11 Best AR Calibers & Cartridges in 2025 for Target Shooting, Home Defense & Hunting

The AR rifle platform is a favorite for many American shooters because it’s versatile and available in a number of calibers and cartridges useful for target shooting, home defense and hunting.

You can cover the spectrum with an AR, but that begs the question: What’s the best AR caliber or cartridge for your situation?

In this article, we list the best AR calibers & cartridges available in 2025 and why they work well whether you’re taking an AR to the range, hunting, or defending your home.

If you can’t wait, the 22 Long Rifle (22 LR) tops this list. If you want to see the full AR caliber list, keep scrolling.

My Top 6 AR-15 Caliber Picks

Here are our favorite AR-15 caliber choices:

  1. .22 Cal
  2. 6.8 SPC - Best AR-15 Caliber for Home Defense
  3. 6.5 Grendel - Best AR-15 Caliber for Long Range
  4. .30 Cal
  5. .355 Cal / 9mm
  6. .45 Cal

Let’s examine each AR caliber and cartridge in depth to help you choose the best one for your shooting needs.

Testing Procedure

I considered many factors while choosing the best AR calibers and cartridges for this list, including (but not limited to):

  • What was the cartridge designed for?
  • Ballistic performance
  • Price
  • Functionality

Understanding why the cartridge was created and how it fits into the AR platform is the best way to choose the one that suits your preferences.

How the cartridge performs ballistically is another key factor you must consider. A long-range cartridge is great for target shooting but will be impractical for home defense.

All of us are on some sort of budget. Just as many of us want ammo that will stay within that budget’s confines – without forfeiting reliability.

Lastly, if the cartridge doesn’t function well in the AR platform, it shouldn’t be on the following list. I rounded up cartridges that have proven to function reliably in the AR platform.

My Top 11 AR-15 Cartridge Picks

Cartridge Best For
22 LR Best Overall
6.8 SPC Best For Home Defense
6.5 Grendel Best For Long-Range
6.5 Creedmoor Most Accurate
300 AAC Blackout Best AR Pistol/SBR Cartridge
6mm ARC Best For Hunting
22 Nosler Best For Varmints
308 Winchester Best For Big Game
450 Bushmaster Best For Whitetail
458 SOCOM Best For Hogs
50 Beowulf Best Big Bore Security

22 LR - Best All Around AR Cartridge

Pros & Cons

Pros Cons
Low recoil Only good for hunting small game and target shooting
Inexpensive Limited effective range
Cheap & easy conversion Rimfire primers are inherently less reliable than centerfire ones

Why I Chose It

If you’re like me, the first shot you ever fired was with a .22 LR rifle. As the most popular round on the planet, the .22 LR is unquestionably the best AR round thanks to its negligible recoil, extremely low cost, and high availability.

The greatest benefit of the .22 LR in an AR-15 platform is that it allows you to train with your standard 5.56 NATO rifle for a fraction of the cost. Converting an AR-15 to 22 LR only requires a conversion bolt and new magazines, as any AR 5.56 barrel can safely handle 22 LR. It’s much easier than converting an AR to a cartridge of a different caliber, as doing so requires a new barrel.

AR-15 22 LR conversion bolts and magazines are inexpensive, and 22 LR bulk ammo is dirt cheap and fun to fire. You can spend a day firing 500 rounds of 22 LR for approximately one-fifth the cost of the same amount of bulk 5.56.

6.8 SPC - Best AR-15 Cartridge for Home Defense

Pros & Cons

Pros Cons
Designed for CQB Fewer options
Suitable for medium game hunting within 200 yards Relatively expensive
High striking energy compared to 5.56 NATO

Why I Chose It

The 6.8 SPC makes an excellent choice for home defense, as it was developed specifically for close-quarters and mid-distance combat and has exceptional short-range terminal ballistics.

Developed in 2004 as a joint operation between Remington Arms, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), and the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), the 6.8mm Remington Special Purpose Cartridge (SPC) was designed to improve the terminal performance of the M4 carbine.

The program aimed to produce a cartridge that mimics the stopping power of the 7.62x39mm. In general, the 6.8 SPC was successful at accomplishing this task. However, due to chamber design issues when Remington first presented their new round, the 6.8 SPC was not adopted by the Armed Forces.

The U.S. military may have passed on the 6.8 SPC, but that doesn’t mean it’s ineffective. On the contrary, the 6.8 SPC is an especially potent short-range cartridge, boasting a 45% increase in muzzle energy compared to a standard 5.56 NATO M855 load.

Its added kinetic energy makes the 6.8 SPC an excellent choice for a home defense carbine. It is also popular for hunting deer and hog within 200 yards.

Continue reading 11 Best AR Calibers & Cartridges in 2025 for Target Shooting, Home Defense & Hunting on Ammo.com

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Yall are mixing up large frame and small frame AR’s and calling them AR15’s.

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I was left with questions, for example how do we get

When it is

??

And how does .223/5.56 not even make the list?

.22lr is best despite needing

Seems best overall would be what the platform was intended to run with .22lr being simply best for plinking

For a bit I had a BFSIII and black dog drum to shoot .22lr in an AR but lost interest, perhaps if I had set up some steel plates to shoot I’d of stuck with it

And while puzzled that.223/5.56 didn’t make the list and .22lr did I’m more puzzled how

did at all, I see the notation for

and admit to never hunting with it but also never even considering it, actually the only round on that list I have is the

which is what why I guess you made your comment about mixing

I’ve also never shot the

but if its most accurate I’d think it would be best for whitetail as those heart shots waste the least amount of meat, off a bit and hit the shoulder you get bone splinters, seems a .450 would increase the likelihood of either

@Ammodotcom you should encourage your writers to put up an idea for an article, hit us up for comments, then write about readers choice

:wink:

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