AR help

So I am looking to get into the AR family. I want options seeing I have small children who love to hunt already. I would like to purchase an AR 10 possibly that would allow me the options of having a 243,7/08, 6.5 creedmoor, 308, and 260. I would like to end up with 2 maybe 3 of theses calibers. To best of my knowledge all the mentioned use the same 7.62x51 bolt. So could I use same lower and upper and just change barrels when swapping calibers. Or would I need to have separate upper and barrel combos to switch out. Thanks for your help in advance. Any information is greatly appreciated.

I think it would be easier to change the upper. Don’t have much experience with AR 10 but they seem heavy to me. Might look at an AR 15 chambered in 7.62x39. I just built one and think I’m gonna like it.

You could swap barrels but as stated above, it would be a lot easier if you had dedicated uppers.

You can change just barrels but it's not something you want to be swapping around all the time.gas tube needs removing when removing barrel and run risk of buggering up receiver threads.also ar10 platform is not standardized like ar15 so will have to make sure what you buy is compatible not everything interchanges.Honestly 308/7.62x51 will do anything all the cartridges you mentioned but better and 308 in a gas gun is low recoil anyways far as kids go.multiple uppers of same brand would be way to go if your determined to do multiple cartridges

Any AR10 is gonna be heavy. I reckon that's the main reason that I no longer have one. They were designed as a MBR....Main Battle Rifle. The 7.62x39 AR15 is a great little weapon with 30-30 ballistics and don't have the weight of the AR10.

AR10's are not all the same. Compatibility between manufacturers is iffy, at best.

I would look at going with a 300blk upper and 6.5 grendel upper for an ar15 lower.

I have had the AR15 platform in 7.62x39, 300blk, .223, and 6.5 grendel. For each of these, i built a separate upper for each one, that way i was not consistently have to tear down and head space the uppers before shooting. I did this for $200-300 per upper, depending on what deals i could find on parts.

My kids could handle all of them well, but i did notice the 7.62x39 had a bit more recoil than the rest.

I have not had the .243, but i believe it operates on the AR10 frame along with the 308, but i could be wrong there, so dont hold me to that. I know i could not get it at the time i checked for the AR15 frame.

So if I decided to go with AR 15 would I still need to have separate uppers with matching barrels. So that it would just simply be exchanging the uppers while the barrels stay attached and even the scopes stay attached to the upper so there isn’t resighting every time I swap.

That is the easiest way.

Then go buy Cheap lowers to put on them. Welcome to the rabbit hole.

Yes...pull 2 pins, remove current upper assembly, put on new upper assembly, push the 2 pins back in and you're ready to go (takes a minute at the most).

You don't want to go through the process of just swapping barrels each time; there's a lot more to it than just removing the barrel and putting a new one on. If you have different barrel lengths, you'll have different gas tube lengths, different handguards, etc. Then, you'll need the tools (barrel wrench, vise blocks, headspace gages, etc) to assemble it.

You need to be very careful what ammo goes in what upper as well. .300BO does not like to be shot out of a .223/5.56. Saw what it could do at they range a few months ago. Dude even had his mags marked .300BO. Shoved it in his 5.56 upper and fired twice. Very lucky he wasn't hurt any more than he was. He was dang lucky I was there too.

TWICE?!?!?! I've seen the come apart after 1 round! ... That .30 cal bullet has no where to go.

I'm Armalite Rifle ignorant(What!?!) but the advice given is sound plus I'd want different Barrell lengths so you don't get on stand with .260 ammo and a .243 rifle with 3 rounds on sling.

Never had a BO but wouldn’t have thought it would chamber in a 223. I don’t get my 280 and 308 out at the same time.

He was trying to be Billy Bad A$$ and do a mag dump. Second round actually chambered and fired. Charging handle might have been salvaged. Lower was fine too.

First round may have been .223. I wasn't really worried about checking that out at the time.

Thanks for the responses. Next question is do they make a multi caliber lower for AR 15 that will fit different mags.

The AR15 lower is universal (except some special cases, like 9mm)

With the exception of pistol-caliber AR15 lowers, the mag wells are all the same. There are different magazines available for certain chamberings, with different followers to account for variations in case dimensions, but the external dimensions of the magazine which slides into the mag well are the same for all AR15 compatible chamberings.

check here!

Awesome guys thank you. Just found that you can actually purchase a .410 upper and barrel for possible turkey hunting. Has anyone ever shot the .410 from the AR. Not saying that I will just curious if it has been done safely.

x1000

if you do opt for several in different calibers, color code the mags to the uppers. Just a dot of paint somewhere on upper and mag to match. easiest way i have found.

And yes, i have multi-caliber lowers that will swap to any standard AR15 upper. You just have the uppers built to your caliber of choice.

I have lowers on all of mine now and I guess its about time to collect a few more for builds for this year. I have not heard of the 410, but i will be researching.

Heck, PSE used to make a cross bow "upper" that would fit a standard AR lower. I don't know if they still do though.