Took an intermediate distance course this summer (400-600 yards) and loved trying out the various 16" and 18" semi-auto .308s others brought to class. Given where I live, 600-800 is the limit I will be shooting at for the foreseeable future. So I went ahead and recently bought an AR10 lower and was talking to my smith about a short .308 using a Rock Creek barrel when he told me, "You already have a hammer of a .308. Try something new." [I have a custom Surgeon/Rock Creek 24" .308 bolt gun that he built, and also an 18" 6.8SPC AR15 that I used in that course]
Point made by my smith, but when I researched the rounds that may interest me (.260 Remington, 6.5 Creedmoor, perhaps .243AI) they all seem to be in the sweet spot with barrels around 24" or so. Seems an 18" .260 Remington doesn't really buy me much compared to a .308, except that I would have to reload a lot more using the former!
Thoughts from any guys out there that perhaps run shorter barrels in "alternative" calibers? Or should I leave those to longer barrels and just make the short .308, since it is a semi after all, so not exactly a dupe of my bolt-gun?
Point made by my smith, but when I researched the rounds that may interest me (.260 Remington, 6.5 Creedmoor, perhaps .243AI) they all seem to be in the sweet spot with barrels around 24" or so. Seems an 18" .260 Remington doesn't really buy me much compared to a .308, except that I would have to reload a lot more using the former!
Thoughts from any guys out there that perhaps run shorter barrels in "alternative" calibers? Or should I leave those to longer barrels and just make the short .308, since it is a semi after all, so not exactly a dupe of my bolt-gun?
