Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters The popularity of the AR-15 Platform?

I love my bold guns and The beauty of my 358 Win is a thing to behold. Until a month ago there was only one semi auto anything in my collection and it is a 1911 that resides on my hip as I write this. Then after all the liberal BS from the candidates and the imposter in the white house I bought one. As I write this it is about eight inches from my left hand and just like my 1911 it is loaded and ready. I have two ten round magazines with the five round blocks due to arrive Wednesday so I could use it for deer and such here. I have high hopes of seeing what it will do to coyotes this winter on the east side of the Cascades and maybe try calling in a cougar to try it out on. I even have been thinking about a cool air brush job for it and may be getting an airbrush kit in the next couple of months. I am thinking a cool looking snake skin pattern just so I can say it isn't black.

Yes, I think they could be fun but there is no way I would exchange the AR for any of my bolt guns.

What Steve said

Once upon a time, I was guarding my food plot down in south Texas, from my guard house. My weapon of choice was a BAR, rebored to .338-06, a semi-automatic.

I was invaded by a herd of pigs. I opened fire and got five for five, then I was empty. If I had been using an AR, I might have got two or three more, who knows? I have never owned one, they are just too ugly, but they do seem to work.

A Mini-14 is about as far as I can go. I may have lucked out, for mine is very decently accurate at just barely over an inch with two brands of factory ammo and topped with a 3-9 Redfield Revolution.

Its popular cause its the closest thing to a chameleon in the gun world. anyone in their own home can easily make it blend into the situation they need. and there are few that it cant do atleast moderately well given the range of parts and calibers. Its a very handy piece of kit to have in the tool box.

Yep, can't play tinkertoys with my old bolt guns.

AHHH, the tactical Hornet. What an idea. It give me one.

I shall now go reconnoiter the shelves of the local firearm establishment for a "beater" matchlock or arquebus to "tacticoolize".

On the serious side of things, I hope to get to town to pick up an AR this week, if not this week, over the winter while on furlough from work.

Just because.
Before they are banned.
In case of "Mars Attacks", The Zombie 'Pocalips, and or civil uprisings.
"emergency" hunting possibility
Uncle Geno's stimulus program

and
for "Fun"

Geno

Wow, I had no idea the response that I my tongue in cheek post would generate.

As I wrote before I can readily see the appeal in the AR-15 platform and I certainly never inferred in any way that anyone else shouldn't have one, but even their strongest advocate could never describe them as pleasing to the eye.

Zombies aren't here yet so I don't need a weapon that uses thirty round mags. I love my blued and walnut rifles. I'm grateful I don't have to transport them in a Pontiac Aztek or Nissan Cube, but visually they would be the perfect vehicles to carry the AR-15.

I’m probably part of the older group of people on this forum but I have to admit, when I first purchased and shot an AR a dozen or more years ago it was a moment of enlightenment. No doubt they don’t fit the needs of each and every person or every situation. But they do fulfill a multitude of roles including hunting and defense very well.

They shine when the weather doesn’t. Snow, rain and general crappy weather has little to no impact on an AR. When it’s like that, my wood and steel rifles stay in the safe and the ARs get pulled out to hunt coyotes, deer or just to shoot.

Are my ARs beautiful? I guess that depends on your description of beauty, they're utilitarian, you add to them what you need, so in that way they are pleasing to my eye, even the ugly one with the rattle can paint job.

Whether or not you love them or hate them recognize they are the face of shooting in the 21st century. They sell well and that in and of itself is great for all of us who value the right to keep and bear arms, because for our freedoms to continue we need new shooters to replace us old guys.

I'm definitely of the old school - heck I still collect single shot rifles. A dozen or more years ago I decided to grab an AR while they were still legal. I've now got a few, each set up a bit differently.

Good looking? Well, not in a traditional sense. Maybe more like in an automotive sense. The traditional rifle is a Duesenberg, while the AR is like a new Corvette

they can have sleek, clean lines:



and they can shoot very well, too...

Most humans are constrained by the era they grew up in, which is why and so many men still think the pre-'64 Model 70 Winchester is the ultimate centerfire rifle, and so many 50-something women still try to wear "big hair."

But I'm enough of a rifle loony to admire the entire history of rifles, ever since the rifled bore was developed, just about five centuries ago. While I like some more than others, the AR-15 "platform" is one of the best ever developed for any purpose, and why I own and use AR's, along with flintlocks and drillings. They're all part of us.

I wish there was a "like" button for MD's post.

I didn't like ARs when I first handled them at the LGS. Then one of my enabling "friends" got me curious and I started researching them. Let's just say I have the tools to work on them now. Turns out you can build a much nicer and better one for a whole lot less money than you can buy one already built.

One you build can be no-compromise from start to finish, exactly what you want it to be. No one manufacturer makes the best of everything. Even the high-end builders generally have a couple of products that are really well thought out, and then they assemble complete rifles around those showcase systems using average, high-quality components. When you build it yourself, every detail can be the best for your needs. This trigger, that grip, that handguard system, that bolt catch, this safety, that mag release, this buffer, that buffer tube, this stock, that barrel, this flash hider. There is work to be done understanding how all the different parts work together. But when you are done, there is only what you want. No leftover parts you paid for and then replaced with something better.

I think of them like the Jeep. Invented to go to war, and it was/is darn good at that job, but when we brought it home, we found a million peaceful jobs for it, and some non-job uses as well.

You can use it the way it comes, or build it into anything you want it to be. Some people just use them as a tool, because they get the job done like nothing else. Other people build them into the best possible tools they can. Other people build them just to build them. Other people invent new things to do with them, just so they can figure out new ways to build them.

That's America.

Terry Weiland (sp?) had a very good article in a recent issue of Rifle magazine concerning how the rifle world has evolved from walnut/blue to synthetic/stainless and AR's. Really an enjoyable read that pretty well covered the subject.

I am old school walnut/blue but do have some synthetic/stainless, I have tried to warm up to AR's a couple of times but I just can't do it. I do not have a bias against them or those who like them but they just don't work for me.

drover

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What's not to like?

So how many here married for looks alone...... just saying... this thing of how the rifle looks is nuts to me.

One of my other rifles is all black too... its a bolt gun. Is all black ugly?

I'll take an ugly rifle that shoots group over a pretty one that patterns.

In fact that's pretty much my only criteria on when a gun gets kicked to the curb, if it doesn't shoot to my criteria or use for the gun, down the road it goes.

We know that bolt actions, and many cartridges like the 30-06, 223, 303 British and 45-70 all started with the military. So it went with the AR and the 223/5.56

Even today, military requirements strongly influence the civilian market. Red dots, plastic stocks, AR platforms, and other things originally were developed for them. Who'd a thunk that levers would have funky plastic stocks or use red dots (Mossberg)?

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder. I like black matte synthetic stocks because you can beat them up, they weather better and are easier to repair. There's nothing wrong with wood, but speaking from an armourer's perspective, bedding, repairing and refinishing stocks is a PITA.

Wood stocks are more costly than plastic and when in need of repair, remain longer with the gun doctor.

Something that usually isn't talked about much when discussing the civilian use of military arms (and cartridge development) is the huge amount of money that has been thrown at them for improvements.

Look at the no. of changes to the original AR platform and the ammunition. Lots of time, money and sweat was expended making them feed better, handle heavier bullets and shoot more accurately. The same can be said of the cartridge.

You don't have to like the AR or plastic stocks, but your children, and most definitely your grandchildren, will own them in a wide variety of cartridges. They are rapidly replacing the bolt action as the most commonly used platform.

And wood? Well, that will be something relegated to history. Most hunters and shooters will not shoot a wood stocked rifle, unless it's a hand-me-down or a custom build.

Polymers are the norm these daze.

And the future?

I guess the thing that I don't really get is if you want to hunt you can buy a much more accurate rifle for less $. Even a low cost AR will be $600 and most of the out of the box $600 AR's Ive been around are not that accurate. I have seen some that shoot quite well but everyone that I have seen that can shoot a good group had a new heavier barrel and this and that added or done to get it to shoot and by that time most are in the $1000 and up range sometimes much more. Most of the good shooters are also quite heavy due to the heavier barrels etc. Just not my cup of tea I guess.

yeah but I have about $100 into tools that make me a decent gunsmith on an AR, least as much as i need to be on the hobby level...and it is easy to make an AR accurate, just pay attention to the barrel and trigger choices....

I like that Corvette analogy. They still have plastic bodies, don't they?

Fibreglas.