Anyone use semi-auto rifles other than AR style for hunting?

[44hunter45]

I have a Rem 742 in .30-06 that has taken many deer.
Great at buffering recoil but none too accurate. It is really finicky to hand-load for.

 

[badkarma6]

I had a BAR 30-06 and it was ok. Accuracy wasn’t great. I currently own an M1A and it is a pleasure to shoot. I have a nice vortex scope on it and it is very accurate. Kinda heavy but I mainly use it for whitetail in a stand or blind so the weight doesn’t matter.

 

[Black Elk]

Just finished this 6.5 Creedmoor out. If I take off the bipod and suppressor, it weighs .3 pounds more than my Browning X-Bolt in 300wm. The reason I wanted a semi-auto rifle is that I am extremely familiar with the platform and the ability for follow up shots (hope I never have to) quickly is a plus. It also is 12" shorter than the bolt gun. But most importantly it just brings a smile to my face.

OP, you can do an ar-10 style rifle and get the weight correct. Just watch what barrel you put in (I like Faxon Big Gunner barrels due to their weight), what scope you mount, and the rest is just standard parts. YMMV

 

[rustednuts]

I know a lot of deer hunters in the north east that use Remington 7400 on tracking hunts

 

[3855WIN]

I’ve killed a whole bunch of deer with my BAR .270, though I don’t hunt with it much any more.
Old friend always said to get the ones that said, “made in Belgium, assembled in Portuguese”. Like they had to be speaking Portuguese to put the thing together.

 

[Harrier]

What about the abundant 10/22 for small game

I don’t have a 10/22 but I totally forgot about my Henry AR-7. I’ve used that on armadillos!

 

[LaSportsman]

Hunted many years with Remington 7400 30-06. Dad has the 06 in 742. His was much more reliable. I concur the 7400 was often a one shot gun unless really clean. Shot it at the range recently. Probably 3 MOA at 100 yards at best and heats up quick with extreme fliers by 4th shot. But would knock a deer on his butt if you made the first shot count.

I bought the MCarbo trigger spring at the same time I got the kit for my new T/C Compass but I doubt I'll ever hunt with it again. Would work fine as long as not shooting over 200 yards.

 

[Flyboy1788]

I bought a new production BAR Safari in .30-06 a couple years back and it is now my favorite gun. Just love the larger caliber thumpers. My AR just doesn't speak to my soul like this thing does. Havent spent a ton of time trying to shoot groups off the bench with it but accuracy seems to at least be in the 1.5 moa realm for the groups I shot with corelokt federal blue box. Probs could do better with decent ammo if I took my time a bit more. I doubt it would do sub moa but this is my sub 150-200yd Wisconsin deer gun so this is beyond what I need in terms of accuracy. Trigger isn't great but not terrible. A little gritty and a little heavy. Very smooth and light recoil impulse for a .30-06. I swear my dad's .243 remmy 770 kicks harder. Somewhere between 150-200 rds through it with no malfunctions so reliability I guess is fine. Unloaded weight is 9lbs almost exactly with a vx-3i 3.5-10. Slightly barrel heavy due to the piston out front but not terrible. Overall if I could go back and do it again I'd still get this over a bolt gun but everybody has different ideas for what things are important to them in a rifle so take this for what it's worth.