Q&A with Porcus Hogrelius
Published#0013
Porcus Hogrelius received a question this week. This installment of The Meditations of Porcus Hogrelius will address this inquiry from a reader.
Q: A question for you…traditionally in Virginia the area I live in has always been shotgun only for deer hunting. They have relaxed this requirement as long as you’re in an elevated stand. So, I was wondering what recommendations you would have for a deer rifle and rounds? Shots would be less that 200 yds, most withing the 30-100 yd range. Maybe something I could use when I come hog hunting again.
A. There are many good calibers suitable for whitetail deer and for hogs. Visit any gun store, and you will hear plenty of advice on this subject. Take a look at YouTube and get more opinions.
For this moment I’ll limit my answer not to caliber specific recommendations. I will recommend that you consider the Modern Sporting Rifle (MSR) over the traditional bolt action or lever action rifle.
The MSR is another way to describe the AR-15 or AR-10 platform. (Some would refer to these as assault rifles.)
There are many pluses to using the MSR.
1. They are semi-automatic. That is, every time you pull the trigger, another round will be fired. This can very useful when you need a quick follow up shot or while hog hunting and you are trying to exterminate as many pigs a possible.
2. They come in many calibers. For the AR-15, you can adapt your rifle to shoot smaller calibers like the 22 LR or as large as the 50 Beowulf. For the AR-10, these come in calibers from 243 up to 308 or 6.5 Creedmoor.
3. They are easily customizable. It is possible to change your MSR by adding a better trigger, for example. You can improve accuracy by changing out the stock barrel for a better barrel. It’s easy to attach a flashlight. You can have a small magazine while deer hunting yet carry a larger magazine while hog hunting or predator hunting.
The typical AR platform rifle comes equipped with a Picatinny Rail on top of the receiver. Modern optics are designed to fit onto this rail system. You can mount a traditional optic like a rifle scope or mount a red dot or mount a night vision or mount a thermal or mount a set of traditional set of iron sights. There are many, many options.
If there are other questions for Porcus Hogrelius, please send them to sales@ontargetso.com.
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