags seem to be the better feeding mags than the WSSM mags). Probably easier to contract the entire upper rather than buying parts and having them all modified. MUST push the shoulder for reloads. I wasn't really looking to buy an upper, really just wanted a barrel, but I DO like the WSSM's on paper, so I may just go back with a 6.8mm SPC barrel and then order a DTech .243 WSSM upper.

 

[00Scot]

I have been reading a little more about the Grendel and I really like what I'm seeing. I haven't found a lot of companies offering the upper yet. But I just started looking. The Grendel seems to be able to do everything that I'm looking for it to do. It will make a great cartridge for Coyote and do pretty good for hogs and deer. But I don't shoot many deer so I'm not too concerned about that. But I am concerned about it for taking hogs.

 

[Larryh128]

You need to stop worrying about the hog issue, all you need is the correct bullet. Barnes TSX or TTSX forget the rest. Expensive but you're not shooting thousands of them.

 

[00Scot]

You need to stop worrying about the hog issue, all you need is the correct bullet. Barnes TSX or TTSX forget the rest. Expensive but you're not shooting thousands of them.

True, maybe not thousands....but a thousand is very likely. Plus I'm not worried about cost. That much

 

[Varminterror]

I have been reading a little more about the Grendel and I really like what I'm seeing. I haven't found a lot of companies offering the upper yet. But I just started looking. The Grendel seems to be able to do everything that I'm looking for it to do. It will make a great cartridge for Coyote and do pretty good for hogs and deer. But I don't shoot many deer so I'm not too concerned about that. But I am concerned about it for taking hogs.

The reason you're not finding uppers, especially new uppers, is because Alexander Arms, who owns the license for the 6.5 Grendel, went under.

However, Les Baer Custom introduced the .264 LBC-AR, which uses 6.5 Grendel brass, but slightly longer throat dimensions (essentially the same type of difference in a .223 Rem, .223 Wylde, or 5.56 Nato chamber). He's selling barrels, reamers, dies, etc etc.

That's the biggest reason I'm none too thrilled with the thought of adding a 6.5 Grendel to my line up. As I mentioned, I'm wanting to step up from the 6.8 SPC, which the Grendel IS about a 10% velocity increase, 20% energy, (not that it likely makes much difference on a well struck hog or deer), but with the shaky footing the Grendel is standing on right now, it might make more sense to go a different direction.

The 6.8 SCP might be lagging a bit behind the Grendel, but when you consider that more and more manufacturers are producing FACTORY 6.8 SPC rifles every year, I think it's a better option to ensure you don't end up with an obsolete cartridge within a year or two. With AA going under and LBC essentially taking over the Grendel stream, there's no telling how long it'll be around. I'd personally expect to see less and less brass for the Grendel available, and more and more for the 6.8 SPC.

The 6.8 SPC has done well for me on hogs, as has the .223rem for that matter. Maybe it's just the difference inherent between the two classes of hog hunters. Some guys think they HAVE to push through the shield for vital shots, other guys are plenty happy to take head/behind the ear shots (myself). My problem with the vitals shots is that it means a pretty big jump in what you have to carry, power wise. I HAVE taken vitals shots with the 6.8 SPC, never had a hog argue with it.

 

[00Scot]

I'm in the same boat. I built a 6.8mm SPCII upper a few years ago for hogs and deer (in KS .230" is minimum for deer), now it's time to rebarrel it and I'm looking for something with a little more range and better ballistics than the 6.8mm SPC...

What these guys are talking about is pretty much what I'm finding out. By the time you build a "long range" cartridge AR-15 upper, you're talking about a lot of cash.

For feasibility, the 6.8mm SPC is definitely the easiest. Change out the bolt, barrel, and magazine and you're good to go. Everything else is the same. I shoot 115grn at 2850fps from a 24" tube, ~50MOA total drop at 1,000. Poor ballistic coefficients though, transitions at 700ish, energy is low low at 1,000 (250ft.lbs. ish).

The 6.5mm Grendel/.264 LBC-AR is another easy drop in. Relatively speaking, it's supposed to push about 3000-3100fps with a 115-120grn pill, although I've never seen it personally. This is my front runner unless I can get a .243 WSSM in the works (see below).

Other options that I've researched include:

6mm BR (105grn at 2800fps+): requires new bolt, bolt carrier, opened ejection port (debatable), barrel, mag follower (6.8SPC mags work from what I hear). Seems it'd be easier to have an assembled upper contracted rather than buying all of the parts. DTech may be only source. Personally, I don't see the 6mm BR doing anything that the 6.8 SCP or 6.5 Grendel/.264 LBC can do, except cost more to set up (and look better doing it of course). For hunting, the 6 BR doesn't handle 115-120grn bullets like the others either.

.243 or .25 WSSM: My favorite option thus far. I'm personally considering a .243 WSSM. Only source is Olympic or DTech, and seems to be an assembled upper only deal (at least from Oly). Same as 6mm BR, requires Upper mods, barrel, bolt, bolt carrier, mag follower (.450 Bushmaster mags seem to be the better feeding mags than the WSSM mags). Probably easier to contract the entire upper rather than buying parts and having them all modified. MUST push the shoulder for reloads. I wasn't really looking to buy an upper, really just wanted a barrel, but I DO like the WSSM's on paper, so I may just go back with a 6.8mm SPC barrel and then order a DTech .243 WSSM upper.

I love the idea of a 243WSSM. But wouldn't that require a AR-10 lower and not a AR-15 lower?

And what about the 6.5 Creedmore. It looks like there is more and more factory support for it now. Even Savage is offering the 10 PH Brush in the Creedmore this year.

would the 6.5 Creedmore fit/work with a AR-15 lower or would it require the 10 lower?