Anyone using a 7.62x51 AR pattern carbine?

[Jay585]

"Using" one? No I wouldn't say that, but I have one and shoot one.

It's a Colt CM762-16S modular rifle and I've got a Leupold CQBSS 1-8 on it. I feel about it the same way I felt about the SCAR 17. Meh. For some reason I keep expecting 308 battle rifles to be something special but honestly, it's just not.

As for the rifle itself, it shoots well. I shot this off the ammo can in the picture, standing/crouching awkwardly using surplus ammo (Hintenberger '75) and it shoots quite well at what I assume to be 80 yards (I should've milled the target, but alas I did not):





It's heavier than the SCAR, but feels better to shoot. It's like.... imagine having a swordfight except one of you has a wooden dowel and the other guy has a length of dried bamboo stalk. The Colt is the wooden dowel.

I'm not a huge fan of the design of Colt's ambi mag release. As a lefty, if I try to hit the left side release in a hurry and I'm a little sweaty, I:
1) miss it or,
2) slip off the release and onto the trigger.

I haven't really run it a lot, or "professionally" (besides sighting in a lot of the shooting has been mag dumps or plinking at range debris) but I wish I'd spent the money on something else. Maybe someday when I go backpacking again I'll appreciate having it, but...

[SecondsCount]

I had a DPMS 308 with the big heavy barrel about 10 years ago when they first came out. It was reliable and would shoot under an inch at 100 with my reloads. At the time, I thought 308 was so much better than 5.56 but then I discovered the 77 SMK and figured out I could do about the same thing with my free floated 16" AR, the only downside being less energy.

[HCM]

OP- mission drives the gear train so what mission do you have for a 7.62 that a 5.56 can’t do, or can’t do as well ?

There is a weight an recoil penalty so you need a requirement that makes those penalties worthwhile.

Normally those requirements are either longer range, penetration or both.

Rural deputy ?

Large, dangerous wildlife ?

Shooting into / to stop cars at road blocks ?

I have a Larue predatar - it’s a lighter weight AR-10 but it is still more DMR than do all carbine.

For a do it all carbine you may want to look at the small frame AR-10s by DPMS and the similarly sized POF Revolution.

One of my co-workers bought a POF as his one, do all rifle and is very pleased with it.

[Default.mp3]

From a an older P&S thread (https://www.facebook.com/groups/PSPr...9701132743052/):

Why a .308 AR? Because it beats 5.56 in a 16" platform in every area that matters, and is only marginally heavier. If that large of a rifle is a problem, I'll fall back to 10.3"-14.5" 5.56.

I would not choose a 16" 7.62 for unsuppressed enclosure clearing, and would highly recommend at least a small suppressor if that's on your task list.

From a performance standpoint, I don't like getting under 8lbs with a semi-auto 7.62 if I am going to shoot it much. There is a definite advantage to some weight in soaking up recoil. A decent multi-purpose compensator will help, but there's still that whole suppressed use part.

Really, it's not so much that I think that a 7.62 carbine fixes all the world's woes so much as I don't see much use in 5.56 bigger than 14.5, so if I'm going to deal with the weight and length, I want to cause as much effect as possible with each hit.

While multiple rapid hits are great and bear decent effect when employed, there isn't much guarantee of that unless the other dude is tied up.

[Coyote41]

“Marginally heavier” is very subjective. I can have a 16” 5.56 carbine with optic (not even a super light one) light, and loaded magazine for less than the unloaded base rifle weight of most .308 rifles. Between my 5.56 rifles and .308 rifles there is a 1.5-3 lb difference depending on rifle and configuration. That’s pretty significant to me. It may not feel like much holding them in the store or shooting them supported in a bowling ally, but take them out to a class, match, or hunting. The difference is real.

[Andy T]

I have the earlier version Colt LE901. It has the standard pic rail. It is equipped with Steiner 1-4. I like this carbine a lot. Compared to SCAR-H (which I also have) with M4 and extended rail, the Colt is actually a little lighter. The carbine runs fine and eats all sorts of ammo, including Wolf. The only downside is the somewhat non-standard lower. As a result if you want to use certain grips (in my case MIAD with M backstrap), I had to modify the top of the backstrap wings. It also uses a non-standard charging handle.
I also have LMT MWS which while it can be run as a carbine, I use mostly as a precision rifle. It's heavier than Colt due to LMT's barrel design, but its CL barrel also eats all cheap ammo and has decent accuracy.
Personally, if choosing a "carbine" purpose, I would use my LE901.

[CTX44]

I've owned several, still own an OBR (heavy), owned a SCAR Heavy, several other battle rifles from FAL's to HK 91's to a bunch of M14s in every barrel length.

There are tons of advantages to 7.62x51 as a primary arm. I've killed a few hundred wild pigs and deer and the difference between shooting them with a 5.56 (64gr gold dot or 62gr fusion) and shooting them with a larger caliber is very noticeable. I've culled deer with 5.56 bc I was taking them off a farm and was trying to get 2 or 3 at a time, but I never really felt great about it. They run farther and take longer to die, even in a relaxed state. Its just a small hole, and a light bullet that deflects easily off bone, etc. Same with pigs. Can't imagine a person would be much different.

I used a 7.62 semi auto for culling, very briefly, but the recoil management really was an issue if you're trying to hit moving animals. What basically happened was I ran into the 6.8 spc and shot enough animals with it that I really started liking it. I ended with selling all my battle rifles and keeping only the OBR for long range, and running a 6.8 when I want more oomph than a 5.56.

The 6.8 handles basically like a 5.56 but terminal ballistics on 200-lb mammals, at least inside 100 yards, is pretty compelling. You don't give up that much to a 308 or 270 until you get past 100 yards. After that, it starts to matter.

That said... there's a lot to like about a 308. I just was a wussy about weight and recoil management so ended up splitting the difference.

[Unobtanium]

I've owned several, still own an OBR (heavy), owned a SCAR Heavy, several other battle rifles from FAL's to HK 91's to a bunch of M14s in every barrel length.

There are tons of advantages to 7.62x51 as a primary arm. I've killed a few hundred wild pigs and deer and the difference between shooting them with a 5.56 (64gr gold dot or 62gr fusion) and shooting them with a larger caliber is very noticeable. I've culled deer with 5.56 bc I was taking them off a farm and was trying to get 2 or 3 at a time, but I never really felt great about it. They run farther and take longer to die, even in a relaxed state. Its just a small hole, and a light bullet that deflects easily off bone, etc. Same with pigs. Can't imagine a person would be much different.

I used a 7.62 semi auto for culling, very briefly, but the recoil management really was an issue if you're trying to hit moving animals. What basically happened was I ran into the 6.8 spc and shot enough animals with it that I really started liking it. I ended with selling all my battle rifles and keeping only the OBR for long range, and running a 6.8 when I want more oomph than a 5.56.

The 6.8 handles basically like a 5.56 but terminal ballistics on 200-lb mammals, at least inside 100 yards, is pretty compelling. You don't give up that much to a 308 or 270 until you get past 100 yards. After that, it starts to matter.

That said... there's a lot to like about a 308. I just was a wussy about weight and recoil management so ended up splitting the difference.

Just curious, but what bones deflected 5.56? I hunt deer with 5.56 and they track straight, even when blowing a spinal column in half from an oblique.

I would like to use the .308 for deer, but my experience was that past 75 yards or so, accuracy was iffy by my standards with a .308 gasser. Bolt guns are the way to go, IME, so I sold my .308 and just use the 5.56 now, as really, it is fine on anything I need to kill, as evidenced by my experiences with it. Usually they run 50-75 yards and die where they fall (white tail deer, I shoot them COM through the lungs/heart). No muss no fuss, decent enough blood trails.