🤔 I believe this subject can be over thought sometimes. Know your game. Choose A proper bullet. In a rifle you can handle effectively. IMHO👍🏽

This seems to be the new thing. I don't doubt the effectiveness of a fast enough bullet with enough 'length' to drill deep. I will likely keep shooting light solids (Barnes etc) for the foreseeable future. I built my 7 SAUM with a similar back-calculation (Minimum cartridge that would keep my chosen 145 gr LRX bullet above 2000 fps out to 550 yards - 100 yards farther than I ever want to shoot a big game animal). So far it has served me very well. I get the small sample size thing but I also shoot a lot and am realistic about my abilities. The fragmenting bullet thing sounds great for killing. How does it do for meat loss and do any of the fragments make it into the meat we eat? I've heard both sides of the lead argument and haven't seen anything conclusive.

So I hunt as an Alaska resident and go after everything from sheep to brown bear. I always feel vulnerable with a bolt gun when I have heightened potential of grizzly encounters. Mainly when I’m walking into sheep country on a river bed or thick brush. My idea to fix that would be to build a 7-8lb 16”-18” 6mm arc AR-15. That way with a 108gr ELDX I should be able to take everything up to moose out to 600 yards with the benefit of timely follow up shots, less recoil, and the ability to quickly engage a bear either from my tent, or in brush with 5+ shots if needed. Is there any downsides to using an AR build for what I’m trying to do?

Thought provoking!