I never thought I’d see the day when I would actually be looking forward to using an AR of any kind in the field.

by Jon R. Sundra

I never thought I'd see the day when I would actually be looking forward to using an AR of any kind in the field. Yet that was the case this past July when I was invited to attend a combined seminar/prairie rat shoot in Wyoming sponsored by the Bushmaster people. Bushmaster Firearms International, located in Windham, ME, is the largest producer of AR-platform rifles for sporting use, as well as for military/law enforcement, competitive shooting and home defense.

Over the 40 years I've been writing about guns for a living, my first love has always been the bolt action rifle, though I will admit to having had intermittent flings with the falling-block single shot -- primarily the Ruger No.1. Now first love doesn't mean I'm a stranger to lever, pump, and semi-auto rifles, because in my business one simply cannot ignore these other popular action types. As for "black guns" or "assault rifles" as their detractors like to refer to them, I've never had anything against them, or their ever-growing legions of fans; it's just that my personal passion for guns has always been centered around hunting, and in that context I've never thought the AR-platform to be that suitable. Remember too that until just recently, ARs were available only in .223 Rem. and similar size cartridges, none of which could be considered as ideal rounds for deer and larger game. And to tell the honest truth, I never thought they were very suitable for varminting, either. After all, I thought, how can an AR compete accuracy-wise with a heavy-barreled bolt action target rifle?

Well, a lot of those doubts were dispelled two years ago when -- again thanks to the Bushmaster people -- I had my AR baptism, as it were -- on a prairie rat shoot. I guess they figured that after 40 years of my never having written a word about ARs, it was high time somebody introduced me to what in recent years -- and especially since Obama has been in the White House -- has been the driving force in the firearms industry.

I learned a lot from that first seminar and field trip and it changed my mind about the AR-platform rifle, at least as to its suitability as a varmint/predator rifle was concerned. What I learned -- in addition of course, to really getting to know the gun itself -- is that there are definite advantages to a semi-auto in the prairie rat context. With a bolt action, whether a repeater or a single shot, it takes a few seconds to reload after a miss -- and there are plenty of them when you're shooting at tiny targets 300 and 400 yards away under what is typically ever-present wind conditions. Working the bolt often moves the gun enough that you can have difficulty re-acquiring your target, especially when you've got a high magnification scope with a limited field of view. Then too, during those few seconds it takes to reload, and the several seconds more you may spend trying to again find your target, the rat may have dived into its burrow or is now hidden by grass. With a self-loader like the AR, the only gun movement is from recoil, which with a gas-operated .223 is so slight that you don't lose your sight picture. You can spot your own misses and instantly make your hold adjustment and get another shot off.

Bottom line: I've yet to see an AR -- and I've since shot quite a few -- that can match the accuracy of a good, heavy-barreled bolt action varmint rifle, but the aforementioned advantages of not losing your sight picture, being able to be your own spotter, and the ability to get off a follow up shot in a couple of seconds almost levels the playing field. The odds of a first-shot hit out beyond 250-300 yards are with the bolt action guy, but at the end of the day -- assuming conditions aren't such that only extreme range shots are offered -- the AR man has a good chance of chalking up just as many rodents. And I have to admit, shooting an AR is more fun!

Anyway, when the invitation came to again join the Bushmaster people on a rat hunt this past July, I couldn't say yes fast enough. Imaging having a dozen new Bushmaster ARs to play with, plus an unlimited supply of Remington ammo! Four of the guns at our disposal were the Predator model, and five of the Varmint iteration, all chambered in .223 Rem. The other three guns, which we all had the opportunity to shoot, were a .450 Bushmaster, a 6.8 SPC, and a Precision Marksman (PMR) in .223 out of Bushmaster's Custom Shop. All guns wore new-model Leupold scopes of various specs.

The Predator and Varmint models are pretty much the same basic rifle, differing only in barrel specs. The Predator sports a 20" pipe with a 1-8" twist, while the Varmint's barrel is of thicker diameter -- a full 1" from the receiver to the gas block -- and has a slighter slower 1-9" twist to its longer 24" barrel. Twist-wise, the thinking is that the Predator version should be capable of stabilizing heavier bullets than the Varmint model.

Other than the aforementioned differences in barrel length, contour and twist rate, both these production models sport fluted, chrome-moly Vanadium barrels (non-chrome-lined), free floated within a tubular aluminum hand guard. The flat-top uppers have an integral Picatinny rail and come with two risers for additional scope-mounting latitude. Both models feature an A2 stock and a two-stage competition trigger with a 3.5 lb. take-up and a 1 lb. let-off. The shorter-barreled Predator weighs in at 8 lbs. even, while the Varmint is 6 oz. heavier.

After a comprehensive tech session with gunsmith Paul Catruch of Bushmaster, followed by a couple hours spent at the Rawlins, Wyoming public range, we were rat-ready. I chose the use the shorter Predator model; I liked its handier length, plus the fact that one in particular seemed to shoot a tad better than the other several guns I sampled that morning. The one I chose sported a Leupold Mark 4 LR/T 4.5-14x50 fitted with the Varmint Hunter Reticle. Talk about a sweet scope! The lower reticle arm has very fine hash marks indicating hold over at 300, 400 and 500 yards. The varying lengths of the hash marks indicate wind deflection aiming points at those distances in a 10, 20 and 30 mph crosswind. I must confess though that I still found myself relying on Kentucky windage and hold-over using the primary intersection of the crosshair. I'm sure that if you zero-in at the prescribed range and follow the directions, this Varmint Hunting Reticle does what Leupold says it will; it's just that I've been using scopes the way I do for a half century -- and rather successfully I might add -- and I'm reluctant to change at this stage of the game.

With Remington's 55 grain PSP load I was getting group averages of around 1.4" to 1.5". I hasten to add, however, that there were gusting, 20 mph crosswinds blowing that morning on the range, and it didn't stop the rest of that day or the next. Seldom were we able to set up to where we were shooting either directly into or with the wind, which of course would have minimized bullet deflection. In short, conditions were such that we were holding 6-8" into the wind on crosswind shots of 200 to 250 yards.

What I found quite amazing is that the guns weren't cleaned until after the first day of shooting, and I know between the range and the rat towns I put about 300 rounds through my Predator. It stands to reason there's got to be some fall-off in accuracy after putting 300 rounds through a rifle without a cleaning, but if there was a fall-off in my hit percentage as the day wore on, I honestly couldn't tell. On the second day I put at least 400 more rounds through it and it was the same story. I had a few failures to feed over the course of firing those 700 rounds, but in all but one instance it was attributable to a faulty magazine.

Like I said at the outset, I never thought I'd be using a black gun for anything, yet here I am. An AR will never be my first choice for any sort of big game hunting, of that I'm sure, but as a varmint/predator gun, it has a helluva lot going for it. I'm a fan!

Sundra put 700 rounds through this Bushmaster Predator with only one cleaning after about 300. The scope is a Leupold Mark 4 LR/T 4.5-14x50 fitted with the Varmint Hunter Reticle.

Shown here are four of the 28 different versions of AR-platform rifles that comprise the current Bushmaster lineup that were available for use at the Wyoming seminar.

Here Remington’s Jason Spradling conducts a tech session prior to a day and a half of field shooting. Call it AR-101.

Here Remington’s Jason Spradling conducts a tech session prior to a day and a half of field shooting. Call it AR-101.

Using the Custom Shop PMR, Jason Spradling shows Sundra how to properly clean an AR. Some of the guns had more than 300 rounds put through them without a cleaning.

After the tech session the group had a 2-hour session on the Rawlins, Wyoming shooting range to fine tune the rifles they chose to hunt with.

Sundra’s introduction to ARs occurred in 2007 at another Bushmaster prairie rat shoot. Here’s he looks over the Varmint model with some ambivalence prior to using an AR in the field for the first time.

After using the gun on a rat shoot two years ago, the author now believes the AR makes a perfectly viable varmint/predator rifle.

If you’re not concerned with the number of hits, a rat town is a perfect venue for perfecting one’s field shooting skills. Here that’s just what Remington’s Press Relations Director, Linda Powell, is doing with a 6.8 SPC Carbine.

Most of the Leupold scopes used at the seminar were equipped with the Varmint Hunter’s Reticle which gives aiming points for drop and wind deflection.

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