What is the best military style rifle for hunting?

Assuming you're thinking of joining the US military, then the standard issue rifle will be an AR-15 variant, either the m4 or the m16, depending on what branch. The standard cartridge is the 5.56 NATO, which is similar to the .223 Remington.

The 5.56/.223 is at best a varmint caliber, only really ethical for coyote sized game and smaller. While some people have used .223 on deer and hog sized game (I've actually personally used it on hogs using a heavy, fully bonded soft point bullet) it's far from ideal.

In the AR-15 platform though, as a civilian, you can choose more large game appropriate calibers. .300 blackout, 6.8spc, 6.5 Grendel, .50 Beowulf, .458 socom, are all calibers that can be used in a standard receiver length ar with just an upper receiver swap. If you choose to go to a larger, ar-10 platform, you can up the game to .308 win, which is a proven deer/elk cartridge in north America.

Your best bet IMO is to get an ar-15 in 5.56/.223 for training and plinking, and a separate barrel or dedicated upper in .300AAC blackout, which will give you a decent deer/hog gun within 200 yards.

I would up the anti a bit to at least 308 for deer. If you want an "AR" style rifle an AR10 is a good choice.

Be advised the AR 15 and all it's many varients is nothing more than a high powered "22". When the M16 was introduced, the logic behind the much smaller caliber was 'Literally" to "Wound" the enemy more than take them out...meaning a wounded soldier more often required "Two" individuals to transport the wounded individual from the feild of battle, which "In Theory" took Three firearms out of action. When the M16 came out I refused it and kept my M14. I Honestly Believe Many of My Brothers In Arms Would Be Alive Today if the larger caliber M14 stayed in service.

As has been noted by others, Combat and Hunting are Two "TOTALLY DIFFERENT" applications. Let the Army teach you how to shoot.

Best Military Rifle

You can use an m4 style and a 5.56x45/.223 for hunting deer. But you better be a very good shot. Most hunting rifles will weigh a bit more will be longer. The caliber would have to be larger for other animals. I hunt with a mosin but it's 4' long, weighs 9 pounds empty and the recoil is rather hard.

Shooting is like playing a musical instrument. It is easy to make noise but it is harder to make music. It is easy to make bullets fly out the barrel but it is hard to hit a target, especially at a reasonable distance.

Lots of people have bought guitars and eventually learned to play, but generally only by spending a lot of time messing around. Of course this messing around is fun, so sure, great. However most people who are self taught on guitar know only some stuff like their favorite songs, etc. Some can't even read music. Same thing with shooting, there are a lot of people who are okay shooters simply because they go and mess around and eventually get okay. BOTH shooters and guitar players can learn a lot faster if they'd take lessons.

One thing guitar has over shooting, it's free to strum. Shooting takes money.

You need to learn the basics, and you need to practice a LOT, either for military OR for fun. With this in mind I recommend you get a Ruger 10/22 and get a Tech-Sights

http://www.tech-sights.com/ruger3.htm

the sights linked below are copies of the sight you'd find on an M-16 so you have a 'military angle' plus they are just great sights for learning.

I also suggest you go to an appleseed which is probably the cheapest way to learn the basics, especially before you get bad habits.

http://www.appleseedinfo.org/

Now, the Ruger 10/22 is going to be a fine tool for hunting rabbits and squirrels. It is NOT a deer rifle. Unfortunately the gun you are going to learn on is NOT going to be a good deer rifle. Nor is a deer rifle going to be a good gun to learn either regular target shooting or military type shooting. So sorry, no killing two birds with one stone.

Let the military teach you how to handle a military type rifle...... If you get an AR15, hunt and target practice you may very well pick up some bad habits in handling and using the rifle.... Then the military trainers will have reteach you to get you to drop the bad habits.......

Anyways - lets move on..... Yes ~ purchase a nice rifle and hunt with it.... My advice?... Purchase a bolt action rifle.... If its deer you want then consider a rifle chambered in .270 Winchester, .308 or 30-06..... All three of these are fine choices for deer and are very common calibers........

Look into a Remington 700, Savage Model 11 or the Ruger M77 bolt action rifles.....

Learning to hunt is fine, but you shouldn't even think about it relating to military training. In most cases the type of marksmanship you will learn in the army using assault rifles is completely different from want you want to develop as a hunter. Additionally, what you learn and practice yourself to develop your hunting skills will be different from what your military instructors teach. Most military instructors will probably tell you that they prefer to teach someone that has never touched a rifle than someone they have teach to unlearn what they think they already know.

If you want to hunt, pretty much any bolt action rifle (.270, .308, or .30-06) from a major gun maker with a 3-9x40 scope will do fine for you. Plan to spend $450-$600.

If the military is going to make a sniper out of you, obviously a Remington 700. Most other current military rifles are not real common for hunting. In fact, the state that I live in makes it illegal to hunt with a full auto firearm.

AR style weapons are easy to use and accurate. hey also come in many different calibers and very closely resemble the m16 and m4 used in the army. They would be good for deer hunting in a wooded area as they can get shots off fast and accurately

I have used a M-1 Garand with a scope. I killed at least 80 deer with it. The gun is heavy but it stays on target better than a light barrel bolt actionCaliber 3006.