A newbie here ( waiting for my AR--only 30 more days to go! )  with one more question....I am going to get an AR for the purpose of varmint hunting, and want to spend a lot of quality time at the range with my new rifle to learn to shoot it well, and to be able to hit the target some distance downrange. When spending this quality time with my AR and with my SA battle pack, and several boxes of various brands of ammo to see which one my rifle likes,
1.   How long should it take me to go through, say,  20 rounds on average, if I am not just blasting away, and am trying to get consistent groups? How long should I let the HBAR cool down between shots?  
2.   The main purpose for my rifle is for varmints, but I still love to shoot and improve my skills at the range, so I am also wandering if I should get a bull barrel after all? I posted a question on bull barrels before, but got to thinking that if I am spending a chunk of time at the range connsistently, maybe it is the way to go?  If I could get away with not getting the bull barrel, I would do so. Oh, the barrel will be stainless steel and non-chrome lined.
3.   Will occasionally blasting through a 20 or 30 round mag be damaging to my barrel or its accuracy in the future?
Thanks for all of the advice given already. I have 30 more long days before receiving my AR, but am learning things daily from this forum!  --Tim

Train like you will shoot.
How long would it take you to go through 20 rounds while varmint hunting? Will all your hunting shots be 20 minutes apart,from a cold barrel? Will the barrel be clean or will it be dirty?

I'm staying out of the barrel profile/weight debate.

ARs tend to be so accurate that I bet the bull barrel would make only a very marginal difference.  I'd keep the weight down.

I'm thinking about a varmint rifle also. I haven't been able to decide if I should go with a new upper or just buy a bolt gun. What can I really expect in the way of accuracy from an AR upper? The bolt gun should shoot 1/2 to 3/4 MOA. What do you think of the Rock River flat top varmint upper?

my upper consists of a dpms 16" heavy stainless barrel, free float tupbe 4 rail gas block,lopro upper receiver, i shoot, botles along the side of the road (i live in se nm lots of dirt roads in the oil patch)from a moving vehicle, fun as hell, even some coyotes (the dumb ones)!,and prarie dogs out to 300 yards just by switching out my red dot to my scope, have to clean the bore first, to sitting or running bunnies and jack rabbits, those are the  best they just roll like doing cartwheels if you hit them just right, its not unusual for us to empy a thirty rounder at a running jack at a hundred yards, that is the hazrdest thing to shoot...ive even done it with my ak and scope, i have a buddy who does it open sights with his ak, but when itcomes to hitting a jack from 50 yds on with it sitting still, he just cant do it, in fact when we are walikng and he spots one, they usuall y freeze, he waits for them to start running before he shoots...this is how i get alot of his shots....anyway were lucky out here, i consider it a target rich enviroment.....but all in all my ar is the best weapon for a day of shooting, and yes we can do all this type of shooting in one day, with in 20 square miles and stay within county lines.....a plus cuz i know alot of the sheriffs int he the county and they know im not out doing any damage to the oil equipment or anything like that


snipertaz out!!!!