30 Remington AR

[Colohunter]

Found this article about guns that came out of SHOT show on the Outdoor Life website. Sounds pretty interesting:

Tactical rifles have come a long way from their early days in the rice paddies of Southeast Asia. To say that the AR-platform rifle is one of the most popular sellers would be a serious understatement. Given the versatility of the design, AR rifles can be found nearly everywhere, from target ranges to hunting fields to the trunks of many police cruisers, and in a variety of calibers beyond the original .223 Remington. This year, Remington adds yet another variation with the introduction of the R-15 in the new 30 Remington AR—a .30-caliber cartridge of the same overall length as the .223 that will produce 2,800 fps with a 125-grain bullet, making it an excellent choice for deer-sized game.

The R-15 30 Remington AR is built on a standard AR-15 lower unit. The upper features a modified .308 bolt head and barrel extension. The rifle features an A2-style full buttstock with an A4 upper for easy optics mounting. The 22-inch button-rifled barrel has a recessed crown and is fluted forward of the gas block. The trigger is a single-stage hunting design factory set at 4.5 to 5 pounds. A single-stack magazine offers 4+1 capacity, and the entire rifle is finished in Realtree AP HD camo. SRP: $1,199

[amafrank]

I looked at the round and the rifle at the SHOT show and can't really figure out the draw. The round is too big for any reasonable subsonic loadings and too small for any real hot loads. They claim that the 125gr slug will do 2800fps and that its in real .308 territory in their advertising. It seems to me that for the size of the case and all the extra bolt crap that has to be done you are better off with the 300. I've loaded 130gr bullets up to 2300fps in my rifles and with a little effort and testing could probably get a good 125gr bullet consistantly to 2400. With the same round I can also launch the 220's at 1050fps which I don't think the 30AR will do consistantly. I just don't see any real advantage that makes buying a complete new set of dies and an expensive rifle worth the time.....
On the other hand, the case seems to be based on something similar to the 7mm BR or the 30 BR and might make a nice 338 or 375 subbie.

Just my opinion of course.

Frank

[Colohunter]

If they have a decent supply of ammo for the new round I could see it being more popular with those that don't reload. I agree that the Whisper seems a little more versatile. Plus I can load 30 rounds of Whisper in a regular AR mag and it sounds like that new round is going to be a single stack, significantly reducing capacity.

[AC17]

Parent case is a 284 Winchester with the rebated rim.

[Fudmottin]

I think this is a round for people who have not heard of and looked into the 300 Whisper. Worse, you're mixing in AR-10 parts with AR-15 parts in some new way. The nice thing about the 300-221 is only the barrel is different.

[Spook]

Teppo Jutsu has a 30 cal round based on the 6.8 Rem that seems like it would have worked just as well. It runs through an AR-15 nicely and I believe gives a 25 round capacity.
Its formed by running 6.8 rem spc through a set of 30 Herret dies which originally reformed 30-30 to function somewhat more efficiently in Contender pistols.
Too bad they didnt think to neck down a 458 SOCOM to 35 or 375 caliber......