I'm in the market for a rifle and pretty set on an AR. I'm about 90% sure i'll be getting a bushmaster flattop.. But am pondering the 308 v 223 option of ar15 v ar10.

1.Anyone have any input on my caliber question? pro's cons?

I'm hoping to keep myself from buying my new toy for another week but really looking forward to learning how to shoot a rifle.. I'm a total rifle newb..


Next question: Where is a good place someone could go out and shoot outside without a lot of ppl around to see how bad a shot i will start out being. ps I'm in dallas, Tx.


thanks in advance and a thousand apologies for all the stupid questions i'm about to be asking.

An AR in 5.56 will run about $950.00, An AR10 in .308 starts about $1500.00.
Good quality ammo for 5.56 is cheaper than .308.
I don't know your shooting habits, but in general the AR15 is a good, light recoil, accurate weapon to begin with.
If you get an AR15, get one chambered in the 5.56, rather than .223.
.223 can be shot out of a 5.56 barrel, but not the other way around.
As for where and who to shoot with, go to the Hometown link in the upper right of the screen and check out the post for TX.
BTW: Welcome to the addiction Redjack!

Being a nebie myself and having just pondered this very same question, I shall attempt to answer it with the precept that the word of much more experienced individuals should probably be heeded to.

I came up with a list of criteria between the two calibers when I made my purchase and then rated both the .223 and .308 based on that criteria:

1) Ease of shooting - .223
Before I got my Bushy 16" A2, I had never fired a rifle beyond an old Ruger 10/22 my father and I shot back when I was a kid, so I wanted something I could be comfortable putting a LOT of rounds through. I had fired a few mags through both a .223 and .308 (AR-15 and AR-18) and found that, out of the box, I was much more comfortable with the recoil and feel of the .223. To me, that translates to more comfort at the range putting more lead onto a target and more proficiency with my weapon.

2) Cost - .223
Somewhat connected to criteria #1, the .223 costs less money to shoot then the .308, so that's more individual rounds fired and more experience. It doesn't matter how big the hole is if it doesn't hit the intended target.

3) Upkeep - .223
5.56/.223 AR-15 pattern weapons are amazingly common. Nearly every vendor carries parts, toys and maintence items for them in stock. If something goes tits up on my Bushy, I can get a good price on a replacement part and have it in hand within 24 hours. Any competent/sober gunsmith can do anything I want to it without having to worry about their familiarity with the minuta of what is a somewhat obscure variant of a common weapon (i.e. .308 AR-15s).

4) Toys - .223
I am a gear fetishist. For whatever personal reasons, I do not worry about people attacking my home; my AR-15 is all about the toys and getting to play with, shoot and build a cool piece of high speed gear. Fact is, the .223 ARs have ALL sorts of cool parts you can buy.

5) Defense - Tossup
If the proverbal fecal matter hit the air movement device, my choice between a .223 and a .308, all training and everything mentioned above aside, would come down to ranges of engagement. 0-200 meters I think the .223 loaded with M855 is probably the way to go. 200 meters and greater, the .308 is probably your best bet. This was never a big issue for me but I read the books and crunched the numbers; I live in a major urban center so the .223 offers no drawback for me in this arena.

I am, as always, open for disagreements on any of the points above but I hope this helps you make your selection at least a little easier.

On just pure "fun" factor, it's the .223 AR15.

Although I fired the M16A1 as a ROTC cadet in the early 70s right on thru the 80s as a reservist, I had tried to talk myself out of one when looking for a semi-auto last fall.  (I had never made Expert with the 16, only Sharpshooter, and I was on high school and college rifle teams so of course I always blamed the gun :-)  Anyway, I was thinking FAL,Cetme, G-3... even the new Armalite 180B.   Went to my local gun shop and saw the prices and realized:
1.   a new, warrantied Bushy XM15-E2S could be had for $789.  I would have been parting with 500 or more for a no-waranty used weapon
2.  that I could get the wife to fire a 5.56 rifle, but probably not any 7.62
3.  that the same aforementioned "familiararity that had bred miscontent" also provided me with safety and take-down maintenance procedures that I had never forgotten
4.  Ammo was cheaper, parts were readily available
5.  In suburban NY, I would use a 12 guage and/or call 911 before even thinking about CQB with a rifle
6.  Just the look of an EBG will REALLY piss off  our anti-gun "friends" who probably think I went thru my own mid-life crisis.  (Sooooo???)
This last may be the only drawback, besides it being ugly when compared to a Garand, etc. --- I get glances at the range and a lot of "gun nuts" that will bluntly say "I don't like those" ...when you tell them you have one.
Last week (I posted under Hometown, NY, Calverton Range Report) I fired over 300 rounds of Wolf, Federal and Winchester thru it without a single hiccup, and even with the Wolf it cleaned up well.  My shoulder was fine until I fired a dozen rounds from my Marlin 35 Remington.  Sorry, I ramble.  Bottom line:  if you have a place to shoot outdoors lots of bullets at varied ranges---hard to beat an AR15!
Good luck!
As for shooting skills---take out that 22 or a pellet rifle and practice with it first.  Try the AR from the bench or the prone to sight in, and follow the sight in procedures that invariably come with the weapon, although you will find links on this website to some as well.  Although the trigger pull on a standard NIB AR is a lot harder, breathing, sight picture, stock weld and trigger squeeze can't be bought or read about.  Good shooting!

thanks for all the good info! I really appreciate the encouragement. I know i am going to be sinking loads of money into this new hobby just like all my other hobbies.

So the only advantage to 308 is distance?

200m is plenty for me to start out with. I'll be happy to be effective at 100m.

And since you mentioned shotguns. Is there a pump shotgun attachment available for the AR? (saw one in a movie and started looking for them online to no avail)