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Looking to buy a 308 Battle Rifle

16-inch in-service Armalite carbine:

j9abmacaxnfa1.jpg
 
Intended use is Home defense, combat training and predator control/hunting
Just throwing this out there…
This may be unpopular but why not a 300 Blk AR shorty? 8-10" barrel with or without a suppressor.
It'd be excellent for HD, you could easily train with it and speaking from personal experience it's very capable on coyotes at 200 yards (Haven't taken anything further, but I'm sure it'd be up to the challenge). As a plus, ammo is also more affordable whether you buy or reload, so you could train more.
 
I just purchased the Sig MCX Spear and love it. Very nice rifle. They also offer in a 13" version which may be more appropriate for the home defense scenario. Downside is both are rated for service rounds. Can't wait until the 277 Fury upper comes out.

Advantage of the Ar-10 is the 308 caliber over service rounds. Have a 12" SBR with linear compensator and love it.
 
I just don't see one firearm filling all of those needs w/o some severe compromises made in each function.

Home defense: 12ga. loaded with 2-3/4" #4 buck (more .33 cal pellets than .36 cal 00 Buck)

Training: M4 clone (light, easy on the pocketbook and the shoulder)

.308 Autoloader: Can't go wrong with pretty much any of the .308 chambered "battle rifles" currently available. The very first round, cold bore shot from an M1A Loaded SS hit my range's 300 yard gong standing & irons. As did the next 7 rounds where upon my lack of conditioning caused me to miss with the last two in the mag. Built an AR10 using Aero upper, billet lower, ALG-ACT, Lantac E-BCG, ARMS folding front & rear sights, and a no longer offered Brownell's house label barrel made by Satern. Hit that same gong shooting it standing & with irons 10 for 10 out it's first magazine. (I've kinda been amazed that it hasn't needed a break-in period.)
 
I just don't see one firearm filling all of those needs w/o some severe compromises made in each function.

Home defense: 12ga. loaded with 2-3/4" #4 buck (more .33 cal pellets than .36 cal 00 Buck)

Training: M4 clone (light, easy on the pocketbook and the shoulder)

.308 Autoloader: Can't go wrong with pretty much any of the .308 chambered "battle rifles" currently available. The very first round, cold bore shot from an M1A Loaded SS hit my range's 300 yard gong standing & irons. As did the next 7 rounds where upon my lack of conditioning caused me to miss with the last two in the mag. Built an AR10 using Aero upper, billet lower, ALG-ACT, Lantac E-BCG, ARMS folding front & rear sights, and a no longer offered Brownell's house label barrel made by Satern. Hit that same gong shooting it standing & with irons 10 for 10 out its first magazine. (I've kinda been amazed that it hasn't needed a break-in period.)
Home defense: 5.56 carbine > shotgun
There is an above video explaining this, and it's widely accepted.

Training: you are correct.

Hunting: with the right bullet, .223/5.56 excels as a hunting round. See the RS .233 thread if you have any doubts.
 
Home defense: 5.56 carbine > shotgun
There is an above video explaining this, and it's widely accepted.
My chances if hitting a bad guy at close range when I'm not fully awake is far better with my way.
Training: you are correct.

Hunting: with the right bullet, .223/5.56 excels as a hunting round. See the RS .233 thread if you have any doubts.
Setting aside that OP stated the desired caliber being .308, as of the last time that I had a Hunter Safety course, admittedly some time ago, it's not a legal bore size in this State for anything except varmints. So right bullet, shot placement, all of that is moot.
 
My chances if hitting a bad guy at close range when I'm not fully awake is far better with my way.
Tactics, training, and ballistics aside,
If you can get up, grab a weapon and engage a threat in you home, without an adrenaline dump, and remain half asleep, that'd be oddly quite impressive! 😂
 
Just wondering where you all live to need a 308 as home defense. Or multiple weapons hiding around the house. Would think that one hand gun within a fast reach in the house would be plenty. But then iam not scared of my shadow either..
 
My advice is to just stay away from anything that only shoots low powered service rifle rounds.


I only know about the FN. Serious waste of my time and money. Nobody told me that it could only shoot low powered "Service Rifle" rounds. You can't even go buy a box of 308 rem. It blows the primers out and jams the gun. I had the 20 inch. It's heavy and well built for it's original military type use. Totally worthless to me. I attempted to reload service rifle low pressure rounds and decided that it was defeating the purpose. You just can't go into a ammo store and buy 308 real hunting rounds.


So I built my own AR 308 DPMS for a 1/3 of the cost. I bought 20 and 24 inch SS fluted barrels match grade. So I load 125 gr Speer TNT varmint rounds at near max loads. Chrono at 3200 fps out of my 24 inch and about 3100 out of my 20 inch. Definately a home defence round because I'm a pig hunter and it just takes them out.

Starting with a

https://www.aeroprecisionusa.com/m5-308-stripped-lower-receiver-anodized-black


This is a 24 inch with a 11 degree target crown

View attachment 527154

20 inch with a muzzle brake

View attachment 527149
That's interesting news about the FAL popping primers with factory ammo. I had a C1A1 Canadian "inch" FAL and it would pop primers down into the trigger area and jam the rifle. I would have to unload and take apart the rifle to clear it. I didn't know it was a documented issue with only being able to use low power service ammo. I got tired of the primer issue and traded it for a Savage MSR10 Hunter 6.5 Creed(which has its own set of issues). The C1A1 was a heavy wooden rifle that kicked a lot and jammed every 5 rounds or so. I don't miss it.
 
When it comes to banging out a few rounds down range in a battle rifle, one of the best I've used is my son Galil mod 332 in 7.62x51 NATO I've been very impressed with the battle sights and the accuracy of the weapon. Just wish I could find one for a reasonable price these day$.

Galil mod 332 cal 308.jpg
 
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