While I was wrapping up a pistol session at the range Sunday, two gents were discussing hundreds upon hundreds of dollars in upgrades to a AR-15 the owner was going to use for "hunting."

I was just curious if a full SWAT team capable .223 was an acceptable varmint rifle, or if anyone on this board uses one as such.

what do you mean by a full SWAT rifle??? a M-4 carbine tricked out with flashlight and the whole 9?? i guess you COULD hunt with that.....but it wont be AS accurate as a varmint tricked out one...you can trick them and get them to be REAL tack drivers....i had a bunch of stuff bookedmarked on the old PC about it....i was going to build one for accuracy....but something else came up and didnt.....i was only looking at 1200 or so for a rifle that should been a real tack driver.....ill still do it one day sooner or later....a good quality AR-15 set up for varmints or not will still shoot pretty good with a good shooter behind it...

These type of rifles are commonly used in this part of the country for coyotes and prairie dogs. With a good free floated barrel, a trigger job, and a scope; an AR15 can produce 1/2 MOA groups very consistently. Lately, chambering them for the .204 Ruger and the .20 Tactical has gotten pretty popular. There is also quite a bit of interest in the .223 Ackley Improved with longer barrels, but the original .223 is still going strong. You might check out AR15.com - lots of good information.

I wouldn't use a fully decked out entry type AR for any long range varminter. Two completely different firearms designed for two completely different applications. I am sure it would work for fairly short range varmints but I wouldn't even attempt it at 300 yards..... well I probably would but I wouldn't expect to hit anything I was aiming at.

Unless you are building a full blown custom AR for competition then why would anyone want to build (assemble) one? There are variants of the AR out there to suit everyones needs that can be exceptionally accurae with out going through the headache of getting all the right parts together.

If I ever decide to purchase an AR it will most likely be a DPMS Panther super bull.

I've definately been checking out AR15.com, never had much interest in them or know much about them. That changed the other day, but there is so much to learn, a littleoverwhelming.

I could see them being fun if there was some sort of shooting competition around my neck of the woods. I don't know if the majority of people use them for competition, or just to have them.

I have a Bushmaster Varmint Special with a stainless 24" barrel and a 6.5-20 Leupold VXIII. WIll shoot sub-MOA out to 300 yds easily. Coyotes don't stand a chance!

Not that there is anything wrong with one as a varmint rifle, but they certainly aren't necessary. A single shot or a bolt will do the job just as well, and you can get one or more guns with scope cheaper than you can get a tricked out AR rifle without scope.

i hunt varmint with my 22lr all the way to my new AR-15. small fast and pretty accurate. Itll work.

Try dropping two or three 'yotes with a bolt gun. When you pop the first one, follow ups better be quick. They are not stupid enough to hang around and see what happened to their buddy. Overkill? Maybe. A lot of fun? You betcha!

wow, ridge hunter is my new best friend =)

nice collection
i have had a total of 4 but am now down to 1. RRA 16" entray Tact with quad rail. I was also looking at gettin a 458 complete upper and a 24" ss varmit upper.