Some rifles are better than others when it comes to sport hunting. Take the AR-15, for example. Originally designed as an infantry weapon and first deployed in Vietnam, the AR-15 offered selective or full-auto firing modes and digested lightweight .223/5.56mm NATO ammunition. It didn’t take long before civilian “autoloading only” versions appeared on the market. The ammo they digested limited their hunting usefulness primarily to rabbits, rodents and fur-bearing predators.

I’ve used several 5.56mm/.223 AR-15s to shoot coyotes and decimate prairie dog towns, with real success. While designed for the military, these rifles are well suited to hunting varmints and other small game.