"Military style" weapons for hunting????

Have not hunted with a Modern Sporting Rifle (AR Platform) yet, but my daughter and I will be hunting Javelina in Arizona in Feb with them. For the hunt, my 15 year old daughter will be carrying a .223 with hunting loads (she loves shooting it and is very good with it) I will be carrying my 30 Remington AR. While I would never take the 223 on deer size animal (just my choice), the 30 RemAR with a 150gr slug is more than capable and does not meet the definition of a 渡eedle bullet shot at hyper-velocity?

The MSR is a rifle plan and simple just like any bolt action or semi-auto, just with a different appearance. Just like many others, it started life in the military and has transition over to the civilian population. In my opinion, it has gained popularity because you can easily customize it for your needs (target shooting, competition or hunting), it is fun to shoot, relatively low recoil and there are a lot of former military that are familiar with the operation of the rifle. If it takes a MSR to get more people out hunting and shooting, I am all for it! It adds to those who will fight the anti's to keep guns.
Unfortunately, just like anything else out there, while 98% of us are responsible, the other 2% are the ones that get all the press and make the rest of us look bad.

As many have already stated the MSR is just a PLATFOM for different calibers. Everyone is stuck on the .223/5.56 but there are many different variations out there. You can find just about anything you are looking for in the shorter actions and more long actions are starting to appear. Being in the military, it took me some time to actually purchase one for myself, but I am glad I did? now own three and am looking at another. I will not stop hunting with my bolt actions, but the MSR just offers more options to the ones I already have.

By the way...35 bore -- nice A Salt Rifle!
 
Personally, I am against such rifles for sports hunting of any kind. If you are an experienced good skilled hunter, you certainly don't need a semi-automatic rifle, especially one in most modern military calibers. I have shot a good number of deer, big bull elk, moose, in Montana, where I was born and raised, and here in Oregon too, and for each, needed only one or two shots; no more. I believe, as the late great Elmer Keith believed, that big game should not be shot with hyper-velocity needles, such as the .223 caliber, and similar. That caliber was designed specifically to tumble upon contacting tissue, for warfare wounding. I am convinced that most people who like, enjoy, and use military type rifles for hunting game, are inexperienced hunters; mostly young and naive.

I took this sika deer with a Polytech M-14 using 165 grain Remington factory ammo. It was taken on a dead run and I fired 3 shots, two of which struck the deer in the chest. I suppose in your eyes this makes me a "poor hunter"......would I still be a "poor hunter" if I used a Remington 742, Browning BAR, or Winchester 100? Each of those rifles functions in the exact same manner as the M-14, yet you say I am a "poor hunter" because I choose to hunt with this firearm as opposed to something that "you" think is acceptable?
SikaM14.jpg

I took this deer a few years later....am I a "better" hunter now? How about better than you...because I chose to use a primitive weapon with a patched round ball and loose black powder; none of those "sniper rifles" with scopes and cartridges that YOU choose to use.
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I suppose I'm still a "poor hunter" because the deer doesn't have a 12 point rack, but remember this.........be careful what you ask for; you just might get it!
 

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I took this sika deer with a Polytech M-14 using 165 grain Remington factory ammo. It was taken on a dead run and I fired 3 shots, two of which struck the deer in the chest. I suppose in your eyes this makes me a "poor hunter"......would I still be a "poor hunter" if I used a Remington 742, Browning BAR, or Winchester 100? Each of those rifles functions in the exact same manner as the M-14, yet you say I am a "poor hunter" because I choose to hunt with this firearm as opposed to something that "you" think is acceptable?
SikaM14.jpg

I took this deer a few years later....am I a "better" hunter now? How about better than you...because I chose to use a primitive weapon with a patched round ball and loose black powder; none of those "sniper rifles" with scopes and cartridges that YOU choose to use.
img_2525.jpg


I suppose I'm still a "poor hunter" because the deer doesn't have a 12 point rack, but remember this.........be careful what you ask for; you just might get it!

Technically both deer were taken with "military style weapons", just from different campains.
 
I took this sika deer with a Polytech M-14 using 165 grain Remington factory ammo. It was taken on a dead run and I fired 3 shots, two of which struck the deer in the chest. I suppose in your eyes this makes me a "poor hunter"......would I still be a "poor hunter" if I used a Remington 742, Browning BAR, or Winchester 100? Each of those rifles functions in the exact same manner as the M-14, yet you say I am a "poor hunter" because I choose to hunt with this firearm as opposed to something that "you" think is acceptable?
SikaM14.jpg

I took this deer a few years later....am I a "better" hunter now? How about better than you...because I chose to use a primitive weapon with a patched round ball and loose black powder; none of those "sniper rifles" with scopes and cartridges that YOU choose to use.
img_2525.jpg


I suppose I'm still a "poor hunter" because the deer doesn't have a 12 point rack, but remember this.........be careful what you ask for; you just might get it!
you're not a poor hunter, you're mortal, just like the rest of us. good job by the way.
 
As I mentioned above, " I have no problem with the use of sporting fireams, semi-auto or not," though they certainly are not needed. Using them only shows that you are not much of a real hunter, a real " sports hunter." If your goal is just to kill something, you in no way are a sports hunter, in my opinion. Not everyone will fully understand what I mean by this, but the real hunters will.

to me you seem to be contradicting yourself. here you say you have no problem, but in your post no 21 above you say you are against such rifles for sport hunting of any kind.......why are they not needed? i think the more variety the better especially if it encourages more people to hunt. why does it make the user not a real hunter? what is your reasoning behind "if your goal is just to kill something", does this mean you think people that hunt with an AR type platform based rifle go out with their 5 round hunting mag ( same as your bolt actions i presume?) to run around shooting anything that moves? i do believe i have read articles in guns and ammo written by boddington, and other writers where they have used AR type rifles to hunt with, are you saying that they are not "real sport hunters"? as you can tell i dont understand you fully or otherwise so i musnt be one either :headscratch: i notice from this thread and others that you seem to worship elmer keith, thats fine but what he said/wrote isnt law or cast in stone, so if you follow his opinions fine but dont think everyone else should...... i think you belong to a section of hunting people in the USA who are kind of narrow minded with your opinions of what qaulifies as a hunting rifle, and this is a divisive attitude to have that the antis in your country will try to exploit in trying to ban various types of guns. the ones with your mindset will say oh they arent real hunting rifles so what if they ban them, then they will move on to the next thing they want taken away........you need to sit back and have a good think and realise how lucky/privileged you are over there to have the choice to basically buy what you want when you want (slightly oversimplified i am sure) and as many as you want without the controls that many on here from the rest of the world have to contend with. regards mike
 
lol

Let society fall apart and civil war break out, every firearm in our home will become a military weapon.

As would the bumper of the car, kitchen knife, baseball bat ect. etc. etc.
 
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Paint is dry, thought I would post my finished AR10 308, fully camo'ed. I think it looks less scary now, LOL. Might take the brute hunting after all.
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... I am convinced that most people who like, enjoy, and use military type rifles for hunting game, are inexperienced hunters; mostly young and naive.
I resembled that remark! I killed my first elk with a military type rifle that I had borrowed from my Uncle for a hunt in NW Colorado with my college roommates. It was only my second hunt so I was definitely inexperienced, and was young and na?e. I don't have a picture of that bull, as back then nobody ever thought of taking pictures of dead animals. My roommates (who were locals to that part of Colorado) couldn't even understand why I wanted to take the antlers home. The rifle was a sporterized .30-40 Krag and that hunt was 48 years ago.

Actually, my favorite rifles are bolt actions with scopes, clean barrels, and walnut stocks...kind of Weatherby style.

Like a few others have posted, for several years I carried a M-14 and M-16 for my (other) Uncle. Both were fun to shoot, especially the 16 on full auto, but I have never thought of having one for a hunting rifle.

I'm not so young now, I hope I'm not so na?e, and I've had many great hunting experiences. My favorite rifle now is a .300 Weatherby bolt action and I strive to make one shot kills. I wouldn't mind having a modern AR rifle, not for hunting, but for fun shooting, except now I have to pay for my ammo. The only semi-auto's that I have are a .30 carbine and a few semi-auto pistols, and I enjoy shooting all of them. I did kill a black bear and a number of mountain grouse with one of my 1911s. That was fun.
 
I totally understand the fun of shooting with a semi-auto gun and I can see the use for it when it comes to some forms of hunting, but personally I totally prefer a bolt rifle or a break gun for hunting myself.
I have shot with many different semi-auto and full-auto guns in my life and I also own one semi-auto shotgun that I use for waterfowls atm.

I must admit that I get a Rambo association when I see hunters in full military camo, big knives and black AR rifles and maybe even with a sidearm on their hip.

When it comes to using semi-auto guns for hunting, I really think it is for people with good self control and skill.
Spray and pray is not a style/method that should be used in the woods.
It is absolutely not for the many punks of all ages you can find on YouTube posting their "hunting" videos.

I think that a semi-auto gun is great for people with disabilities that makes it difficult or impossible to reload with a bolt rifle for a second or more shots.
 

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