Please help me choose caliber for deer (AR-15)

[Cheesehead]

I buy bulk Remington bullets to feed my 6.8. The 100 grain PSP and the 130 grain Core Lokt are relatively inexpensive and accurate.

Cheese

[Cheesehead]

The 6.8 Special Purpose Cartridge is .277 caliber and in my experience handles the 130 grain bullets very well. I have not used heavier bullets.

Cheese

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got another future deer rifle that should be here any day. Its a bushmaster in 762x39. My idea in getting it was that components for loading are tough to find right now and i had the opertunity to pick up 5 cases of wolf ammo cheap so if i cant shoot the rest of the ars i can still shoot with this and i can take it to camp with 500 rounds and blast away and not have to worry about picking up brass. With a good handload its a more then capable 200 yard deer gun to boot. Might not be quite as flat shooting as the 6.8s but brass can be found once fired and cheap and theres still bulk ball bullets out there fairly cheap if you look. Dont think i could ever afford to take a 6.5 or 6.8 out and run 500 rounds through it in a day and thats what the ars are all about to me. Ive got a beowulf that sits most of the time because its expensive to shoot and tough to find components for and i dont need another safe sitter.

[Arier Blut]

Colt used to make the x39 and dropped it because of the results of leo tests. The straight feed of the 20 and top of the 30 rnd ar mag design did not do well with the fat case needing to curve like in an ak magazine. The dept I worked for tried them again about 5 years ago hoping it was a follower problem and technology had caught up. They still jammed in the trials.

The dept I work for now tried them right before I started and got the same results. They were running rock river with cproducts mags and mgi bolt and firing pin. I read the report a few years ago but can't recall the figures, I think it was around 15 jams in a 1000 round trial.

Online they claim the poor results to the combo is steel cased ammo with the ar extractor design, but the dept I work for now used win, so who knows? If you don't mind give us an update when you get it in and run it through the paces.

[Lloyd Smale]

cproduct has an improved mag and i have 5 of them and a pile of wolf steal cased so ill give you a report when i get a chance to ring it out.

[crawford769]

i think the body of the mag and feed lips are different too.

[R.W.Dale]

This year I'm hunting with a White Oak Armament upper chambered for 30HRT

Herrett
Tactical
Rimless

Esentally a 30herrett with cases formed from 6.8spc brass instead of 30/30win. My hunting load is a 125g sierra gameking pushed to a MV of 2625fps from a 20" bbl

[akguy454]

50 bmg   can't kill something too dead

[SD Handgunner]

This year I'm hunting with a White Oak Armament upper chambered for 30HRT

Herrett
Tactical
Rimless

Esentally a 30herrett with cases formed from 6.8spc brass instead of 30/30win. My hunting load is a 125g sierra gameking pushed to a MV of 2625fps from a 20" bbl

Any hunting success with the .30 HRT ?

I have thought about that cartridge myself a time or two. That is about the same exact velocity I was pushing a 125gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip from a 14" T/C Contender chambered in .30-30 AI. I used the .30-30 AI for a couple years with great success.

Larry

[R.W.Dale]

This year I'm hunting with a White Oak Armament upper chambered for 30HRT

Herrett
Tactical
Rimless

Esentally a 30herrett with cases formed from 6.8spc brass instead of 30/30win. My hunting load is a 125g sierra gameking pushed to a MV of 2625fps from a 20" bbl

Any hunting success with the .30 HRT ?

I have thought about that cartridge myself a time or two. That is about the same exact velocity I was pushing a 125gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip from a 14" T/C Contender chambered in .30-30 AI. I used the .30-30 AI for a couple years with great success.

Larry

not yet although I still have some hunting to do.  The deer I've killed so far was with a .223

[44 Man]

No they do not use the same magazines.  Feed lips and follower are different.  44 Man

[Lloyd Smale]

well the 762x39 had some teathing issues. The c products mags just wouldnt feed anything be fed soft point and even then only one mag did it a 100 percent. the bullet noses tended to nose dive into the feed ramp. I think it is a combo of a bad angle out of the mag, a week spring in the mag and an improper angle on the feed ramp. I tried reshaping the feed ramp and it helped some but got frustrated and packed all the mags and the gun up an sent it back to bushmaster. They took the gun and did some more work on the feed ramp ( I as nervous about getting to carried away as i didnt want to void the warantee). They also replace all the mags including the one that came with it with new mags that definately have stiffer springs. I read on the ar fourm that a trick guys were doing was to run a wolf extra power ak mag spring in them. I had bought 10 of them but they seem to have fixed it. I also read the the first batch of cproducts mags were troublesome and the new ones work. I would guess i had old ones and what they did to the new ones was replace the springs. Went to the range with wolf black box, fed soft point, and a few differnt handloads and it didnt miss a beat. Put 500 rounds though it and  that included 300 rounds of wolf black box so it looks like this thing will be a keeper. Sure is fun to shoot. Its not as ear spliting as a 223 so a few shots without ear protection isnt to bad and it sure wacks rocks harder then a .223. Ill probably use this to hunt deer with next year.

[44 Man]

Funny how they have had so much trouble getting AR's and Ruger Mini's to run on the 7.62x39 and an AK will feed anything, everytime!  Glad they got it sorted out.  That is a good deer cartridge with proper loads and cheap to shoot with Wolf ammo.  Glad you have it sorted out and are enjoying it Lloyd.  44 Man

[Lloyd Smale]

Lewis i think it boils down to the fact that the ar and the minis mags are to narrow to allow the rounds to stack well. The ak was obviously designed for the round not like the other two that were designed for .223. Good thing is this thing runs like a top now and its probably the most fun ar i have.

Funny how they have had so much trouble getting AR's and Ruger Mini's to run on the 7.62x39 and an AK will feed anything, everytime!  Glad they got it sorted out.  That is a good deer cartridge with proper loads and cheap to shoot with Wolf ammo.  Glad you have it sorted out and are enjoying it Lloyd.  44 Man

[wganz]

This year I'm hunting with a White Oak Armament upper chambered for 30HRT

Herrett
Tactical
Rimless

Esentally a 30herrett with cases formed from 6.8spc brass instead of 30/30win. My hunting load is a 125g sierra gameking pushed to a MV of 2625fps from a 20" bbl

Any hunting success with the .30 HRT ?

I have thought about that cartridge myself a time or two. That is about the same exact velocity I was pushing a 125gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip from a 14" T/C Contender chambered in .30-30 AI. I used the .30-30 AI for a couple years with great success.

Larry

Have read multiple times that Model 1 Sales .300 Fireball uppers are great for building .30 HRT rifles. Their rate of twist and CAR length gas system are more suitable for the larger .30 HRT than the .300 Fireball. It requires only a rechambering job + a 6.8 bolt head to goto a .30 HRT.

[R.W.Dale]

This year I'm hunting with a White Oak Armament upper chambered for 30HRT

Herrett
Tactical
Rimless

Esentally a 30herrett with cases formed from 6.8spc brass instead of 30/30win. My hunting load is a 125g sierra gameking pushed to a MV of 2625fps from a 20" bbl

Any hunting success with the .30 HRT ?

I have thought about that cartridge myself a time or two. That is about the same exact velocity I was pushing a 125gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip from a 14" T/C Contender chambered in .30-30 AI. I used the .30-30 AI for a couple years with great success.

Larry

Have read multiple times that Model 1 Sales .300 Fireball uppers are great for building .30 HRT rifles. Their rate of twist and CAR length gas system are more suitable for the larger .30 HRT than the .300 Fireball. It requires only a rechambering job + a 6.8 bolt head to goto a .30 HRT.

I never thought about it but that's an excellent idea and I see no reason why it wouldn't work. I would like to add that my white oak upper is proving to be astoundingly accurate. The below 5 shot groups were BOTH fired in under 1 minute

[Lee Robinson]

If you don't mind me asking, what problems did you have with the AR-10? I have been considering one, but before I spend the cash I would like to know as much as possible about them. If you don't want to post your reply here, you can email me at chimerakennels@msn.com Thanks.