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Posted: 1/12/2012 4:58:26 AM EDT
| I'm looking to purchase my first AR and I'm running into the problem of what to choose. I'm looking at Ruger and Armalite and as far as calibers the 5.56mm, 6.8mm SPC, and the .308. I tossed the .308 out there because my current hunting rifle is .308 and it would make my life a little easier to have only reload one caliber. Anyone that can point out the pros and cons of these calibers for an all round hunting/defense round please post it. |
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Your question is very vague. Nobody can tell you what you want. Just hang out here, and read, read, ask some questions, and read some more. You'll figure it out.
.308 AR's are a whole different animal. 6.8 has its ballistic benefits, but ammo cost and availability is tenuous, at best. 5.56/.223 is the standard, and a good place to start. There are different loads and barrels that will do tasks from CQB/HD roles, all the way to hunting larger game, assuming it's a legal hunting round in your state. .300 Blackout is a new round, that looks to be very promising, but only time will tell. One of the attractive features about AR's, is that once you get a standard AR lower set up, you can swap uppers, and magazines, and have rifles in any available caliber, except .308/7.62 NATO. |
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You might also include on your list of brands a few more options. Spikes, Daniel Defense, RRA, PSA etc
I would suggest the 5.56 the .308 is a great rifle but you can do far more with the 5.56 platform because of the range of calibers that are avaliable for that platform also (6.8SPC 7.62x39 and 5.45x39 etc etc to many to list). Ultimately it is going to come down to what are you going to do with the AR? |
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I'd start with the .223 / 5.56 guns, and then get into another seperate .308 gun after that.
The .308 guns are substantially more expensive and not quite as ubiquitous as the smaller .223 guns. Meaning that you probably would want to do your homework and figure out what works best for YOU. A lot of this will be revealed when you start shooting your .223 gun. The .223 gun is very flexible and can be altered to other calibers, but none of those calibers really have the push that .308 has. The .308's are in a class of their own really. |
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Unless you plan on humping a 1000 rounds when the SHTF 308 is hard to beat.
Your biggest problem will be keeping your hunting rifle from rusting away because you don’t use it anymore. The 5.56 platform has a weight advantage and costs less to shoot. Also as mentioned the 300 BLK looks promising. |
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Colt SP6920 in 5.56MM.
Ammunition is relatively cheap and plentiful, spare parts abound, and you don't have to ever worry about it "going away" like 6.8 SPC. Good ammunition of modern designs give plenty of ballistic punch in barrels from 10" to 20", and you can squeeze more accuracy than you can likely use out of them with some modifications if you want that. Colt is extremely high quality and benchmark for AR15s, and can be had out the door for just about $1K, and will likely last you forever. How long will Spike's or PSA last in popularity? Who knows - I remember when CMMG used to be the best thing going around here - now they've nearly been relegated to .22lr conversion gurus by newer brands. Yet, old Colt SP1s from 1980 still command a premium. .308 is a great round, but IMHO, a special purpose round these days. It weighs in twice what 5.56MM does, and in general, magazines will make your wallet twice as light as 5.56MM does. The ballistic advantages are realized by only a few, and in most engagements irrelevant. It's nice to have one around, but I wouldn't want one as a primary individual weapon unless I was working in a team with a bunch of other guys with 5.56MM platforms. ~Augee |
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Quoted:
You might also include on your list of brands a few more options. Spikes, Daniel Defense, RRA, PSA etc I would suggest the 5.56 the .308 is a great rifle but you can do far more with the 5.56 platform because of the range of calibers that are avaliable for that platform also (6.8SPC 7.62x39 and 5.45x39 etc etc to many to list). Ultimately it is going to come down to what are you going to do with the AR? This^ What is the purpose of the tool? |
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