Bought my first stripped lower....which caliber?

[uLs1a]

Bought my first AR earlier this year in 5.56/.223 and will be picking up a stripped lower next week. As of right now I'm leaning towards building it in a 300 Blackout just to have something different, but I know ammo is pretty expensive.

Should I build it in 300 Blackout? Build another 5.56/.223? Or another caliber?

[Lonestargrizzly]

.357 sig.
or .45 LC

[Plumas]

Hi uLs1a,

Take a look at 6.8 spc.

Its a step up from 5.56 ballistics, fits AR lower and gives you a 'anything including deer' platform. I would have said .30 RAR but that caliber seems to be making a suicide run of its own making. Anyway, 6.8 is very available ammo if you don't reload...is a very reloadable cartridge...and unless you have a real need for a subsonic round ( the 300 blkout fortay)another 5.56 in some very special configuation why not step it up a notch?

Just my 2 cents (and we know what that can buy these days).

[RNE228]

458 socom or 50 beowolf

[Nguyen]

.300 is useless.. unless youre running suppressed. Just make a 7.62x39 if you want to be different.

[steelynorm]

6.5 grendel

anything wrong with the Grendel?

[Nguyen]

anything wrong with the Grendel?

yeah its overpriced.

[ktmguy]

If you only have one ar in 5.56 I'd say build another in 5.56. If you have a 16 inch barreled ar now I'd look at an 18 or a 20 and run a scope on it. Keep with 223/5.56 and have them complement each other, one for shorter range, one for longer range or one that's heavy and one that's light or one for precision and one for rapid fire. You can always buy a third upper in 300blk if you desire and switch pop it on and off when ever you feel like it. Or buy the 300blk now and if you want pick up another 223/5.56 later.

Basically think about the ar you have now and think about what you would do differently (handguard, barrel material, length or profile, maybe a lightweight build, match trigger) then build your new one knowing now what you didn't know when you bought your first one. Be creative and have fun with it that's what really matters.

[ktmguy]

anything wrong with the Grendel?

It is expensive and not as many ammo companies produce it so you have less options that cost more.

[geoint]

If you only have one ar in 5.56 I'd say build another in 5.56. If you have a 16 inch barreled ar now I'd look at an 18 or a 20 and run a scope on it. Keep with 223/5.56 and have them complement each other, one for shorter range, one for longer range or one that's heavy and one that's light or one for precision and one for rapid fire. You can always buy a third upper in 300blk if you desire and switch pop it on and off when ever you feel like it. Or buy the 300blk now and if you want pick up another 223/5.56 later.

Basically think about the ar you have now and think about what you would do differently (handguard, barrel material, length or profile, maybe a lightweight build, match trigger) then build your new one knowing now what you didn't know when you bought your first one. Be creative and have fun with it that's what really matters.

I absolutely agree with this. OP, unless you are fabulously wealthy, getting a second caliber is a questionable choice for a beginner.

I hate to make assumptions but I'm going to do that to illustrate my point. In assuming you aren't super rich, that you don't have at least 10k rounds of 223/556, that you haven't gotten spare parts stockpiles in case something on your first gun goes down, that you aren't even aware of what your current gun (223) is capable of.

223/556 is excellent and more than capable. Sure if you are gonna build a SBR, it lacks oomph unless you're buying crazy expensive 70+gr stuff. But out of 14"+ barrels, it's totally adequate.

I completely agree with KTM HST you should try a different barrel length for a longer range specific gun before you try a new caliber.

This is just me but I don't get into calibers unless I can sit on AT LEAST 3000 rounds for it. Cuz if the shelves go bare, that gun is going empty quick with only a small "couple hundred round" stash. So until you've got 223 absolutely covered, and 3k is bare minimum, I would advise against getting new, niche calibers.

[Zac911]

I absolutely agree with this. OP, unless you are fabulously wealthy, getting a second caliber is a questionable choice for a beginner.

I hate to make assumptions but I'm going to do that to illustrate my point. In assuming you aren't super rich, that you don't have at least 10k rounds of 223/556, that you haven't gotten spare parts stockpiles in case something on your first gun goes down, that you aren't even aware of what your current gun (223) is capable of.

223/556 is excellent and more than capable. Sure if you are gonna build a SBR, it lacks oomph unless you're buying crazy expensive 70+gr stuff. But out of 14"+ barrels, it's totally adequate.

I completely agree with KTM HST you should try a different barrel length for a longer range specific gun before you try a new caliber.

This is just me but I don't get into calibers unless I can sit on AT LEAST 3000 rounds for it. Cuz if the shelves go bare, that gun is going empty quick with only a small "couple hundred round" stash. So until you've got 223 absolutely covered, and 3k is bare minimum, I would advise against getting new, niche calibers.

Completely agree on this. I bought into the 300BLK craze and regret not just getting a 308 instead in the first place ( which I later did ).

If I could go back I would build an upper with a longer barrel in 5.56 and stockpile more ammo.

[GM4spd]

With Ammo restrictions coming over the horizon you want the easiest,most
available Ammo you can get. 223.

[Junkie]

It is expensive and not as many ammo companies produce it so you have less options that cost more.

What? If you just wanna plink you can get Wolf 6.5 Grendel for DIRT cheap.

I'd go 6.5 Grendel over 6.8 SPC.

[kevins750]

With Ammo restrictions coming over the horizon you want the easiest,most
available Ammo you can get. 223.

I went for the daily double....7.62x39 and .223...both easily found
and get a press, dies, H335 powder and
bullets. And away you go..

[Drew Eckhardt]

Bought my first AR earlier this year in 5.56/.223 and will be picking up a stripped lower next week. As of right now I'm leaning towards building it in a 300 Blackout just to have something different, but I know ammo is pretty expensive.

Should I build it in 300 Blackout? Build another 5.56/.223? Or another caliber?

What do you want to do with it? 6.5 Grendel can stay supersonic past 1000 yards and is a better choice for pig hunting. 9mm works well at indoor ranges which don't allow rifle calibers.

For most purposes, .223 doesn't do anything wrong and the question remains "What do you want to do with it?"

Service rifle high-power? 3-gun? A heavy SPR shooting off a bipod (although around here that means just 200 yards)? 3-gun with longer shots? Run and gun at close range?