Ruger SFAR 308 as a backcountry rifle?

[HNTR918]

I'm hoping they come out with a carbon barrel version. If they do, I will buy one.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

What's a Carbon barrel do the steel one does not?

 

[thinhorn_AK]

What's a Carbon barrel do the steel one does not?

It empties your wallet faster.

 

[Goatie]

I love hunting with an AR and think a heavier caliber tends to help when the intended purpose is big game. I currently hunt with a handy 6.5 Grendel for deer/antelope sized animals.

To keep weight down go with a lightweight mount and a lighter optic that has good eye relief.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

I have a ton of work to do with this rifle. I never knew what an "LPVO" was until last month. But if this rifle stays 3 MOA....I'm not opening up the wallet for a $1500 optic for it. I'll slum some Chinese garbage.

 

[11boo]

i Hope you can find ammo that groups better. Before I focused on archery I often hunted elk with a 16” DPMS .308. It was a 1.5-2” shooter with a 1x4 scope and a favorite, other than it was pig heavy.
Been thinking about that same Ruger too. DPMS had a Gen 2 version like the SFAR, but remmy bought them out and it all folded up.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Improvement. Still not impressed. I’ll clean and tweak. Really didn’t want to get into the spendy powders like Varget. But that’s up next

 

[Loper]

Thanks for the update. Please continue to keep us posted on the progress.

 

[Formidilosus]

Improvement. Still not impressed. I’ll clean and tweak. Really didn’t want to get into the spendy powders like Varget. But that’s up next View attachment 504729

You may be aware, but the likelihood of that gun shooting consistently smaller groups with any combination is not good. 1.5-2.5 MOA is about what is realistic for most 308 based AR’s.

 

[Nicaburns]

I have the 20” version but immediately removed the brake. Have only shot it suppressed or with just a thread protector. It is a really handy size and weight And the adjustable gas block is great! The only game I have taken with it so far is armadillo at 80yds and have not really “shot for groups”. I’ve run a good bit of 147gr lake city fmj and some hornady American whitetail 150gr out to 400 on steel without a hiccup.
I had a zeiss v4 4-16 on it but just swapped to an Athlon 2-10 ffp so will see if I can try to shoot some groups in the near future. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with it but will have to try to get a read on the level of precision

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

You may be aware, but the likelihood of that gun shooting consistently smaller groups with any combination is not good. 1.5-2.5 MOA is about what is realistic for most 308 based AR’s.

I always thought I wanted a 308 AR. If that is the case, I certainly don't. Would the same apply to a 6.5 Creed AR?

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

I have a ton of work to do with this rifle. I never knew what an "LPVO" was until last month. But if this rifle stays 3 MOA....I'm not opening up the wallet for a $1500 optic for it. I'll slum some Chinese garbage.

No need to go Chinese. I bought one of these and am happy with it in limited use. Dialed right in, good eye relief and eye box. I didn't think the reticle would allow great precision, but it did. No idea how durable it it. https://www.bushnell.com/riflescope...-6x24-illuminated-riflescope/BU-AR71624I.html

 

[Forestryguy]

Improvement. Still not impressed. I’ll clean and tweak. Really didn’t want to get into the spendy powders like Varget. But that’s up next View attachment 504729

Try this.

 

[Formidilosus]

I always thought I wanted a 308 AR. If that is the case, I certainly don't. Would the same apply to a 6.5 Creed AR?

Yes. Large frame AR’s (any 308, 6.5cm, etc) are very sensitive to form and control, let alone just base precision. Basically all the “normal” 308 based AR’s including the SFAR, are generally legitimate 2 to 3 MOA guns when shooting statistically relevant shot group sizes. Yes, they will occasionally put a “sub moa” three shot or maybe even five shot group, but when actually reached for 10+ shot group sizes, no.
Now well built “match grade” ones can be, and often are much better at 1 to 1.5 MOA ten round guns. However, they are extremely sensitive to body position, recoil control, and follow through. You can have a bolt gun and a 308 gas gun that mechanically are sub 1 MOA for instance; let people shoot both and the bolt gun they will generally shoot about 1 MOA. The gas gun, yeah no- they’ll be significantly larger.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

UPDATE: Broke it in a bit. Turn the gas block down to 2. Not quite 100% reliable that low but close. I have a decent stash of Ramshot TAC I no longer need. So I tried it, with some Hornady 168 A Max. Started getting much more consistent 1.5". Called it Good and loaded a bunch of ammo. Have a decent stash of factory Gold Medal Match, which is too good for this gun. Had some older "tactical" ammo that was a 150 Nosler Ballistic Tip from the mid 90s. It shot MOA or a touch under. But I'd traded that away and only had a few left.

Once I get this optic figured out, I'm inclinded to compile all my ammo and rig and bury it up in the hills til I "need" it.

Overall like how it's turning out.

 

[tony]

Looking at a 16" might just go ahead and get and play around with it.

 

[Northern Shrike]

I haven’t previously owned any AR rifles, but I bought the 20” SFAR last month and mounted a Leupold 2-7x33 on it. It weighs 8.67 lbs unloaded compared to my .30-06 bolt rifle that weighs 7.92 lbs. I plan on using it mostly for mountain black bears and I’m thinking my wife will like shooting this more than the 30-06. This probably isn’t the most practical rifle for my use, but so far I like it.

 

[dla]

UPDATE: Broke it in a bit. Turn the gas block down to 2. Not quite 100% reliable that low but close. I have a decent stash of Ramshot TAC I no longer need. So I tried it, with some Hornady 168 A Max. Started getting much more consistent 1.5". Called it Good and loaded a bunch of ammo. Have a decent stash of factory Gold Medal Match, which is too good for this gun. Had some older "tactical" ammo that was a 150 Nosler Ballistic Tip from the mid 90s. It shot MOA or a touch under. But I'd traded that away and only had a few left.

Once I get this optic figured out, I'm inclinded to compile all my ammo and rig and bury it up in the hills til I "need" it.

Overall like how it's turning out.

Take the brake off.
I've scoured the net for reviews of this rifle and I found a shooter who discovered that his rifle was very sensitive to brake position - so he took it off and suddenly his gun was sub-moa. Makes sense.

 

[Titan_Bow]

Yes. Large frame AR’s (any 308, 6.5cm, etc) are very sensitive to form and control, let alone just base precision. Basically all the “normal” 308 based AR’s including the SFAR, are generally legitimate 2 to 3 MOA guns when shooting statistically relevant shot group sizes. Yes, they will occasionally put a “sub moa” three shot or maybe even five shot group, but when actually reached for 10+ shot group sizes, no.
Now well built “match grade” ones can be, and often are much better at 1 to 1.5 MOA ten round guns. However, they are extremely sensitive to body position, recoil control, and follow through. You can have a bolt gun and a 308 gas gun that mechanically are sub 1 MOA for instance; let people shoot both and the bolt gun they will generally shoot about 1 MOA. The gas gun, yeah no- they’ll be significantly larger.

Is this observation you make limited specifically to large frame ARs? What are some factors that you feel contribute to this? I'm by no means an expert, but I've built a couple AR-15s, and they've both been extremely accurate, shooting just a touch under MOA groups consistently. I've always steered clear of large frame ARs because of the weight. The benefit of an AR-15 is low recoil, lightweight, compact package. Going to a large frame AR you seem to lose all the benefits of the platform, at least thats my opinion.
Just wondering if your observation was specific to large frame ARs shooting 308 based cartridges?

 

[Formidilosus]

Is this observation you make limited specifically to large frame ARs? What are some factors that you feel contribute to this? I'm by no means an expert, but I've built a couple AR-15s, and they've both been extremely accurate, shooting just a touch under MOA groups consistently. I've always steered clear of large frame ARs because of the weight. The benefit of an AR-15 is low recoil, lightweight, compact package. Going to a large frame AR you seem to lose all the benefits of the platform, at least thats my opinion.
Just wondering if your observation was specific to large frame ARs shooting 308 based cartridges?

AR15’s can and do have very good accuracy (precision) and are relatively easy to shoot well. Large frame AR (AR10/SR25, etc) are a different beast all together. With a top quality barrel, excellent fitment of the barrel extension in the upper (some of the best are glued in), etc. they can shoot very good groups.
As for reasons: some or all of these seem to be contributing factors- lock time, bolt mass, start of unlocking while firing, rail flex on the barrel nut, poor fitment/gaps in barrel to extension, poor fitment/gaps from extension to receiver, reciprocating mass that exaggerates flaws in form (follow through), etc. There’s more; but the effect are real and observable. Large frame AR can be made to shoot very well, and they can be shot very well, but they are by far the most unforgiving of errors in technique platform regularly used.

There is only one large frame AR make/model that I have ever used that was comparable to a bolt gun- that is, it really didn’t matter how you got behind them or what you did, as long as you shot well with a bolt gun, you shot these well. Unfortunately that gun is no longer made/available.