i own a nice cz550 american in .308 and recently acquired a m1a scout in .308. im very comfortable with bolt actions for pacing myself and shooting. i havent got the m1a to the range yet or outfitted it. i used to have some ar-15 which i liked and a mini 14 that i shot well with but didnt like the feel. a friend of mine is moving south and has a big property area that is full of wild hogs. she has granted me open season on them whenever i want to take a trip. from watching some hog videos i usually see people hunting them with semi auto. im wondering if i should dump the 2 rifles i have and build an ar-10 since im already comfortable with an ar. thoughts?

Why not give it a shot with the M1A first?  I know it's similar to the mini 14 which you didn't like, but it's worth a try.  I imagine dumping the 2 current rifles and building an AR10 would take some time.  At least this way you can get some trigger time on some hogs and decide the best route to go afterwards (and maybe you even get some wild hog in the freezer as a bonus!).

I won't have vacation time till late next year. I got time to build

Aaaah ok.  You should go for a build then.  My personal opinion is that you should shoot whatever you're comfortable with.  Once you build your ar10 you'll never have the "should I sell it" question again. 

I want to go hog hunting so bad...

An M1A Scout is one of the handiest rifles you will ever own. Personally, I would keep it. Let me know if you'd like to sell it. I regret selling mine. I can't say that about many guns I've sold.

An M1A Scout is one of the handiest rifles you will ever own. Personally, I would keep it. Let me know if you'd like to sell it. I regret selling mine. I can't say that about many guns I've sold.

I loved mine also.

Personally, I'd go the AR route because the M1A platform feels like optics are an afterthought.  Throw in the fact that it's modular and you can swap calibers/setups by pushing two pins and you've got a pretty versatile firearm.  Do a 16" lighter weight .308 build for stomping around outside and build a 20" 6.5C for when you want to ring steel at 1K yards.  Just as an example, anyway.

I have a 16in dpms 308 with an old cheap leupold on it... It almost puts holes in holes at 100 yards..

To me it's sort of like a synergistic approach with combinations.  Right now I only have one .308, a bolt action Remington 700.  However when I bought it I decided I would be adopting .308 as a 'family caliber' ... and what happened was, while I assumed I was buying the rifle, maybe scoping it and that was about it, and moving on to the next rifle.... I sort of developed a passion for it and decided to run with it.  Now I have at least $2500-$3000 invested in it, and am realistically counting another $3000 I need to spend on it before "I'm finished" and it's perfect and long term awesome.

 

However, I am also acutely aware I need at least one more .308 .  And probably two.  I decided to comment on this because your choices of rifle are basically the 3 options I'd like in my portfolio to feel really good and prepared w/ .308.  I'd really like [at least one, if not a collection] of M1As.  To me the Springfield Armory M1A is one of my favorite , "dream" rifles and honestly I'd love a collection of M1As before a collection of AR-15s [which many have].  I'd love to add an M1A w/ a decent scope as an autoloading, precision rifle capable of serving as a designated marksman rifle, a battle rifle, a ranch rifle or whatever...  BUT I'd also really like to add a 16" [but have seen AWESOME 14.5" HBAR and 18" DMR style] AR10 rifles.  Give me a little bit of CQB capability with of course the accuracy and range for precision/DMR work.

 

 

 

Since at the time I could only have one, I chose the bolt action because it could give me the most accuracy, most reliability, least effort and problems, for the lowest price (Greatest value.)  And it's turned into an awesome rig.  But going forward I'd really like to have all three you mention.  When i finally move to my families new woodland ranch in FL, .308 is going to be one of my primary focuses and hope to really expand my choices there... Probably won't ever get a GAP-10  but maybe something decent and if I could get a M1A and a AR10 of decent reputation i'd be happy.

Yea I have loved bolts for a while but figuring in a moving target and after the first shot really moving I don't know how well I could resetmyself. I'm good but im no Chris kyle. That and I saw a full upper that takes p90 mags thought it would be cool as a home/zombie defense lol. Right now my Springfield armory m1a scout is on gun broker and my mini 14 too