We are hiring a helicopter come out to the ranch so we can thin the hogs and yotes in a couple of weeks.

I am trying to decided what to shoot. I have a small light weight 16" AR15 in 5.56 with an Eotech sight.

Or I have 18" AR in 6.8SPC, that is heavier and has a scope. I would have to remove the scope and mount the Eotech.

I love the knock down power of the 6.8 but don't know whether its worth re-configuring for this one occasion.

Personally if it were me...

Knowing that this is going to be a high volume shooting scenario, and factoring in that 556 brass/ammo is cheap, I would shoot the 556. Generally your ranges are going to be fairly short for this type of hunt. I know you talked about a 6.8, I shoot a 6.5 Grendel as well as my 556. My Grendel brass I reload and I don't want to lose too much of it. Running a brass catcher in that scenario would be a PITA. I load for my 556 on a Dillon using once fired military brass. I would just load it, shoot it once and let it go. Go with the 556 and a bullet in the 65-75 grain weight range and rock it.

Will you be shooting factory or reloads?

Factory

.223....

I don't know of any heli-hunting companies that allow you to shoot semi-auto guns and let the brass fly freely about the cabin. It is a dangerous risk. All the one's I know of require brass catchers. That isn't to say that some allow you to go without them, only that I don't know of any that do.

Using something like a Tactical Brass Recovery brass catcher really isn't a PITA.
www.tacticalbrassrecovery.com

The helicopter was on our place and the neighboring ranch helping move cattle recently and the pilot claimed to have seen ~1000 hogs.

Even if he is exaggerating by half that is still a lot of hogs. A heli-hunt two weeks ago yielded 23 hogs and 19 yotes.

would love to hear how it goes

That is good information. In light of that, it would be good to contact the heli-hunting operation in advance and see just what their requirements are. The guys who fly around here often use shotguns, sometimes AR's in 556. Very open country and they get right down on top of them. One of my landowners I hunt on has his property flown 2-3 times a year for coyotes and pigs. They will get several landowners together in a cooperative and fly everyone at once.

You want the lighter smaller .223/5.56

Think of it this way, even if you don’t drop the hogs, you will injure the hogs and hopefully they will die. A couple shots in a big hog is almost certainly a death sentence for it.

And ammo is cheaper. Stick with easy in this application and move on.

If you aren't using a brass catcher you'll at least want a deflector to keep the shells down and away from the controls. I've seen pilots fly with both deflectors and catchers.

Do you have a suppressor to run on the gun?

I just bought the short frame throw model. Not to derail the thread, but which model(s) do you own?

Ive done it about 20+ times now. Shoot that 5.56, feed it brass ammo and get a good brass deflector. Those brass catchers are garbage.

Enjoy it! Its the most fun you can have with your clothes on

5.56

I have used TBR brass catchers for over 5 years now. Mine stay on my rifles all the time except during cleaning. Good kit. I have 2 of the standard length operator size and one of the mid length. Turns out, some handguard manufacturers don't allow for mounting side rails very close to the receiver and the mid length works better for those.