Re: AR Varmint rigs????
I also have a 20 inch Bull Barreled AR. I have taken it Yote hunting once and it is wayyyyyy too heavy for a carry gun. The bull barreled AR's get heavy quick when you put bipods, scopes, risers....and all the other stuff on them.
That being said, I also use the same gun for a "backup" gun while prairie dog hunting. I would not go under a 20" bull barrel for that. The extra weight lets you see hits and gets you back on target for a 2nd short, or third, or 4th before they all get down the hole. We shoot off of quads while prairie dog hunting and sometimes I wish that I had a 24" bull barrel for even more weight and velocity.
That is the nice thing about AR's, you can set one up exactly how you want it. I also have a Superior Arms 20" Bull barrel and it will shoot 3/4 MOA all day long with whatever kind of bullets I feed it. I bought it because they are made here in Iowa by 2 older gentlemen that quit working for Rock River because they thought RR's attention to detail was starting to slip. Now, I am not knocking RR. I think they are great. I just built a RR lower that I put a 6.5 Grendel upper on. I am just letting you know a little history of how Superior Arms got started.
Now, for a Varmint Rig I don't see how you can go wrong with an AR in .204 Ruger. They just flat out shoot. I don't have one in an AR yet, but I have 2 custom Savages with custom Pac-Nor barrels in .204 and so far my longest hit on a Prairie Poodle is 565 yards on our last trip out to South Dakota. Every year I get a new personal best. The .204 isn't that much more to reload for, just a couple extra grains of powder per round. I don't know if the .204 shooting a 40gr V-max would DRT a yote at 600 yards, but i know it blows a Prairie dog in half. I think the largest grain bullet for the .204 is a 50gr soft point. But how many shots will you be taking on yotes out at 600 yards...??? I know guys that have taken many yotes with a .204 out to 450 with no problems. How can you not like a 40gr bullet going 3950fps.... or a 32gr bullet going 4250 fps. LOVE IT.
The most important things in an AR are a good barrel and a good trigger. Like other have stated the RR Match trigger is a good trigger. I have one and like it. But I have a standard RR trigger on my Grendel right now and I only put it in because I bought the standard RR lower parts kit knowing that someday I would upgrade it to a Geissele.
Take my opinions with a grain of salt. You can't go wrong with any AR for varmint hunting. It is just what you like and how you are going to use/hunt with it. Just giving you some options to look at. Let us know what you decide, or if you have any extra questions all you have to do is PM me.