Looking for Night Hunting Rifle Suggestions

[dbransco]

Over the years I have swapped NV set ups (dedicated NV scopes, Clip-ons, monoculars) and have comfortably settled on monoculars. I am going to be upgrading to a 308 recoil rated PVS and I intend to use it helmet mounted as well as weapons mounted. I'm comfortable with the night vision, but now I'm questioning what rifle platform might suit my needs best. I intend to mostly coyote hunt and small varmints, but would like to keep options open for hogs. This will be mostly for night time use, but would like to have it cross over for daytime as well. It will be suppressed most, if not all the time and would like something that will confidently hold up in adverse weather.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Delta4-3]

Weight adds up quick with NV and a suppressor. I prefer an AR15 in 6x45 or 6.8 because of that. I'm also a huge wuss

 

[BERTMAN77MK2]

.450 uppet on an AR15 and an ANPVS14 with Aimpoint or Eotech, kills anything out to 200 meters

 

[deersniper]

Ar15 of some sort.

Have you used thermal?

It is night and day finding animals vs NVDs

 

[dbransco]

Thanks guys. Do you feel a 10.5" SBR is effective and at what reasonable max. distance? Or would a longer barrel ultimately be more effective for this use. It will be suppressed, so I like the idea of going short to start.

 

[FMJBT]

If you want to go below a 14" barrel, I'd suggest going with 300 Blackout as it's design is optimized for use with shorter barrels. Bullet selection is huge for the 300 as well, anything from 110 grains all the way up to 230+.

 

[lwrkeysfisher]

6.8 has proven very effective against hogs and commercial hunting ammo is readily available from Federal, Hornady, and SSA (I avoid the poor performing Remington).

HTR over on 68forums just killed his 2000th hog on his ranch, most of them w/ a 12.5" 6.8. Another member just killed his 1000th using a 16" 6.8.

The 6.8 has proven as effective for hunting as a .308 for me, is 1-2lbs lighter than the lightest semi-auto .308 I've owned (w/ less recoil), & a high quality 6.8 is $1000+ less than an equivalent .308.

Good luck