ordred a new one today

[Lloyd Smale]

called my dealer and he put in an order for an olypic ar15 in 762x39. Didnt really want an oly but there about they only one he handles that has that caliber. Hes got a stock pile of wolf ammo and said hed sell me 5 cases so at least if this ammo crunch gets worse ill have something to shoot cheap. Hell i can hardly load ammo for what wolf cost and i can leave the brass on the ground. Only bad news was that it will take 4 months to get it.

[Shiner]

Four months isn't really that bad compared to what some other people have been told. Congrats on the new rifle!! Olympic Arms makes some decent stuff, I think you will be happy with it.

[Skunk]

WTG Lloyd!! Will be waiting for the reports this Fall.

[44 Man]

Lloyd, did you consider just getting a top end?  Less money (not a consideration for you), but the wait is the question.  Possibly longer or shorter than getting the whole gun.  I know I plan to put a 6.8 spc top end on my bushy as soon as I can (I already have bought the mags).  44 Man.

[Lloyd Smale]

I guess i just dont care for parts of guns. I never like the tc idea because of it. Ive got enough ars now though that it would be a thought for the future. The 6.8 deal is something that really doesnt excite me though. To hard to find brass and ammo for it and when you do its not cheap. I cant see where it shows that much of an advantage over a 763x39 and ammo for that will allways be available and still is relitively cheap. Even if a guy reloads 6.8 bullets are cheap and theres no cheap ball available for it. If crap ever hit the fan it would be nothing but a paperweight. I like to shoot my ars and they get used. When i go to the range its seldom with under 3 hundred rounds. I couldnt afford to use the 6.8 for that. Even a ar10 in 308 would be much cheaper to shoot and give even better ballistics. Same goes for the new .30 rem. I cant figure out why they even introduced that one. People are calling it the american 762x39. Probably right. Like the rest of the ammo situation in america its expensive and hard to find and i would about bet a dime to a dollar 2o years from now it will be non existant.

[ccoker]

congrats on the new gun

I love my 6.8, it's got an 18" stainless DMR chambered barrel
I run 110g Barnes TTSX at about 2800 FPS, deer and hogs don't stand a chance!  I hunt with it more than my Sako 270 or Tikka 308, in fact, it's going with me tonight on a hog/turkey hunt

I have a 5.56/223 as well
neither of my ARs are evil black guns anymore

I am running a different scope on it now

[44 Man]

Lloyd, a 6.8 to me would strictly be a hunting gun.  It has great ballistics for deer and hogs, and I really don't trust the .223 to do that job.  Ammo is about $17 a box and 223 ball is $11.  That's one I'd be happy with just a couple hundred rounds around.  Of course if I'm going to use it that way, I could just buy a single shot in 30-30 (but I already have that).  44 Man

[Lloyd Smale]

the couple deer ive shot with 223s using 60 grain partitions showed me they work just fine. Ive also seem my buddy who because of medical problems cant handle recoil shoot quite a few deer and even hogs with his ars using the partition. Ive never seen anything but one shot kills with them. Granted the 6.8 would be a much better choise for big game and in that context would be a decent gun to invest in but i guess my thoughts are that my ar10 308 is more powerful and ammo and reloading supplys can be bougtht cheap enough to go out and blast 500 rounds off occasionaly. As to whitetail and hog hunting i allready have a 50 beowulf and that takes care of that well. Only problem with the beo is its even harder to find ammo and compents for and is what kind of soured me on anything but a 223 762x39 or 308. I want to actually shoot my guns not look at them in the safe.

[ccoker]

sounds like you got all the bases covered!

[44 Man]

Looks like I may have to revise my expectations of what the .223 will do (with the proper bullets).  44 Man

[Lloyd Smale]

it may be marginal for 300lb mule deer but the deer here rarely go over 150 and with a proper bullet the 223 does fine on them. The trick is the proper bullet. Its surprising the results we got with penetration testing. A guy would think that the 60 and 70 grain bullets would outdue the 55s but in standard bullets the 55 w/w and bulk rems seem to do better then about anything. The partition is definately the bullet to use though. It hands down beat everything including the barnes bullets which did pourly in our tests. They seemed to either not expand at all or fragement when they did. Youd laugh at some of the partitions we took out of test media. they looked like picture perfect mushrooms. I was so impressed that im going to switch to then for self defense ammo. they give the best of both worlds for self defense. they expand and create tissue damage and penetrate as good or better then ball which tends to veer off track in pentration testing. the only place i woud think twice about useing them is in the house. there youd want some that expands fast and doesnt give as much pentration.

Looks like I may have to revise my expectations of what the .223 will do (with the proper bullets).  44 Man

[Lloyd Smale]

well the order has allready changed. Ive been stung on a couple of the old olys. Ive heard the new ones are a bit better but i was still leary. dealer called today and said he can now get a bushmaster in that caliber and it has a chomed bore and chamber so we canceled the oly and went with a bush.

[44 Man]

Lloyd, I think that was a good choice.  As for ammo, I have the Hornady TAP up the spout for defense.  I thought that if it was good for defense, It should also be good for hunting but I think I will buy some of WW that is specific for deer and also use that for defensive use.  Like you, I want some good penetration for both uses.  Winchester marks their boxes with a little picture of what the bullets are appropriate for, some with wood chucks, and some with deer.  It's a good way to quickly identify which bullet the ammo is loaded with.  Have you tried the WW deer load or the TAP in the media?  44 Man

[Lloyd Smale]

havent tried that load but id bet its loaded with a barnes bullet and they werent all that impressive. they work great in the smaller calibers but there .22 bullets didnt seem to work reliably.