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Posted: 12/1/2015 6:27:09 PM EDT
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Here is my problem. Going to start hunting next year and needs some advice on what I should use. Now this is not a ( what caliber is better) its more so what should I use that I already have or should I get another upper.
I currently have 3 AR's. One is a 11.5 SBR 556, another is a 10.5 SBR in 7.62/39, and another is a 16" Windham 556. I also have a 762 Specwar that fits all of them that I would love to use. Question is, is one of these a good/better option for hunting whitetail in the woods of WI? Or another thought was to build a 300blk upper around 10.5" and use that. Would like to hear everyones thoughts and opinions, maybe some balistic numbers that show some better than others taking the barrel lengths into consideration. Also, would really like to use an SBR and my Specwar and keep length and weight down as much as possible. Big plus for me. Thanks |
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Have you considered building a 6.8 SPC? My son and I hunt with 6.8s (mine has and 18" ARP barrel and his has a 16" barrel) using Hornady 120gr SSTs at around 2550 fps and Barnes 95gr TTSXs at about 2900 fps. I reload but you can buy both loads off the shelf. I have also hunted with 300 BLK, 8" and 16" barrels, but I prefer 6.8. ETA: I zero both our 6.8s with a 5" kill zone and that gets me a point blank range zero of about 250 yards. |
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I did think about that but thinking was if I was going to have to use a 16" barrel then I would just use my Windham 556. Can u use short barrels in the 6.8 and get good velocity? 25 fps per inch, up or down from 16in is the norm. The 6.8 was designed for 14.5in barrels in an M4. |
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Out of your current rifles, the 7.62 x 39 would be the best for deer in WI. Depending on terrain that cartridge should be great and I believe better than the 556.
The 300blk will produce similar ballistics to the 7.62x39 so skip building it unless you want it for other reasons than hunting with supersonic ammo. If you want to build an ideal upper for hunting take a hard look at the 6.8 spcII or the 6.5 grendel. Both are fantastic rounds that are better than the 556,762 or 300blk. And they work well in a myriad of barrel lengths. |
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Your 10.5" 7.62x39 is plenty fine for white tail in WI. Distances are normally very close in the thick of the woods.
Slap the Specwar on it, get a good hunting load that cycles the gun in the extreme cold, and have at it. Hornady's 123gr SST load will get the job done easily. |
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Quoted: Great stuff, really appreciate th opinions. So u think that I would get significantly better hunting ballistics from a 6.8 in say 10.5" or would Need to go up to a 14.5 plus to make it worth my while? I have read that 12.5 is the ideal length for 6.8 SBR's, I'm not sure how a 10.5 would do. |
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Great stuff, really appreciate th opinions. So u think that I would get significantly better hunting ballistics from a 6.8 in say 10.5" or would Need to go up to a 14.5 plus to make it worth my while? 10.5 or 12 or 14.5 would be good to go, your choice. Wild River Ranch uses the short barrel 6.8 almost exclusively. http://www.wildriverranch.net/about-us-1.html Another thing about the 6.8 is all the hunting bullets designed for it. This allows a better selection of bullets when find one YOUR barrel likes. 6.8 Bullet Poll |
| Now this is getting interesting. I was just looking at 6.8 info and came across bison armory and they talk about 6.8 subsonic surpressed out of a 11.5 barrel for a hunting round? Would this be doable or is bison any good or junk. This has sparked my interest. A good subsonic hunting round for deer. Any thoughts ? |
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Quoted: Now this is getting interesting. I was just looking at 6.8 info and came across bison armory and they talk about 6.8 subsonic surpressed out of a 11.5 barrel for a hunting round? Would this be doable or is bison any good or junk. This has sparked my interest. A good subsonic hunting round for deer. Any thoughts ? |
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The way I think about subsonic is that no matter what the caliber, the velocity is always going to be around 1050 fps. With that being the case, I would shoot the heaviest bullet that I could. Personally, I would stick with 300 blk for subsonic. Quoted:
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Now this is getting interesting. I was just looking at 6.8 info and came across bison armory and they talk about 6.8 subsonic surpressed out of a 11.5 barrel for a hunting round? Would this be doable or is bison any good or junk. This has sparked my interest. A good subsonic hunting round for deer. Any thoughts ? I agree with this. For subs as the main objective, the 300 BO is the way to go. However for occasional subs the Bison sub barrel is a good choice although .277 sub bullets are limited to a few choices. The Bison sub barrel shoots supers fine For supers the 6.8 is the answer for an AR15 hunting round. Especially for your shorter barrel requirements. |
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If your hunting experience is anything like.mine in WI, you won't see more than a 100yard shot. The exception being agricultural fields. My average shooting lane gets me 40yards.
That being said, you really cant go wrong. Pick one and be happy with it. I chose 6.8spc fwiw. I have a bison barrel and love it (not the subsonic) |
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If your hunting experience is anything like.mine in WI, you won't see more than a 100yard shot. The exception being agricultural fields. My average shooting lane gets me 40yards. That being said, you really cant go wrong. Pick one and be happy with it. I chose 6.8spc fwiw. I have a bison barrel and love it (not the subsonic) I have the same experience in WI. I agree with this but will add that (here comes the hate) I would not use a 5.56 for whitetail in WI and here's why; I have bagged a few whitetail up near Rhinelander and LaCrosse with my 5.56, but won't be using that caliber any more, simply because I saw and shot "Big Daddy" with my 5.56 and he went running deep into the swamps. I tracked the blood trail to some water, looked up and realized he made it through 4 ft of water to an "island". It was dark at this point and realized i was going to have to get a small canoe just to get him the next day. Long story short I went through hell and back to retrieve this deer that I had double lunged and hit a main artery. I knew my shot with the 5.56 was good and would kill him, but the whole 30 hour experience to retrieve him I was thinking, "what if I don't find him?" I don't want that feeling anymore so I chose .308 now. Except this coming year I will be building a 6.8 spc specifically for whitetail in the Northwoods of WI |
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I have the same experience in WI. I agree with this but will add that (here comes the hate) I would not use a 5.56 for whitetail in WI and here's why; I have bagged a few whitetail up near Rhinelander and LaCrosse with my 5.56, but won't be using that caliber any more, simply because I saw and shot "Big Daddy" with my 5.56 and he went running deep into the swamps. I tracked the blood trail to some water, looked up and realized he made it through 4 ft of water to an "island". It was dark at this point and realized i was going to have to get a small canoe just to get him the next day. Long story short I went through hell and back to retrieve this deer that I had double lunged and hit a main artery. I knew my shot with the 5.56 was good and would kill him, but the whole 30 hour experience to retrieve him I was thinking, "what if I don't find him?" I don't want that feeling anymore so I chose .308 now. Except this coming year I will be building a 6.8 spc specifically for whitetail in the Northwoods of WI Quoted:
Quoted:
If your hunting experience is anything like.mine in WI, you won't see more than a 100yard shot. The exception being agricultural fields. My average shooting lane gets me 40yards. That being said, you really cant go wrong. Pick one and be happy with it. I chose 6.8spc fwiw. I have a bison barrel and love it (not the subsonic) I have the same experience in WI. I agree with this but will add that (here comes the hate) I would not use a 5.56 for whitetail in WI and here's why; I have bagged a few whitetail up near Rhinelander and LaCrosse with my 5.56, but won't be using that caliber any more, simply because I saw and shot "Big Daddy" with my 5.56 and he went running deep into the swamps. I tracked the blood trail to some water, looked up and realized he made it through 4 ft of water to an "island". It was dark at this point and realized i was going to have to get a small canoe just to get him the next day. Long story short I went through hell and back to retrieve this deer that I had double lunged and hit a main artery. I knew my shot with the 5.56 was good and would kill him, but the whole 30 hour experience to retrieve him I was thinking, "what if I don't find him?" I don't want that feeling anymore so I chose .308 now. Except this coming year I will be building a 6.8 spc specifically for whitetail in the Northwoods of WI Good choice. I was coyote hunting earlier this year with a 5.56 and had an opportunity to shoot at a whitetail buck. I thought the better of it, because my loads were 55 grain Nosler BT and was not certain they would be adequate for deer. |
Thats a really good point. And this is why I want to use something larger, especially if I have it already. As much as I would love to build a 6.8 the more i research, I think for now I will try out the 7.62 and see how it goes. Need to save money for the 3k rounds I just bought this morning
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Thats a really good point. And this is why I want to use something larger, especially if I have it already. As much as I would love to build a 6.8 the more i research, I think for now I will try out the 7.62 and see how it goes. Need to save money for the 3k rounds I just bought this morning That should complete the task |
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