A Fun and Useful Rifle for the Woods: Setting Up an AR-15 for Hunting

Minute Man Review | Jay Chambers

[JayCh]

With the bad press the AR-15 is getting lately, even from so-called Second Amendment advocates, it would seem that the future of the Swiss Army Knife of rifles is grim. “They’re not hunting rifles,” they say. “They were only ever designed to hunt two-legged targets, and that’s all they can ever do! They are ASSAULT WEAPONS.”

[JayCh]

With the bad press the AR-15 is getting lately, even from so-called Second Amendment advocates, it would seem that the future of the Swiss Army Knife of rifles is grim. “They’re not hunting rifles,” they say. “They were only ever designed to hunt two-legged targets, and that’s all they can ever do! They are ASSAULT WEAPONS.”

 

Even writing that balderdash is painful, so here it is:

AR-15s absolutely can and should be used for hunting! They’re great at it!

 

Gun grabbers protest that AR-15s can be modified, treating their Lego-like building abilities like it’s somehow bad to make your gun better at exactly what you want it to do. Modifications are the selling point of the AR-15.

 

They’re used by law enforcement for long-distance precision shooting, close-quarters drug den raids, and as choice patrol weapons in Manhattan, the crown jewel of the SAFE Act. By pretty much every other AR-15 owner, they bring down varmint, wild Texan pigs, seals, coyotes, and other small-medium game.

 

How to set up your AR-15 style (!)assault weapon(!) for hunting:

 

• Pic Rails— Picatinny rails are not a revelation in this list since they are so commonly recognized as the bread and butter of the AR-15, but they deserve credit for some of the versatility that makes AR-15s so fantastic for the woods. You’ll be able to mount your scope, laser, flashlight, a holder for your spare magazine, hand guard, and whatever else you need.

 

• Go with a heavier upper receiver— Nobody is trying to promise that the AR will be the most powerful hunting weapon in your arsenal, but it can make up for that in accuracy. The heavier upper will allow you better control and improve accuracy so you can make the perfect shot to take down your target. I would recommend a Flattop or A3 receiver. They’re great for hunting and extremely scope-friendly.

 

• You’ll need a long barrel— Since your rounds won’t be ones that are designed to exit the (metaphorical) ballpark so much as race into right field for extra bases, you need to give them as much velocity as you can. This means a barrel in the neighborhood of 20 inches. Besides adding better hunting prowess, the long barrel will feel more like the hunting rifles you’ve used before, so there are bonuses to the bulk. Just work out a little before hunting season.

 

• The free-floating handguard— AR-15 style rifles are so popular because they are that good. The last thing hunters should want is to get in the rifle’s way of doing business. Therefore, a free-floating handguard is the way to go to prevent inhibiting the perfect shot out of your custom weapon.

 

• Score a great scope— One of the fan-favorite advantages of AR-15 hunting over the use of shotguns or bolt-action rifles is the ability to keep eyes on a target. To take advantage of this, now is the perfect time to get the perfect optics for your hunting. It would be a shame to let the semi-automatic beauty go to waste by having only fuzzy, contorted images of that coyote. Plus, since the low recoil means you don’t have to put too much into the stock of the AR-15, you can make more room in your budget for the scope you’ve always wanted.

 

• Aesthetics (the snarky bullet point)— In 2018 America, black rifles are known only as people-killers, so put some thought into making your AR-15 look less tactical. A wood finish is preferable but challenging, so a camouflage look should do the trick.

[gigster]

My Baretta CX-4 Storm looks like Darth Vader if He was a Carbine.

[dinodino]

What caliber? I just built two in .300 Blackout.

[Lurker]

For later.

L

[mad_as_he$$]

In many states a 223/5.56 is illegal to hunt big game with. Look into the 6.5 family.

[Okieshooter]

My primary hunting weapons are AR15’s. A 16 inch .223 for coyotes and a 7.5 inch 300 Blackout pistol with SIG arm brace for hogs and deer. Also once had a 20 inch 6.5 Grendel that I used for long range antelope out to 400 plus yards.

To me the modular design of the AR15 makes it the ideal hunting gun. You can easily change to different calibers for different purposes will retaining your same lower reciever with trigger job you like.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Mine is not all fancy/expensive like suggested and it works just fine. When I put my booger hook on the trigger-thingy while pointing at the appropriate target, it goes band.

By the way, I just found out a bit more about California gun laws I did not know - they are EXTREMELY draconian. It is so bad out there that California is literally like a foreign country when it comes to guns. The national reciprocity law is a MUST to begin to break down CA's grip on people.

[Pontiac]

My AR-15 in 0.223 cal. is all I have hunted wood chucks with for 15+ years.

My AR is simple iron sights and it does just fine.

I have never managed to take a two legged chuck however. I guess they aren’t that common around here.

[Redleg Duke]

I was going to add, .300 Blackout, too!

[Yo-Yo]

I just bought my first AR after wanting one for 40 years. Got a Palmetto State Armory rifle kit and a stripped lower at a gun show.

Put it together yesterday, and it took me all of two hours to assemble the lower. What slowed me down was that I took my time beating in the bolt stop and trigger guard roll pins. The rest was easy.

Looking forward to getting it out to the range for first shots.

[Jack Black]

The article is missing a key step: choose your caliber! Being modular you can swap the barrel, or upper receiver, depending on caliber and have your choice. The standard .223 is a great caliber for some game, like coyotes, but is too small to legally hunt deer and above in most States.

If that’s your pleasure you’ve got a lot of AR platform compatible options: the .300 Blackout, the 6.8 SPC, the 6.5 German, the .277 Wolverine, the .35 Yeti... And many more.

For most big game hunters a better caliber than the usual .223 is probably the way to go!

[Jack Black]

Damn always on phone spell checker!

6.5 German should be 6.5 Grendal.

[Okieshooter]

Don’t forget 50 Beowulf if you want to a big hole in something like a brown Bear charging you or perhaps .458 Socom. I had a .458 Socom upper for a while and with a 330 grain punch bullet it penetrated 50 inches of wet newspaper and stuck in the wood behind it at a John Linebaugh seminar.

[Jack Black]

I like all those cartridges. I think I’m going to go Wolverine on my next project.