annoyedman
New member
Quote:
Most out of box AR's will shoot with any accurized bolt action...
I disagree completely. I would modify that statement to say that most out of the box ARs will shoot competitively with a lot of "sporter" bolt rifles, BUT, an out of the box M4gery with a 16" barrel (which describes the majority of "out of the box" ARs out there) simply cannot compete with an accurized bolt rifle. Just think about what "accurized" means. It means a good quality, fully floated heavy barrel, mated to a fully bedded and trued action, bearing a tuned trigger, etc., etc. A good varmint or tactical bolt action rifle is a hand assembled piece of the gunsmith's art made from only the highest quality parts. In contrast, the standard AR15/M16 is assembled from mil-spec parts that are mass produced to government specifications. The platform was designed and built as a battle rifle, and it will be good for 1-2 MOA. A good accurized bolt rifle in .223 will shoot into less than dime sized group at 100 yards. Your average out of the box AR simply can't match that.
Now, if you want to narrow your parameters to say that most high end, accurized, heavy barreled, match trigger equipped ARs can compete with an accurized bolt rifle, then I would agree with that. But those are entirely different critters than a standard AR, and they cost correspondingly more money, too.
By the way, I'm going to put that to the test this weekend, myself. I own an extremely accurate Remington 700 VSF varmint rifle in .308. It will shoot 3/8" groups all day long at 100 yards with commercial match ammo. I also own an as yet unfired Bushmaster Varminter in .223. Granted, they are different calibers, but both are accurized rifles and ought to offer up similar accuracy performance out to several hundred yards. I suspect that the .308 would be better out past 500 yards or so simply on the heavier bullet's higher BC and better wind-bucking capabilities. Unfortunately, I won't have the facility to test that long range assumption since I'll be firing in an indoor range at 100 yards. I will be using Federal Gold Match 168 gr SMKs for the .308, and Federal Gold Match 69 gr SMKs for the .223 to try and level the playing field as much as possible.
As to the original question, you would probably be better off with an accurized AR for varmint hunting, simply because of the better followup shot capability. But perhaps your quest will lead you to buy both an AR AND a bolt rifle. You can never have too many rifles!
(BTW, I was surprised that my Bushmaster and my Remington weigh exactly the same without scope or ammo, although the AR feels a bit handier.)
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Most out of box AR's will shoot with any accurized bolt action...
I disagree completely. I would modify that statement to say that most out of the box ARs will shoot competitively with a lot of "sporter" bolt rifles, BUT, an out of the box M4gery with a 16" barrel (which describes the majority of "out of the box" ARs out there) simply cannot compete with an accurized bolt rifle. Just think about what "accurized" means. It means a good quality, fully floated heavy barrel, mated to a fully bedded and trued action, bearing a tuned trigger, etc., etc. A good varmint or tactical bolt action rifle is a hand assembled piece of the gunsmith's art made from only the highest quality parts. In contrast, the standard AR15/M16 is assembled from mil-spec parts that are mass produced to government specifications. The platform was designed and built as a battle rifle, and it will be good for 1-2 MOA. A good accurized bolt rifle in .223 will shoot into less than dime sized group at 100 yards. Your average out of the box AR simply can't match that.
Now, if you want to narrow your parameters to say that most high end, accurized, heavy barreled, match trigger equipped ARs can compete with an accurized bolt rifle, then I would agree with that. But those are entirely different critters than a standard AR, and they cost correspondingly more money, too.
By the way, I'm going to put that to the test this weekend, myself. I own an extremely accurate Remington 700 VSF varmint rifle in .308. It will shoot 3/8" groups all day long at 100 yards with commercial match ammo. I also own an as yet unfired Bushmaster Varminter in .223. Granted, they are different calibers, but both are accurized rifles and ought to offer up similar accuracy performance out to several hundred yards. I suspect that the .308 would be better out past 500 yards or so simply on the heavier bullet's higher BC and better wind-bucking capabilities. Unfortunately, I won't have the facility to test that long range assumption since I'll be firing in an indoor range at 100 yards. I will be using Federal Gold Match 168 gr SMKs for the .308, and Federal Gold Match 69 gr SMKs for the .223 to try and level the playing field as much as possible.
As to the original question, you would probably be better off with an accurized AR for varmint hunting, simply because of the better followup shot capability. But perhaps your quest will lead you to buy both an AR AND a bolt rifle. You can never have too many rifles!
(BTW, I was surprised that my Bushmaster and my Remington weigh exactly the same without scope or ammo, although the AR feels a bit handier.)
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
