I know now ammo availability sucks. But one of my options is hunting with my 5.56 ARs this winter. I would rather have it in 6.5 grendel but I have no hope of getting a 6.5 bolt and barrel with ammo this summer to develop the rifle. So for now i will keep it 5.56. I have 5.56 FMJ but nothing for hunting. Do you guys see any hope of 72gr or good 64gr hunting ammo becoming available this summer even at a premium price? I would need enough to sight in, practice some and hunt with.

What are you hunting? I've taken deer with 55gr PSPs, and the deer we have in SD are larger than the deer I've seen when I lived in GA. Like any round, shot placement is key. My local Scheels has been getting in most calibers periodically, even .223/5.56, and they've been selling at normal pricing.

75gr at ammoseek available now

edit: 77gr at ammoseek

Seems a lot of hunting loads are often available, albeit in small quantities.

Check the Federal website, if you can spare to pay full MSRP.

It seems the hornady 55gr SP bullets do well, unsure if available as loaded ammo.

A lot of the cheap steel case seems to also do well in gel testing. I would certainly sooner pay full MSRP for two boxes of Fusions than try my luck using brown-bear SP though. I'm not hungry enough to shoot deer with steel case... yet...

Now might be a decent time to survey what you can get in your area and pick up a cheap rifle like a compass, American, or axis, which all have great reputations, and a few boxes of quality ammo in whatever off caliber.

worst case i'm sure you could barter/trade for some hunting ammo. Find someone who reloads, maybe offer 2:1 exchange ratio for him to load you hunting loads?

Thanks guys. That is encouraging. I have a 16" lightweight 5.56 AR I bult up a few years ago that just doesnt really make me warm all over if you get what I mean. Fine rifle I just dont love it. But it would be great hunting rig, simple, light 16". I also have a new Leupold vx3hd 3-10 coming to me as a warenty replacement. I could just drop it in my Larue mount and it should be a fine set up.

I was thinking of rebarreling the rifle in 6.5. But ammo, barrels, bolts are hard to find. So if o went with this rifle I would have to be willing to stick with 5.56 for now.

I only mentioned the heavier bullets becouse that is what i thought i needed for whitetail. I dont really know where I will be hunting. Might be Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri have not really desided. But i think some of those places have straight wall cartridge restrictions which would also make the rifle less than ideal.

I’ve killed them with 55 grain soft points with good results.

I’ve also killed them with 75 grain soft points.

Within proper parameters, either one will get the job done.

For Ohio woods, save the big money and just use some standard rifled slugs in your shotgun of choice. Where longer ranges are afforded, you'll want a straightwall, which opens up a whole new can of worms. However there are affordable options to get you in the field, and the manufacturers did manage to ship out a good stock of 450BM, 45-70, and 350L ammo prior to season.

As far as I know MO has very liberal hunting rifle restrictions.

IIRC KY has a minimum 6mm (.243) for rifles.

Bass Pro had some Winchester Deer Season XP (something like that) 62 grain soft point in December. I got 4 boxes on it for less than $100 shipped.

I knew that about Ohio didnt know that about KY. I am working on a 357 Max single shot but had a disappointing day at the range. I am now considering the AR as a contingency plan. I really want to do the 357 Max, straight wall cartridge, meets 35 cal requirement in some states, single shot 50 state legal, brakes down into a 16.5" package, I can reload for it costing about  35 cents a round, cant plink with subsonic 38 spl and threaded for my Octane 9HD.

I am getting a 180gr Hornady XTP moving almost 2000FPS with my hotter loads. But when i tested for accuracy it was very disappointing. Some groups were like 5" at 50 yards. As i work up they tightened but still best i did was not so good. End of the day the hottest load grouped the best. 4 round in about 2" at 50 yards. The only good part is that 3 rounds almost clover leafed and one was a "flier". So i dont know to call that a 2" group or a .75 group at 50 yards. I will keep working on it.

When i got home i found the stock was loose and the forarm pushing on the barrel. So maybe when i fix that things will tighten up some.

This is the AR i would be working with. I have sold the Burris scope and would be replacing it with a Leupold 3.5-10x40 firedot.

That's a very capable setup, especially with the addition of the Leupold.  I have their 3-9x40 Firedot TMR Patrol on my 16" "Recce" and really like it.

Look for 55 grain soft points, or 62 or 64 softpoints.  Bonded bullets in the same weight (Gold Dots, Fusion, Trophy Bonded Bear Claw) or monolithic solid copper hollow points like Barnes TSX are even better.  Frag bullets like M193 or green tip may just wound.  Hunt ethically.

Question: Is there a reason your front sight is not out at the end of the rail?  It would give you a bit longer sight radius if you ever need to use your backups.

Didn't look at username... like I noted in the reloading section, I can best that energy/velocity with warm loaded 350L or factory ammo... from a 12" barrel. You should be able to do much better accuracy wise. My 165gr FTXs will do about an inch at 100yds if I bother to trim the cases. I accept the 2" groups for shooting at 50yds or less. Not worth my trouble. I'd consider the FTX a pretty accurate bullet.

Since Ohio has a retarded 7 day season, and you'd be traveling, I hope you have a line on some good private land to hunt. Gun season is a crapshoot for me. Every dumbass is out in the woods screwing up deer patterns the whole week.

IIRC Missouri considers break actions "primitive" and opens up another season, along with pistols. This may be quite advantageous.

I would absolutely grab that AR and head out in the woods.

The front sight was pushed back because i was playing with mounting a surefire X300 light up there. I think i had to have the head of the light hang off the end of the rail. It is a older picture.

That was a good deal. I bought 4 boxes of Deer Season XP and 6 boxes of Varmint X. A few weeks later I decided to buy more Deer Season XP and they didn't even list it as a product they carry anymore.

ETA: I just looked and they carry it again. $27.99 per 20 and out of stock.

Your best bet is to sign up for notifications of when ammo comes in stock from the various online sellers.  I did this when looking for 6.5 Grendel ammo and after a couple weeks it notified me when the specific load I wanted was in stock.  In my case, I decided it was just too expensive and passed on it.  It means I won't get to continue breaking in my new rifle build but as long as people keep buying every box that pops up at these prices the longer this is going to go on.

That said, if you need it to set up your rifle and have enough for deer season next year then go for it.  With the right bullet the 5.56 is a very capable deer caliber.  I'm new to Georgia so I guess I should see what's legal here and what's not for deer hunting should I find access to a place to hunt.

Perfect little deer rifle. Fusion, gold dots, TBBC or 77gr TMKs would be my choices. 5.56 is fine for GA deer. There are guys hunting big bucks up North here with 55gr Hornady SP FWIW.