ar upper help

[Guest gms_77]

i'm thinkin of buyin a new upper for my bushmaster for coyotes or varmints of any kind my questions is what's the best upper for the money? also what caliber 223 or ? what length barrel 20 or 24?? what scope is the best bang for the buck? and how much should i have in it scope and all..

[Guest bkelm18]

i'm thinkin of buyin a new upper for my bushmaster for coyotes or varmints of any kind my questions is what's the best upper for the money? also what caliber 223 or ? what length barrel 20 or 24?? what scope is the best bang for the buck? and how much should i have in it scope and all..

If I'm not mistaken, your upper must be the same caliber as your lower.

[molonlabetn]

If I'm not mistaken, your upper must be the same caliber as your lower.

Not necessarily true... there are only 2 common AR lower sizes, short action and long action. The short action will accommodate anything from .22lr, pistol calibers, .204 ruger, .223/5.56, 6.8spc, .450 Bushmaster, .50 Beowulf, .223/.243/.25 WSSM, and many others... The long action is designed for .308 Win/7.62 Nato, but will accommodate .243 Win, .300 RSAUM, .300 WSM, and others... Plus, there are uppers which allow chambering single-shot .50BMG.

As to the original question... it just depends how far out you'd like to reach, and how large of a varmint you'd like to take, and how much you want to spend... That'll determine whether you go with .223 Rem, .204 Ruger, or something high-end like .223 WSSM or .243 WSSM. There are others here who have experience with some of these, and could address your question better than I. (Rightwinger has a .204 Ruger AR, I know for sure...)

[Guest gms_77]

well probably the max would be about 300 yards and probably just coyotes groundhogs and such things like that and i'd like to keep it under a $1000 is this possible i hope i've answered all your questions so you can answer mine and thanks for the help

[molonlabetn]

I'm no varmint hunter, but just based on the criteria of under 300yd and under $1000 (I assume with a decent scope attached, which is probably more critical than the cartridge)... I'd start off with .223 Rem. There are plenty of competent loads already available for it, it's be cheap to plink with, and it'd be easier to find reloading components for. Give .223 Rem a 24" barrel to blow through, and you'll get more-than-adequete 300yd performance.

I assume that the upper you already have is .223 Rem?

If that's the case, and you do want something different, it might be worth looking into an Alexander or DPMS .223 WSSM... at least then your projectiles will be compatible for cheap plinking reloading. To me, .204 Ruger isn't enough of an improvement over .223 that it's worth retooling an AR to accomodate (but that's my inexperience talking). But building something you want is never a bad reason to get a new gun...

[Guest gms_77]

yeah the one i have now is a .223 bushmaster upper 16" and yes $1000 with a good scope attached but what's the best scope without spending alot of cash ?? thanks again

[Guest Houseboat]

I do some business with www.del-ton.com they are on the ball for uppers Scope is peraonel preferance

[Guest gcrookston]

I've gotten a lot of prairie dogs with my 18" Armalite at distances from 150' to 400'. In my years with the AR platform, I've not noticed a significant difference in barrel length vs accuaracy from 18" to 22". I would focus on a heavy barrel, flattop with preferably a free-floating barrel.

I have more fun with .308 and .300wm shooting prairie dogs...

[Guest gms_77]

thanks for all the help i've been lookin at Rock River Arms EOP uppers just haven't decided which one yet i can choose between 1:8 or 1:12 rifled barrels which do you all think is best and why?

[Guest Mugster]

Depends on what you want to shoot in terms of bullet weight. For small stuff like 35 grain, a slow twist like a 1 in 12 is good. The issue is, if you spin a small fragile bullet too fast, it might just fly apart due to either centrifugal or centripital force...I flunked physics, so i couldn't tell you exactly. A bigger bullet needs a faster twist to get it to stabilize. Temperature is a factor too. A 1 in 12 twist A1 style tube can handle the 62gr green tipper in hot weather. It won't in the cold. There's no advantage to spinning a bullet faster in terms of accuracy. Either you have enough or you don't, end of story.

Here's a very rough guide:

1 in 14, 35-50gr, some 55gr stuff works ok i think

1 in 12, 35-60gr bullets, some 65grainers depending on length/design of the bullet.

1 in 9, 40-65gr, possibly up to 70gr...most will stab the 69gr bthp bullet ok

1 in 8, 45 or 50-85gr I think

1 in 7, 50ish-to as big as they come, you need this twist for the 90 grainers i think, the remington 45gr will work fine, others may not

[Guest gms_77]

thanks to everyone i just can't say enough about this forum

[Guest tngunman]

I have a Colt govt profile 20" barrel for sale. It is a 1/7 twist chrome lined and essentially new.

Email me for details.

[glockster157]

If you have not bought anything yet I would suggest you look at Doublestar. J&T Enterprises out of Lexington will be at the Goodman and Pope gunshows (well, they usually there)and they have a great assortment of uppers at a good price. I bought a 24" SS A3 HBB upper, I found a Millet 6-25x56MM AO for a good price and I used the bolt carrier out of my Colt. It has a 1 in 8" twist (they have them in 1-10" if you prefer). I have not had a chance to work up a handload but with standard 63 grain ball I am getting 1" groups...nothing to write home about but again, this is with mil-spec ammo. I have a bunch of Sierra/Speer/Berger/Hornady bullets, so with time to work on it, I think I can get some sub 1/2 to 1/4" groups.

BTW, by dealing with Gary at the show, I have someone I can trust to help me if I have problems, no shipping, and I get to see what I am buying before I throw down my cash.

[Guest gms_77]

thanks again to everyone

[Guest Mugster]

I'll second the doublestar notion. I built one out of mostly DS components except for the bolt and it runs like a champ. I get 2" 5 shot groups out of m193 at 50 yards, and an inch off of handloads, although I didn't experiment much with this rifle. From a skinny barreled 16" carbine with a chrome lined bore, thats pretty good, imo. 1 in 9 twist, btw.

[Guest 2HOW]

I may be dead wrong here but bushmaster uppers are all 5.56 there are only 2 ar makers that chamber for .223 I have a bushy and did alot of research on this b4 I got mine. Although you can shoot 223 in a 556 you should not shoot 556 in a 223. 223 has tighter chamber and are more accurate than 556. But to get to the money part, you can get an upper for 300.00 a good custom made barrel I might add and the other cost is the scope. . Check Galati International .com , they sell E.R. Shaw barrels on their uppers.

[glockster157]

+1 on not shooting the 5.56 Nato in a 223. It really isn't a chamber difference, it is a pressure difference. The NATO round is loaded a bit hotter, like 60K PSI, and it exceeds SAAMI safety limits for the 223

http://www.saami.org/Unsafe_Combinations.cfm