My main shooting buddies will absolutely not shut up about how "impractical" of a deer rifle my 20 inch AR-10 (308) with 5-30x scope is.
If I had a desire to kill a deer with it, that deer would DIE. But, uh, not exactly the point.
(Edit to elaborate/clarify: I don't have any particular desire to hunt, so I am annoyed that my friends insist on discussing the suitability of my long distance precision target rifle for hunting. That said, if I indeed did desire to hunt with it, it would be more than adequate for the task)
I feel like a Fudd sometimes because I have absolutely no desire to own anything other than my WW2-ass guns, but if someone told me about their AR i would say "sounds cool wanna swap guns for a couple mags?"
I'd imagine 308 out of a 20" barrel is gonna be comparable whether it's a bolty or an AR, no?
I know people who hunt deer with AR-15 in 223. Can't speak to if it's humane or effective but they get deer every year.
(but that wasn't the point I had been intending to make; I see no need for a gun to be "practical for hunting")
One of them was about to buy a 30-06, and the other talked them into a bolt action 350 legend. Bolt action. 350 legend. The cartridge designed to make AR-15s practical in states with straight wall cartridge laws. Bolt action.
Fudds.
How do you like the AR-10 and how much did it cost you? I'm debating between getting a short AR-15 as well as a long AR-10 or bolty, or just getting a mid-length AR-15, maybe 16".
My best friend has an AR-10 and it's one of my favorite guns to shoot.
A lot, and A LOT; but it was a high end custom build because I wanted pretty. You can find one below 1k from PSA, I think.
In my opinion, more guns more fun, so I'd say shorty and longboi. Short AR-15s are absolutely fun.
FWIW discussing hunting in /c/guns is fine but I appreciate you putting a CW out of consideration for comrades who disagree with it. We'll consider putting that in the rules to align with the broader site guidelines
Fudds (gun dudes that have lots of backwards, antiquated, and/or folk-medicine-ish ideas about how guns works) think that any cartridge invented after the start of the Vietnam War is impractical and over-engineered. They love to fixate on the grain of a bullet (the mass of the projectile) as the end-all-be-all of stopping power, so rounds like 7.62x54R, 30-06, and .45-70 Government are the greatest rounds ever conceived by the spirits of the holy gun inventors, while things like .300 Blackout and 6.5mm Creedmoor are too tiny to kill anything larger than an overweight rabbit. It's the same mentality of fuddy-duddy car guys who think you need 300 HP to safely merge onto the interstate.
I do want a 45-70 really, really badly though. Ideally lever gun and revolver, because I have zero respect for my wrists and I think it will be funny to refer to a 45-70 lever gun as a pistol caliber carbine.
Oh totally, I'd love a .45-70 lever carbine as much as I want a VEPR Hunter in .308. I want to be in pain after I'm done at the range, ideally.
Also using the term Fudd in this case specifically for those who only think of guns in terms of hunting value, instead of, you know, the place where political power flows from.
I have no idea how anyone could think that about .308. I'd say that's the ideal hunting round for most anything in NA.
Hear me out, just put some wood furniture on it and they'll nod their heads in approval and stop giving you shit. We are also easily fooled by wood grain appliques and plastidipping as long as we do not touch the gun.
That's not what the OP said, and 223 and 308 are both capable of painless kills with proper shot placement. Head shots are highly discouraged in hunting, regardless of the caliber.
In any case, this isn't the place to debate veganism or "ethical" hunting. If you would like to do so you can make another post about it.
I've never been hunting, why are headshots discouraged? Is it because they're hard to land and easy to botch?
Yeah, heart and lungs are a much much bigger target, every bit as deadly, and not completely surrounded by extremely sturdy bone.
AR 15 is 223, though there's kits to convert it to virtually any round.
AR 10 is 308.
I don't want to shoot a deer at all! I don't give a damn if my guns are practical for hunting?
(But an AR-10 in 308 would definitely do the trick, if called upon to do so)
