Go to rifle

[NightStalker]

I’m wondering if your AR308/AR10 your go to rifle?

The more I shoot this rifle the more I like it and starting to think it could be the one I reach for. 
it’s big and heavy but with a lot of thump that I like. My only issue is she’s a hungry beast lol. 
Time to stock pile some ammo. 

[98Z5V]

My go-to house gun is a bad little 14.5" 5.56 Carbine, fed with 75gr HPBTs.

 

The preferred truck gun is a 12.5" 6 ARC gun.

[NightStalker]

Very nice pics, what flashlight do you have on those?

So where does your 308 fall into the mix?

[98Z5V]

The 14.5" 5.56 gun has an O-Light Odin light on it, and the 12.5" ARC has an O-Light Odin Mini light on it.

There are a few different .308ARs floating around.  First, I wouldn't use .308 Win as a home defense round.  I'd never be able to tell how many walls it'll make it through, and where it would stop.  It would probably clear a bunch of walls and leave the house. I'm looking for The Box O' Truth info on .308 Win or 7.62 x 51, but can't find it right now. It'll turn up.

There's a 12.5" .308 and a 13" .308 that I'd consider as truck guns, but to be used somewhere with more distance and/or need more power over a 5.56 gun.  The ARC takes that all away, just in the cartridge and it's power and range capability, and it's in a much smaller, lighter package.  That relegates the short .308s right out of the truck.  Same thing for the 16" .308.  There's an 18" .308 and an 18.5" .308 (the Mk 11 gun).  The Mk 11 is for distance, and it does exceptionally well at that.  However, the 20" .260 Rem blows it away at distance.  There's a 16" .338 Fed gun, and a 16" .358 Win gun.  The .338 Fed is amazing, loaded with 225gr projos, and shoots softer than the 16" .308.  I'm still sorting out that .358 Win gun - that damn thing kicks like a pissed off mule.  the recoil system is getting replaced in that one.  I'd use either one of those guns to go after pigs/hogs, or any other thick-hide animal.

That's just my mentality on it - not worth much, but that's my reasoning.

[NightStalker]

I definitely get the 308 inside issue, and the truck Gun. 
My 556 is for my house and the Grendel would be the truck gun if I had more ammo for it lol. Dang thing is always hungry and that’s expensive.  
My AR308 for now is my grab and go and I hope it’s never needed.  

[98Z5V]

33 minutes ago, NightStalker said:

My 556 is for my house and the Grendel would be the truck gun if I had more ammo for it lol.

My 12.5" Grendel was the truck gun, until I built that ARC.  I put that little Grendel together with a Leupold  Mark AR 1.5-4 Firedot-G SPR scope on it.  Shocking to me, I took that thing out to 850 yards on 4 power, and it did it repeatedly - just dial 10.6 mils, and get after it.  Surprising little gun.  It became the truck gun right away, after that.

When I built that little ARC - based on what I saw with the little Grendel - I put more scope on it.  I used the 2-12 Athlon Helos BTR Gen 2 scope. As soon as it was broken in and shooting well, it replaced the little Grendel as the vehicle gun.

[BrianK]

My go to "rifle" is an AR15 handgun chambered in 300BLK. For a long time it was the 5.56 I wish I'd had in the military, but of course 50 years ago the parts weren't available. If memory serves it weighs 5# 9oz sans can and w/o ammo. But as I age long traditional guns are just too long, so I got the bright idea to sell them (not all) and move to bullpups and handguns. Enter the 300BLK. 

OK, another reason too. A few years ago we had a cop killer running around in the "backyard". He was armed and so was I, with a long gun as I tried to do chores. That didn't work but my first bullpup worked better due to it's short length. That solidified my move to shorter firearms. (Yes, I am more than merely familiar with handguns.)

It has a 10" barrel and the 85 grain copper bullet I use for HD is being pushed to 2300fps for 1k ft/lbs. Like the 5.56 it retired it wears a can all the time to absorb the blast. It does all that it needs to do for me and can reach out much further than can be justified. 

Here it is (bottom) compared to the length of the carbine it replaced. It's wearing a linear comp' in the picture to get the blast out from under the handguard, but with the can in place is just about 1/2" longer.

What isn't seen in this old pic' is the light/laser that today is on the off side up near the muzzle. In use if I must use it indoors it'll get slung (also not in the pic') and tucked under my arm with the off hand up near the muzzle to prevent someone from grabbing it and getting the leverage. 

I see today that someone makes a 5 3/4# .308 AR. Of course it wasn't available years ago, but if it had been I'd have one in the safe.

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by BrianK
got the link to work

[NightStalker]

Very nice looking rifles. I’m a big fan of 16 in barrels, I would go shorter if I was to put a can on it.  Maybe some day. 

[sketch]

I have tested a .45 that made it through almost 4, layers of 5/8" drywall . It broke the 4th  layer enough to put a finger in the hole and push the bullet out. I've also tested bullet resistance on bullet proof drywall and it's crap. 9,45,223 went right through one layer.  Do know your background when in any firing position or  you can get into trouble.

[NightStalker]

I’m pretty rural not to worried about pass through. I also like my shotgun in the house. 

[BrianK]

My 300BLK concept began as a bullpup shotgun as I live rurally also. What do I mean by that? I bought a Keltec KS7, that's their 12ga with one mag' tube. It's short, light, and handy. My idea was to use reduced recoil 1 3/4" slugs. That firearm is hit or miss with the shorties and was never designed for them. I have no idea if it was the shotgun or me, but I had a malfunction where the shell flipped end for end giving a major malfunction. I shelved the idea and built the 300BLK seen above. The KS7 is 100% reliable with shells 2" long and longer. I'll be working on building some  2" short shells (slugs and #4 buck) so that I can get increased mag' capacity in it's one tube. Right now they're on a back burner as I have far too many irons in the fire.

Today it's set up very similarly to the 300BLK above. Same light/laser in a similar position (not seen here), but no can, instead a slug tube. The carry handle has been removed and a pic' rail added for the MRO. Same idea as with the 300BLK, tuck it under the arm and use the light/laser for close in final target confirmation and targeting.

Today there is at least one pump bullpup made by S&W designed to handle short shells. Are there more today? IDK. But back when I bought the KS7 it was a wasteland. Correction: at that time there was another, whose name I can't remember, designed to fire short shells and I seem to remember that I couldn't handle normal length shells.