Which caliber

[blackblue]

Looking for some opinions. After having several 223 AR's Im looking in to picking up A dpms/r25 in 308, 338 or 260, 7-08 not sure about the 20" barrel on these. It will be for hunting and paper punching and I also reload.

Im leaning towards the 260 or 7-08.

 

[notquiteright]

Re: Which caliber

What game and what distance to paper? How much paper vs live targets?

20" will get you to most any critter you want dead. Paper can be done at farther ranges as it rarely takes a hit and runs for the treeline.

 

[BCP]

Re: Which caliber

308, could probably build it yourself for 1500.

edit:

DPMS upper + charging handle = 165
DPMS BCG = 200
Rainier Select 18" (black hole?) = 259
Troy TRX handguards = 205 (very light 12" free float, removable rails)
A2 stock = 90?
DPMS LPK = 60

Fill in the blanks with the rest of the stuff you want

Would probably weigh 8.5-9lbs unloaded, no optics. It's the parts list I had in mind until I found a deal on a 16" barrel from another maker as well as a used ACS stock.

 

[blackblue]

Re: Which caliber

Deer, hogs and coyotes. Hard to say how much paper vs game, it will become my main hunting rifle, 275 yds at my easy access shooting spot.

 

[notquiteright]

Re: Which caliber

Well I lean toward 308 as my wife and I also shoot 308 boltguns. out to 300 yards 308 ought to work on hogs, deer and such.

Paper to 600 for sure.

Now if you are a cherry in high powered medium bore rifles I'd lean 260. Never had a semi in 260 but again the wife and I dallied with that and 6.5x55 in bolt guns and found them very accurate for paper and deer.

My 7mm was a 7x57 mauser and loved it. Might be a bit better for feral hogs than the 260. Certainly there are alot better target bullets than 20 years ago.

So perhaps the choice is more personal love than analytical study.

308 is the yeoman caliber
260 the zippy little newcomer
7mm the overlooked middle child

 

[B.Morgan]

Re: Which caliber

Have you thought about the 6.5 creedmoor? I have a 260 and 6.5 creedmoor in bolt guns and just ordered a gap10 in 6.5 creedmoor. The rounds are almost the same and perform amazing but you will get a little less throat erosion out of the 6.5 creedmoor. Also, Hornady ammo for the 6.5 creedmoor shoots great and is very reasonably priced if you don't want to reload.

 

[BERTMAN77MK2]

Re: Which caliber

my vote is for the 260!

 

[sermonator]

Re: Which caliber

Deer, Hogs and Dogs? The .260 will do all of those with confidence, have less recoil and be VASTLY supperior as a target weapon if you are shooting distance, especially with Lapua making brass now.

 

[beretta682]

Re: Which caliber

stick with the 308,its very easy to tune a load for your gun

 

[mkollman74]

Re: Which caliber

I had this exact argument with myself a few weeks back. It sounds like you've decided on the AR-10 platform, but if there is any wiggle room there, I'd look into the 6.5 Grendel/.264LBC. Anyway, that's the decision I finally made. Lighter, handier, and will do what needs to be done within ranges I don't need the bolt gun for. Best of luck, whatever you get it'll be fun!!

 

[Hawk45]

Re: Which caliber

I've not done a semi in anything other than .223, but I do shoot both .308 and .260 in bolts. I've not done the 7mm-08 in either. They are all good calibers. Myself, I'm leaning towards the .260 in my large caliber AR platform as there really are no downsides (if you reload) other than shorter barrel life than the .308. But barrels are like tires on a car, routine maintenance. Choose what suits you best and go burn out a few barrels.

Cheers

 

[Rat-30]

Re: Which caliber

My .308 is a hammer, and takes 'yotes, hogs and deer with ease... Go to rifle when I don't know what range I'll hunt, or if it may be over 400m.

I'm using a 6.8SPCII, and I LOVE it! Same results at my contact distances usually under 100y, and is a hammer when I do my part... I use 110vmax. SubMOA on my ARPerf upper... light in the hands, lights out on the game.

 

[Casey Simpson]

Re: Which caliber

My 308 is a rifle and it takes bullets