Assuming proper training and ammunition, they’re perfectly capable for hunting small to medium game such as rabbits, coyotes, tyrants, wild hogs, and whitetail deer.
I don’t think some people know how much damage a pack of wild hogs can cause to crops and farmland in short order. If it wasn’t going to be an AR-15 keeping them off the farm it would be another intermediate or higher caliber semi-automatic rifle that accepts standard magazines. Everyone want’s to laugh at that excuse until the farmer has a bad season and has to sell his land to Bill Gates or Chinese investors, they don’t exactly make large margins.
The magazine capacity is an issue though. The standard 30 round mag is far to large for any realistic hunting purposes (you can also get up to 100 round drum mags). While you can hunt with an AR-15, it’s not the best rifle for the task.
I live in Canada and the government is in the process of banning semi-automatic centre fire rifles capable of holding more than 5 rounds. Given that 3D printers exist, this pretty much bans all rifles with interchangeable mags. I’m a gun owner on a rural property and I think that’s a reasonable compromise. I can still own a decent bolt action hunting rifle and a semi-automatic rim fire rifle with no mag limit.
It does suck for people who’s rifles are getting banned though.
You’ve obviously never been surrounded by a pack of coyotes or hogs.
.223 is also an excellent caliber for that size game.
While you can hunt with an AR-15, it’s not the best rifle for the task.
It’s not the best rifle for any task. But it’s a good enough rifle for most tasks, and between real AR-15s and the various clones they are cheap, in common calibers, and have accessories widely available.
Which is why it’s the most common rifle in the US by a fair margin.
It being the most common rifle in the US by a fair margin is in turn why it’s so often used in public mass shootings, as those are usually done with weapons of convenience rather than something bought for purpose. Likely also why the guy who shot Trump used one.
If a public mass shooter wanted the best gun for the job, they’d get something closer to a PS-90 (the civilian version of the P-90 which is a military rifle designed for urban combat).
We cleaned about 250 boar out of our farm over a four year period with the same 3-5 shot rifles we hunt deer and moose with. They mill around long enough you can reload. I have an SKS but I don’t bother, I’d rather sneak over a hill and pop half a dozen slowly and cleanly with my .338. And I can do it from far enough away that they don’t really get upset until 3 of them are lying on the ground, kicking.
You’d really want something bigger for hogs and deer. Never known anyone who hunts deer with .223. You really want one of options in thirty caliber.
While I’m sure someone hunts rabbits with a rifle you’d really use a shotgun or a really small rifle for them.
.223 is a good coyote round though. There are better coyote rounds available and there are better coyote rifles in .223.
i was under the assumption an ar15 would explode something like a rabbit without useable trace?
Nah, it’s a small round as rifles go. “High powered military rifle” is a complete misnomer.
The likely issue there is less the size of the round and more the impact of the pressure wave on tissue. Body shots with a standard high-powered rifle round may not leave much useable meat on something the size of a rabbit.
