02-02-2012, 03:41 PM
Good Morning John and Welcome to the Horde: What follows is my personal preferences and I'm sure you'll get plenty of other opinions to keep you confused.
In the end it will be your decision based on what you think will work best for you. Good Luck!
#1 & #2- I like as light and as short of a barrel as I can get, staying within what would be an acceptable muzzle velocity.
I love 16" Spartan and 18" Spartan barrels offered by AA. These are double fluted and are very light.
The 16" has an integral flash hider built in so the actual rifled barrel is 14" long.
I went with the 18" Spartan barrel because it gives me the option to add different flash hiders, brakes or suppressers as I feel necessary.
As to flex and cooling, I have read in the past that a fluted barrel flexes less and the fluting allows the to cool faster.
So there are conflicting opinions as to which works better.
I decided to save the weight through shorter barrel length and fluting because, for me, it makes it much more handy when I'm carrying it, getting in and out of
vehicles, carrying it through woods and for follow-up shots especially when shooting hogs.
If you read in the hunting section, you will read several accounts of game taken with 16" and 18" barrels so I think the terminal effects are plenty within proper
distances.
#3- Once again, an optic is a very personal choice based on what works best for you. I always hesitate to make power range reccomendations because I have very good long
distance eye sight so what works for me, I've found through the years, doesn't neccesarily work for other people.
The 3-9 power range is always a great choice as it cover a wide range of possible scenarios.
I use a 1-4 as I can easily get out to 600 yards with the 4 power and I have the 1 power for close in stuff.
If you go with the 3-9 or any power range other than one with a 1 power in it, I would reccomend also mounting a true 1 power for close in work, especially when hunting
something as potentially dangerous as hogs.
I have a Leupold Mark 4 4.5-15x50 mounted on one of my uppers with a Burris Fastfire also mounted on the top rail in a 45 degree cant mount for close in work.
I would also reccomend a 50mm scope as opposed to a 40mm scope if you can afford it as it will let in more light when you really need it at dawn or dusk.
The same holds true for getting an illuminated retical if you can.
My 1-4 is a Vortex Viper PST and as I mentioned, my 4.5 - 15 is a Leupold but both these brands may be out of your budget based on the $1000 to $1200 to include glass
you mentioned.
#4- Between the 5 & 10 round magazines, I would reccomend the 10 round ones as they are both the same size( at least the ones I've seen) with just different springs to change
the capacity.
You may want to have some of the larger capacity ones though because I've gone through more than 10 shots when I've hunted hogs and came upon a large group.
Once again, I would want as much back-up as I could get when hunting something that can be dangerous.
By the way, there is a Hunter AA upper listed for sale in the classified section right now for $570.00( no it's not mine) so by your budget, that would give you $430.00- $630.00 to spend on the optic.
That upper doesn't fit all my choices but would work in your budget very well.
Good Luck and once again Welcome.
Lee
In the end it will be your decision based on what you think will work best for you. Good Luck!
#1 & #2- I like as light and as short of a barrel as I can get, staying within what would be an acceptable muzzle velocity.
I love 16" Spartan and 18" Spartan barrels offered by AA. These are double fluted and are very light.
The 16" has an integral flash hider built in so the actual rifled barrel is 14" long.
I went with the 18" Spartan barrel because it gives me the option to add different flash hiders, brakes or suppressers as I feel necessary.
As to flex and cooling, I have read in the past that a fluted barrel flexes less and the fluting allows the to cool faster.
So there are conflicting opinions as to which works better.
I decided to save the weight through shorter barrel length and fluting because, for me, it makes it much more handy when I'm carrying it, getting in and out of
vehicles, carrying it through woods and for follow-up shots especially when shooting hogs.
If you read in the hunting section, you will read several accounts of game taken with 16" and 18" barrels so I think the terminal effects are plenty within proper
distances.
#3- Once again, an optic is a very personal choice based on what works best for you. I always hesitate to make power range reccomendations because I have very good long
distance eye sight so what works for me, I've found through the years, doesn't neccesarily work for other people.
The 3-9 power range is always a great choice as it cover a wide range of possible scenarios.
I use a 1-4 as I can easily get out to 600 yards with the 4 power and I have the 1 power for close in stuff.
If you go with the 3-9 or any power range other than one with a 1 power in it, I would reccomend also mounting a true 1 power for close in work, especially when hunting
something as potentially dangerous as hogs.
I have a Leupold Mark 4 4.5-15x50 mounted on one of my uppers with a Burris Fastfire also mounted on the top rail in a 45 degree cant mount for close in work.
I would also reccomend a 50mm scope as opposed to a 40mm scope if you can afford it as it will let in more light when you really need it at dawn or dusk.
The same holds true for getting an illuminated retical if you can.
My 1-4 is a Vortex Viper PST and as I mentioned, my 4.5 - 15 is a Leupold but both these brands may be out of your budget based on the $1000 to $1200 to include glass
you mentioned.
#4- Between the 5 & 10 round magazines, I would reccomend the 10 round ones as they are both the same size( at least the ones I've seen) with just different springs to change
the capacity.
You may want to have some of the larger capacity ones though because I've gone through more than 10 shots when I've hunted hogs and came upon a large group.
Once again, I would want as much back-up as I could get when hunting something that can be dangerous.
By the way, there is a Hunter AA upper listed for sale in the classified section right now for $570.00( no it's not mine) so by your budget, that would give you $430.00- $630.00 to spend on the optic.
That upper doesn't fit all my choices but would work in your budget very well.
Good Luck and once again Welcome.
Lee