BigNate

👍

Luth MBA 3

Here ya go…. PSA 223 Wylde 1:7 stainless 18” heavy barrel with Mlok stuff… Magpul bipod stolen from elsewhere… Arken 6-24 FFP glass . Aero bare lower with a basic lower kit but replaced the trigger with an SSA-E. Better buttstock should be here before the weekend. Hopefully I’ll get rounds through it on Saturday.

You are exposing my ignorance regarding burrowing rodents... I guess I've always equated ground-hogs with prairie dogs... I'm in AZ - in a semi-rural area north of Phoenix - I see coyotes not quite daily - but close. I've never caught and weighed one - but I'd be surprised if the "big" ones near me weigh more than 25 - 30 lbs. My uneducated eye says that they are skinnier than normal this year - probably due to the drought.

I didn't bring it to work with me... some of the office ladies would probably frown on that... 😛 I'll take and post a picture tonight...

The stuff that I see and know as "ground hogs" out here tend to be about squirrel sized critters - maybe a smidge bigger - but not much...

AR-15 in 223 Wylde is built, scope is mounted, and rounds will be here tomorrow.... We'll see if I can pattern with it at a level that doesn't leave me pissed off and willing to spend twice a much on ammo for the AR-10. 😛

Holy cow - either you came from Lilliput, or that is a monster ground hog! That's a whole lot chunkier that what we know as ground hogs out here.... shoot - if you told me that was a young nutria I might believe you. That bugger has some girth on him!

Certainly not saying that you "can't" hunt with your AR-10. Just saying that I'm old, fat, out of shape, and the AR-10(T) with a 37 oz scope, bipod, and PRS buttstock on it probably weighs 18 lbs. I have enough trouble hauling my fat butt up the hill without carrying something that feels heavier than the M-60 that I lugged around in my youth. LOL. Now - I do agree with you that for protection from the 2 legged critters - things with many many rounds and lots of knock down are the happy spot... If I could take only one gun with me into the wilderness for defense and game gettin' - it would probably be my M1A. It's lighter than the heavy barrel AR-10(T), has enough umph to knock down the odd elk or "slow movin' elk (cattle... 😛 )around me, has enough range to let me stand off of things that might be looking for me, and over the years I've come to trust that it will go bang every time I pull the trigger (not that others won't - just that I know this one inside and out and it has earned my trust). 🙂

Comrade... you realize that your statement above is probably the most prejudiced think I've hear said this week - right? You may or may not have had a bad experience with someone who was SOF - and as a result you are choosing to take the position that all SOF are "racist POS's"... That is... on its face... a near perfect example of the sort of prejudice that we are all opposed to. I won't call it "racist" because you are not pointing it at a particular ethnicity - but I will call it outright prejudice... Think about it... Do racists exist? Yep. Is the military replete with "racist" units? I highly doubt it. In my short 6 years in the Marine Corp reserves (with about 2 years of active duty including Desert Storm) - I never saw it condoned, tolerated, or ignored. I'm sure that I was not the only one to hear the saying "there is no black, no white, no brown - only varying shades of green and we all bleed red." We lived that. I can think of one instance in which a white marine said something overtly racist and he got slapped down incredibly quickly and with much force. The fix happened within the small unit - we dealt with it and moved past it. No one lost their job. No one died. The dude said something evil in anger and learned very quickly that it would not be tolerated. He and the guy he was talking to actually worked it out and became friends over time. My strong bet would be that any unit that openly tolerated racism was one that was due for, and would quickly get, a change of command. The idea that having a member who has a tattoo that may or may not be associated with white supremacism makes an entire unit "racist" is just stupid. People do dumb things - especially when they are young and stupid. How they act / behave today is what matters. The sad thing is that by putting idiots like this guy (Mr. Richard Torres-Estrada) in place they are creating division - not healing it. I truly believe that the creation of a position like the one that he fills is an action designed to destroy the efficacy of our military. He will create hatred, resentment, and division...

Just to be sure that we are talking apples and apples... when you say "double feed" you mean what is in the picture - not "double fire" as in "two rounds in short succession with one perceived pull of the trigger..." right? If so - I'd make sure that the magazines that came with your gun are the right ones for the lower - and perhaps order a replacement of the right type but a different high quality brand. (just what I'd do anyway...)

I think I'm coming to the same sort of conclusion... I doubt I'd ever hunt anything with an AR-10 platform gun. Not that you can't - just that IMHO the strengths of that platform lie elsewhere. OK - well - I guess if I were to move to TX and get into hog hunting I could see a build for that purpose - but today I don't live in TX, and I'm not hunting anything here where a semi-auto rifle would be the right tool. So - as a paper / steel gun - I'm coming to the conclusion that the juice (fastest / flattest available cartridge) in the WSM / SAUM / etc. space probably ain't worth the squeeze (reduced magazine capacity, cartridge cost, etc.). Thanks again for the good info. The fat cases and reduced capacity are taking the WSM stuff out of consideration. For game at longer range the simple old bolt .300 WM is the ticket for me.

Thanks 98Z - Interesting set of options. As I'm chewing on this I'm pretty convinced that I want to go with a round that does not dramatically lower round count per magazine. It seems odd to see .243 there - just because my only experience with that cartridge is a single-shot breech-break youth gun that I bought for my kids. Funny how you get a stereotype in your head around a cartridge from something like that. I found this article: https://www.accurateshooter.com/cartridge-guides/243win/ that includes a pretty glowing review of the cartridge (for bolt gun precision shooting). I guess I should give it a look as well.

I get that the full answer is "it depends on many factors" - but I'm curious as to how this breaks down.

Thanks 98Z - great info...

I understand that the going rate for these rounds is they trade 1:1 for 4X8 sheets of 3/4” floor ply…

Thanks gents…. If / when I do this I’ll probably do this as a new build. I picked up a bare Aero M5 lower that I plan to do something with one of these days.

In digging through Raley's tech corner I stumbled on a document titled: TECH NOTE 61 ERRATA SHEET FOR AR-10(T) ULTRA MAGNUM 110404 REV 1.pdf in his Tech Notes #5 thread. Has anyone actually shot one of these? What about "buildable" AR-10s in other faster / flatter cartridges? I've been doing some homework on the platform and have been looking into a variety of cartridge options for things that are faster and flatter than the 7.62X51 - so this really caught my eye and the idea of an AR-10 in .300 SAUM gives me (in the words of James May) "the fizz." I had been looking at whether it might be feasible to build a new platform AR-10 in 6.5 PRC but COAL for match bullets looks to be much too long (2.950). So - mostly a pipe dream - but hey - a fella can dream.

Well - I was digging for topics that dealt with the range of cartridges that could be made to work in the AR10 platform and I found Raley's Tech Corner - what a gold mine for the Armalite owner... I love that some of the articles are written with a sense of humor... For example - the one titled "TECH NOTE 29 RIFLE CLEANING 110404 REV 2.pdf" contains this gem... "Remove the handguards to clean the barrel with a solvent-dampened rag. Protect the bore with a light coat of oil. Use a toothbrush to clean the nooks and crannies. Avoid brushing your teeth with that toothbrush later." I actually almost spit my coffee...

edit... I lied... LOL 50 - 100 FPS

Thanks much. I've seen and bookmarked Ammoseek.com - but keep forgetting to use the bookmark... 😞 Those Norma rounds look spicy... 🙂 77gr at 2790 is about 100fps above the other factory match 77 stuff that I've found.

I picked up a bit of this stuff in case I can't get a load sorted out in the next few weeks. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2090124928

I'm no eye doctor - but I'm sure that the answer is "it depends." I've started dealing with age related "long sightedness" - I'm still 20/20 at a distance - but I have trouble reading small print - or in low-light situations. Wearing my readers while looking through an optic (or for that matter any sights) does nothing for me.

If I can get her to join us we'll see who is underestimating who... I don't have a good understanding of @DNP's powers of persuasion - but I've learned a good bit about the stubbornness of the Irish wife... 🙂 For what it is worth - she's only veto'd it "for now." The long term goal includes more than our current 1 acre and a gynormous steel workshop - and she says that once that happens she does not care what I buy - as long as it fits in the workshop. Time will tell... 🙂

One of my pipe-dreams is for one of the omni-fuel versions of these guys (apparently it'll run on just about any combustible liquid from gasoline to used motor oil... ). I started looking for one but my wife was less excited than I was to have it in our driveway. I told her that it could be worse and that I'd rather have a Dragon Wagon and that this was a compromise. She was not amused. 🙂