Hey everyone.  I am looking to build an AR with the purpose to hunt with it.  I looked around a bit and have decided that I want to keep it as an AR-15 platform. I am leaning towards the 6.8SPC, but i see some of the products and parts are limited compared to the 6.5 Grendel. I am seeing a lot of .224 Valkerye but im not too familiar with it.  I plan to use the rifle as a hunting rifle in upstate NY hunting deer.  Im thinking of using anywhere from18-24" barrel and due to living in NY I will be using a 5 round magazine fixed in the receiver.

My question is what caliber would you suggest to use on this build that would fit what I am looking to do with this build?

( and posting links to banned forums is how one earns a time out - F )

What are NY State's caliber minimums for deer?

That might rule out .224 Valkyrie.

It seems our State hunting laws for rifles have changed recently.

It used to be minimum .24 caliber with 500ft-lbs at a certain distance, but now it just says:

For New York State, DEC says:

So I see where you're coming from on the fixed magazine.

How do you plan to fix the magazine?

I have yet to see anything that the state says about caliber for hunting.  I also want something that is powerful enough to do the job. I normally hunt with a 270.  I plan to use something like a bullet button with some appoxy over it to keep it from coming undone.

Most intermediate cartridges are more than adequate for slaying Bambi.

I never would have guessed that this previously obscure cartridge called 6.5 Grendel would insert itself into my armory, and convert most of my ARs and subsequent builds to the dark side, but it did.

The factory 123gr SST load has slain untold numbers of medium game now, with hundreds of recorded samples already showing a very high DRT rate, and most that don't DRT never getting past 25yds.

I also was raised on .270 Winchester, but it collects dust now on the wall.

I doubt it will ever be used to hunt again.  Performance is more than adequate, really overkill for medium game within normal distances, but a nice plains rifle for shooting antelope at distance without needing to compensate for elevation if you knew how to use the old reticle wire/post with a good zero.

I got a 6.5 Grendel barrel/bolt combo just to play around with in 2009.  I never would have guessed that it would spread like ebola to the rest of my arms room.

Great info.  I will keep the length 16-20 or 16-18.  I have been considering the 6.5 Grendel as well.  Someone suggested 300 blk but it seems that would be a good choice if I was to silence and tune the rifle, which doesn’t sound so realistic I’m this state.

6.5 Grendel. Plenty of options, damn good hunting caliber

So after looking around and at some more info it seems the 6.5 Grendel is a good option. I got a good deal on a psa lower to start the build.

For up in the Northeast region, in the density commonly found in those forests, you don't really need much barrel length.

Kills might be a little faster with a 20", but your distances are usually so close, that you might consider as short of a barrel as possible for maneuverability/portability in the woods.

If you hunt from blinds, then you can pick whatever you want and not worry much about it, other than getting it up there, but you still may encounter tag-appropriate animals on the way too and from.

These are all 6.5 Grendel, and this doesn't include my 22" Lilja bull fluted Grendel, or my fluted AA 18".

I am thinking between an 18" or 16" Barrel.  I do hunt mostly from a blind but agree the possibility of kicking something up along the way is possible.  Question what is the rounded hand guard on the AR standing in the Bipod before the ones laying down in the picture and what length is it?

Length, don't know, maybe 12.625", but that is the discontinued Midwest Industries Gen 2.  They are now on the Gen 3 and Combat Rail, and if you are lucky, they have some of the Gen 2s on closeout for really good prices. The biggest advantage of the Gen 3 and Combat rail is there is no need to time the barrel nut.  Just tighten it and go.  The Gen 3 and Combat rail do not need the adhesive between the barrel nut and forend as much, not that the adhesive was hard to break for removal and did make sure the forend stays put on heavy recoiling rifles, but the 6.8 and under class of rifles will be fine without it.

First off, what is your maximum practical/expected range?

Right, because we don't want to choose a caliber that can shoot further than we intend to use it for.

This. My vote goes to 6.8 if under 250yd.

300blk if you'll be shooting 150 or less.

You also have 25-45 sharps, i think that meets legalities.

American 30 had some really awesome numbers on paper, but i don't think it went anywhere.

If you reload, there's dozens of cartridges. You're already forced to use an impractical setup with the fixed 5 rounds, push the limit as much as you can.

I’d like to be able to go out 300 yard but realistically will be shooting within 150-200 yards.  As for the fixed magazine I’m ok with it. I plan on making this a hunting rifle no need to cary anything more than that. Plus if I was to go out with my bolt action rifle I only get 4-5 rounds in the whole rifle and only plan on shooting one maybe two rounds at the most.  The 6.5 Grendel seems to be very popular and recommend by many. It’s more than adequate to handle my needs.

Exactly.

I was suggesting looking into other wildcats because you have the fixed 5 round mag. Which is no different than bolt actions for the most part, but also in bolt guns, they have massive amount of wildcats to choose from.

There have been a ton of people chambering barrels in different calibers based on the 223 case, and there are a few with the 6.8 as well, Valkyrie specifically, 6.5 is a wildcat off the x39 case in a way.

My point was you have a ton of options if you reload. And there are still alot of factory options as well, just not as many, and hard to find 20rd boxes of the odd ball stuff. But there are alot of high performance hunting rounds, pick one, make it work reliably for 5rnds in your setup, and bam.

If you just want factory stuff, 6.5G has gained alot of traction, and Ive seen it at most of the Academy stores here locally. Same with 300blk. 6.5G will give you a much longer working range than 300blk, and still be just as effective close range. 300 really only shines under 100yds.

The 300 blk has been recommended by few but after doing some research it’s not a round that I’m comfortable hunting with. One that has peeked my interest is the 7.62x39 as I have a saiga sportster in that round. I was considering selling it to help the build and make some room in the safe. If I did that I would have a bucket full of ammo that would just sit and waste away so a 7.62 x 39 would be worth while. The only down side is the reliability of the caliber in the ar platform.  I’ve been told if you focus on 4 aspects of the build than it can be a solid platform with the all round but not sure how it would be for a hunting round. All my ammo is steel cases wolf ammo and never really seen any hunting ammo in that caliber.

Got 3 AR's in that caliber - all 100% functional. All kinds of decent hunting ammo available - just gotta look for it. PPU makes a very good 123gr PSP for it that I use in one of my rifles for hog hunting - several 1 shot kills all the way out to 125 yds (max range so far in the Tx brush country.)

Bird

It's a discontinued Midwest Industries Gen 2 Free Float handguard.

They improved it since then with several other variations with MLOK, qd sling swivel sockets, lightening cuts on top, and I have used a lot of those as well over the years for friends when helping them with their builds.

The most rigid, solid-feeling handguard set-up I currently have is the LaRue Stealth 2.0, which is also available as an upper/handguard combo.