Awesome hunting AR calibers?

[H-D]

Putting together a real nice lower and not sure what caliber upper to pursue..so looking for ideas.
Main purpose would be for hunting/plinking.
Already have the below calibers so wouldn't want them or anything too close to them....
like 6.5 Grendel for example due to it being too similar to the 6.8spc.

5.56/223
300BO
6.8spc
308

Anything else out there I should be looking at?
I'd be hand loading for it as well so I'm not really "too" concerned with ammo availability for now.

[Colton]

224 Valkyrie is what I will get when it’s time for a new upper

[RattlesnakeDan]

The 224 Valkyrie is a great caliber, we have taken deer, hogs, yotes, and axis with it and it is very good at killing but it is also fun to shoot.
My new favorite is the 458 Socom, it smacks hogs so hard they just drop so it is exciting to play with and ammo isn't really any more expensive than many others more popular calibers.

[Mike D]

6.5 Grendel if you want to stay mainstream calibers that you could buy factory Ammo for in a pinch

If you aren’t concerned about that mad dog weapons systems have some really interesting calibers that look great on paper at least.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Lostacresranch]

What factory ammo in 5.56 are good to kill deer? I’m building one for my granddaughter.

[DUKFVR]

300 HAM'R by Wilson Combat

[H-D]

What factory ammo in 5.56 are good to kill deer? I’m building one for my granddaughter.

Federal Fusion in 62gr

[Horn chaser]

.300 Ham'r

[DUKFVR]

What factory ammo in 5.56 are good to kill deer? I’m building one for my granddaughter.

55 or 62 gr barnes bullet.

[Chuy]

I'd get build the 6.8 SPC with an ARP barrel/bolt.

I have hunted extensively with all of those calibers and the 6.8SPC is my favorite for deer and pigs. I built the 6.5 Grendel first due to ballistics "long range" but learned what the internet already told me, I wouldn't see the difference in the two in hunting range.

The 6.5 Grendel is a great shooting round and extremely accurate but the hunting capabilities seem to be where the 6.8 shines. It hits hard, has good expansion, and is very accurate. I've found it to be more forgiving if you are shooting the right ammo, It'll make a mess of a neck/head.

I like the Hornady 110 VMAX for pigs. THUMP

[H-D]

I'd get build the 6.8 SPC with an ARP barrel/bolt.

I have hunted extensively with all of those calibers and the 6.8SPC is my favorite for deer and pigs. I built the 6.5 Grendel first due to ballistics "long range" but learned what the internet already told me, I wouldn't see the difference in the two in hunting range.

The 6.5 Grendel is a great shooting round and extremely accurate but the hunting capabilities seem to be where the 6.8 shines. It hits hard, has good expansion, and is very accurate. It actually can make a mess of things if you are shooting the right ammo.

I like the Hornady 110 VMAX for pigs. THUMP

Like I mentioned..already have a 6.8spc and it also happens to be a complete ARP upper.

[scott.str]

I enjoy looking at new rounds and some are pretty cool. The 25/45 sharps is a great one. 458 socom is sweet if you have a suppressor that’ll handle it it would be a hog thumper and silent.

277 wolverine
270 AR is a cool one to
30 Harret is another cool one.

[Chuy]

Like I mentioned..already have a 6.8spc and it also happens to be a complete ARP upper.

Man I totally misread that! lol.

MY BAD!

I've always wanted a 243 WSSM in the AR15.

[BLACKFINTURKEY]

450 bushmaster or 458 socom.... show stoppers

[RifleBowPistol]

The 224 Valkyrie is one I want to try out at some point. I have a 458 SOCOM, that I really like. A 450 Bushmaster would not be a bad idea, nor a 350 Legend. The 458 SOCOM, is very close ballistically to a 45-70, with common lever action ammo. It actually uses the same bullets that are intended for a 45-70.

The 450 Bushmaster, is also 45 caliber, but shoots 45 caliber pistol bullets, intended for calibers like the 454 Casull, 45 Long Colt, 460 S&W.

The 350 Legend, is considered to be basically a rimless 357 Maximum. But from some of what I have found lately, it seems to be a different bore diameter than the 357. If that is true, then it's not exactly a rimless 357 Maximum. I am not 100% on bullet diameter. I was looking for bullets, and saw some listed as for calibers such as, then listed the 350 Legend and some other calibers, then right below were some bullets listed as being for 38 Special, 357 Mag., 357 Maximum. From what I understand, the powder charge/ powder capacity of the 350 Legend and the 357 Maximum is very close.

There are a bunch of other calibers, that you can get AR 15s chambered in. There are odd ball calibers like the 277 Wolverine, 25-35 Sharps. 22 Nosler, I would like to try that caliber out also. The 22 Nosler and the 224 Valkyrie are similar in size, I think similar in case capacity. The 22 Nosler was designed to shoot more common lighter 22 caliber bullets such as 50, 55 gr. bullets. More of a high velocity varmint caliber. The 224 Valkyrie was designed to shoot heavier 80 to 90 gr. bullets. It is intended for larger targets, at longer ranges than the 223/5.56 is reliable for. Using the 80 to 90 gr. bullets you have good BC numbers, so in theory, it should retain a good bit of energy down range. It could have the potential to be a good small bore deer caliber. I would not make that claim, till I saw it used a good bit.

Then there are the wildcat rounds intended for the AR15, there are a lot of them. There are or were two or three guys, cooking up wildcat AR15 calibers based off of the 6.5X47 Lapua. Those are some pretty hot little rounds for a AR15, I have one of those, called a 270AR. There was also the 7mm Valkyrie, then I think a 257 Bobcat. Those guys seemed to have backed off of cooking up calibers based off of the 6.5X57 Lapua. Because those are some pretty high pressure rounds, if you don't have a good strong, 7075 T6 or T7 billet upper and probably lower to go with it. You are going to have problems. I have noticed the guys that worked on the wildcats based off of the 6.5X47 Lapua, have been designing calibers that are a step down from what the 270 AR and 7mm Valkyrie are. I am pretty sure, they realized the guns won't last a long time at the pressures they were pushing those other calibers too, if you don't use a very good upper. So they have cooked up whole new bunch of AR calibers, that are a step up from the 6.5 Grendel and 6.8 SPC, but a step down from the 270 AR and 7mm Valkyrie.

Then there are the other versions of AR, the AR9, which you can get in 9mm and 40 S&W. Then the AR45, which you can get in 45 ACP and 10mm. I would really like to have a AR45 in 10mm, with a 16" barrel. It should be close ballistically, to 41 Mag. revolver, with around a 6" barrel. But then if the chamber is fully supported in the 9mm and 45 ACP barrels, you could load those quite a bit hotter, along with the 10mm, than you could in a auto loader handgun. The combination of longer barrel, and hotter loads, would noticeably increase the power of each caliber compared to the same caliber out of an auto loader handgun. A AR9 would be a nice plinker, could be used for hunting pigs, coyotes at closer ranges. A AR45 would be pretty nice, also.

Then lastly you have the AR10, which it seems can be chambered for most any short action caliber. That list is long. There are the common 308, 7mm-08, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6mm Creedmoor, 260 Rem., 22-250, 250 Savage, 300 Savage, 358 Win., 35 Rem., 30 Remington. Then there are the newer big bore calibers based on the 308 case, 338 Federal, 375 Raptor, 45 Raptor. Then there are the larger diameter belted magnum rounds. Such as the 6.5mm Rem. Mag, 350 Rem. Mag., 450 Marlin, then there is a 458X2", which seems to be virtually identical to the 450 Marlin. But the 450 Marlin has a wider belt, as where the 458X2", uses the common belted mag case, belt width. Then there are the many rounds based off of the Winchester short mag case. The 270 WSM, 7mm WSM, 300 WSM, 325 WSM. Then Remington had some ultra short mags, I don't remember what those are, did not know Remington made those, till I was looking for calibers for the AR10. Then there are the wildcat rounds based off of the Winchester short mag, there is a 338 WSM, 350 WSM, 375 WSM and a 458 WSM. Beyond that, there are some really big large diameter rounds that you can get a AR10 chambered for. The one I am most familiar with is the 475 Bishop, that's a pretty large stout round, and very expensive, all the way around.

There are many calibers for both the AR15 and the AR10, I left out, don't remember all that I have read about. I know I have read about a lot more than I listed, just for the AR15, such as the 300 Blackout and the 7.62X39, then there seems to be a 300 AAC. Why someone thought another short 30 caliber AR15 round was needed beyond the 300 Blackout and the 7.62X39, I don't know. There are probably some that I left out for the AR9 and the AR45, I listed the common stuff for those two.

There are ARs and calibers you can chamber them for, to do most anything you want to do. 30 years ago I never would have imagined things would be what they are today, with ARs. Years ago, you had very few choices, either a Colt AR15, with a 20" 5.56 barrel or if you had really big bucks a Colt 5.56 16" barrel M4 carbine. I saw adds in the back of gun magazines for AR10s, I think those adds were Springfield Armory adds, but I never actually saw a AR10, they were just a myth, in my mind. The Colt ARs in 5.56 were ridiculously expensive, more so, if they were anything other than the common 20" AR. So today, seeing what's available, is just insane. I never would have thought, the options and the many thousands of companies making ARs and AR parts would exist today. So enjoy the fact that Colt is not the only company making ARs, if they were the only company make ARs still, things would basically still be what they were in the 80s, I can guarantee that.