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

I got my Colt AR-15 almost 30 years ago, in mint condition off the used rack of a LGS. It's an early one- three digit serial number (3xx)- and it has the original Colt 3x scope too. I take it out once in a blue moon to keep it "limbered up". It'll group good ammo into an inch, with the scope attached, and a fair bit more than that with the iron sights. Do I like it? Yeah, I guess, but it's not my cuppa tea- walnut and blued steel is still what delights me. Will I part with it? Nope, because I feel an American rifleman should have an AR at hand in the spirit of our forebears going back 200+ years who were generally as well armed as the servicemen of their respective eras. (I actually sold it to a friend a few years after buying it, then had a chance to buy it back along with a couple other guns- sometimes it is possible to right a wrong decision from one's past.)

As much as I think myself to be a slow and deliberate shooter, god help me but it is a hoot to rip through a magazine-full at a row of clay targets set up on the berm. (And yes for those who know me, I do have some cast bullet loads worked up for it! Gotta save the barrel a little bit- I hate to have to try and find an original barrel with the three prong flash hider to replace this one if I wear it out.)

I can remember a bunch of salty old guys 50-odd years ago who b*tched up a storm over the advent of these things. To be honest with you, I took their comments to heart-- right up until the moment I fired my first one. Will I eschew the guns I love and become a died-in-the-wool AR fanatic? Not hardly, but it is good to be a little bit well rounded.

fiberglass

I shot my first AR-15 this past weekend. It was my friend's rifle which only had iron sights.

It was fun to shoot, no doubt about that. While it recoiled very little, as expected, I did notice something different about the recoil compared to a bolt action rifle.

To me, it seems like there was three recoil "pulses" that I could feel. My best guess, one of the of recoil impulses was from the firing the actually cartridge, the second was perhaps the bolt carrier coming back, then the third and last recoil impulse I felt was perhaps the bolt carrier returning?

Does that make sense? Not saying the recoil was bad as it wasn't. But it definitely felt different than the recoil from a bolt action. Anyone else feel that difference?

I like most firearms as long as they are steel and walnut. I'm getting used to the stainless fad, but I'm not sure it is here for the long run.

As far as the AR Platform goes, I'm still working on it. I have one and believe I've turned the corner with it. I took off all the un necessary stuff, put on a plain butt stock, a good barrel that is light n short, a small diameter fore end, a red dot sight, a sling and called it good. It is light, accurate enough and fun to shoot. Best of all it is reliable. It still isn't natural feeling like a rifle should be, but I'm working on that...

The buffer and spring ride in the stock and it's likely the buffer movement and spring noise next to your cheek that you are noticing.

Probably folks coouldn't shoot. Its rare to find an AR of any quality, that won't shoot MOA or less with the right loads....BALL is not the right loads...

There are indeed many keystrokes wasted on arfcom debating the relative accuracy of ammo that ranges 1.5-3 MOA at best, and how to evaluate such properly.

Easy to eval... don;t' shoot the crap.

Over the years I witnessed a bunch of yeahoots at the range spraying patterns at 50 yards with their ARs wearing crap optics using crap ammo. Seemed to me the short ones were ridiculously loud too and held off getting one. Recently though got offered a square deal on a used RRA Predator Pursuit 20 and shooting Fed Am Eagle 50gr Tipped Varmit rounds I'm really liking it. Definitely prone to go thru a bunch of ammo though, not because of misses but because of the hits! It's a hoot.

I noticed that weird recoil too. I did not like it.

You probably live in the south.

Brand new Colt. 16" barrel. Bone stock. Iron sights @ 100yds.

Two different types of factory ammo:

The buffer tube and twang that comes with it take some getting used to for some shooters. Other never even notice it.



Travis

Semi autos do not turn me off. I have used BARs for years and still own one high grade in .30-06. The gas system brings recoil down to a level where an old guy on blood thinners can easily live with it. BUT, it is too heavy for an old guy to pack afield, so it is limited to stand hunting over food plots or feeders, or from a hide overlooking a game trail. Most BARs that I have owned shot somewhere between a half inch ((a .270 was the best of the bunch for accuracy) to an inch and a quarter

I do not own an AR. My original excuse was that life is too short to hunt with an ugly rifle. Then there was the publicity of troubles with the early ones. These two are now things of the past. I have had two Mini-14s. The original version was so so accurate (under 2") and the replacement, a black and stainless newer version is really close to an inch shooter with two brands of factory soft point and Lake City surplus.

I'm not ruling out a future AR, but for now I'm content. Today, my biggest objection is that some of the guys who use them get quite obnoxious at the range that I frequent. That is not the gun's fault.

Sometimes one does need firepower. I once went five for five with my BAR when a herd of pigs attacked my food plot in South Texas. If I had been shooting an AR, maybe I could have bagged a couple more.

Jack

I like my AR rifles. Don't see any need for justification beyond that.

You think that's weird? Try a gun with a heavier reciprocating mass like an AK or an AR-10! The bolt return on an AR-10 feels like it's dragging the rifle forward.

This. Where I work the Call of duty game shooters, in their thirties and now forties, significantly outnumber the veterans. They are buying up Ar-15s, with only a few going for good bolt guns. Those bolt guns are almost always black as well. It is a fashion choice I have noticed for years. Urban gun shops versus rural gun shops almost always equals Hollywood (Arnold, the Matrix, Fast, any John Woo type movies) versus reality and tradition. But at least the new gun owners are realizing their rights are precious.

I find the AR to be an amazingly accurate platform right outta the box. Very little need for all the bedding, reloading, and other bull$hit we go through to make our bolt guns shoot that well.

Mine is .223 so I use it for coyotes and stuff, but a 308 as a pig gun would be uber.

I never noticed three recoil pulses but did notice a metallic "sproingy" noise transmitted through my cheekbone from the action cycling. I never had this with an M1 or M1A.

Henry your just stirring the pot.