Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why are AR15s so Popular?

If I was gonna buy one today it would be a Rock River...


Edit - and thats coming from a Remington man for 43 years !!

I think the suck personally, the LOP is just too damn short period!!! to me the stock feels like it should be on a little kids gun. next IMO the entire platform was never really designed for scope use, if you have a flat top, which is really the better of the uppers, its hard to get the scope mounted high and forward enough to work right. there are some scope mounts out there that cantilever out but they are very very expensive. the safety system to me doesn't inspire confidence. I don't like all the parts moving around in there. gas blows right back into the breach. the gun just doesn't ever feel right when you shoulder it.

the reason its popular is because the military uses it, just like the 308, it works but doesn't really do anything really well. if you go on ar 15.com there is just so much monkey see monkey do going on its stupid, if military and swat uses it, they have to have it. like some guys worried to death about having a scope mount that can work with a BUIS, as if the scope is going to fail and they have to switch to irons while out shooting rocks in the desert give me a break.

Because they are the Militia weapon and gun owning Americans are prepared to use them to save the shards of liberty that are left.

The reason they are popular is because they are accurate, reliable and fun to shoot. I have had one Colt AR15A2 since 1988 and it has never failed me.

'Cause I'm alive and Nguyen isn't?

I currently don't have one, have shot a few of them, have to say they are fun! I am saving to get one, and what I will spend on the one I want, I could easily buy a top of the line custom bolt rifle. Since our government deems the "black guns" unneeded,and is trying to ban them, gives me more reason to put one in the safe!!!!

All military service rifles become popular
It's the ar's turn.

I can see the brass issues a bit now due to costs of brass. Of course I've lost bolt gun brass too. I have worse problems finding my 7x300 wtby brass at times in the field....
Of course I bought brass back when LC 5.56 brass was 19 bucks per 1000 and so the loss of a few doesn't bother me really.

I'm more than 1/2 way to wearin' 2 brass catcher's out....... They simply work for me at both the range and in the field (off the bench).

I've had all 3 of my AR's jam, but not unexpectedly. I ran them until dirty enough to qualify for chimney sweep fodder to see where and when some "failure to ....." would eventually happen. My thing...........perhaps not others.

Did this many years ago...thankfully. At approx. a case and a half each, it wasn't cheap.

Unreliable........not so much......

?????????? You're right about the military making it popular but I would disagree about the .223 and .308 not doing anything really well. I wouldn't take either elephant hunting but for the plains of Kansas I've found both very useful.

you guys need to get into ar's.
you say they dont fit you. get a different stock.

here's my target/praire rat shooter.
originally it had the hooked buttstock so i could use my off hand to aid in getting steady.

then a few years ago, i got a good deal on a magpul, yeah, it's not black, but it sure made a difference in cheek weld and lop.

and an old pic of a 5 shot group.

another old pic of 3 of my ar's.
the target model while still putting it together, and the top one, is splattermatic.
it's my main coyote/rat shooter.
i have ALOT of rounds thru her without ever a glitch.
it's a bushmaster v match, 20" fluted barel.
an old guy i shoot rats with and i were out one day, and i broke her out. he had a very unpleased look on his face.
he asked what are you going to do with that m-16? i said it was an ar-15, and i was going to shoot rats with it. after several spactacular hits at distance, my friend the bolt/single shot ragged hole, high dollar gun snob, says, "ya know, that splattermatic thing shoots really well" i liked that knickname and use it as my username.


and the bottom one, is one of several now blasters.
it a lightweight barrel with a slip over 5.5 flash hider, to make it look like an xm-177, like i carried once upon a time.
it has a 16" barrel under there.
i now have 2 with 11.5 barrels and 5.5" flashiders.
one being an lwrc piston driven upper.
a dedicated 22lr upper is also in the stable.
ar's are the way to go. with upgrades they are awesome shooting rifles.
(within the limits of a 223 cartridge)

Indy,

The quote above is an excerpt, but basically everything in your original post is false and absolute rubbish, unless it was posted tongue-in-cheek. If your words are sincere, I doubt anyone can convince you otherwise, so I won't try. But I'll leave you with this: You really would not want me shooting at you anywhere from 0 to 400 yards with my "unreliable" and "inaccurate" AR-15. Just trust me on that one.

What kind of American wouldn't want to own at least one example of America's Rifle?

Mine are accurate and reliable.

When my son was fighting for his life in the Middle East he was using a platform that he was familiar with long before he put on a uniform.

I'm laughing with you guys, not at you. I'm the same way about ejected brass. I recently fired 54 rds of .40 sw at my range at home. I found 50 empties but still looked and looked for the remaining 4. I finally gave up in defeat.

AR's Rock!

.22 rimfires, .204 Ruger, .223/5.56 (close enough) then up to the .260 & .308 and there's even a .450 Bushmaster! Hunt squirrels, varmints & deer sized game.

Home defense, plinking, formal target shooting, military & police use... Configure 'em to fit pretty much anybody.

The ones I've messed with have been highly reliable, but then again I've only been shooting them since about 1978... Maybe I should give it another year or two to make up my mind!

Semper Fi, Guy

From one of my previous posts, my take:

Hunters and shooters like my Dad who grew up on farms or in small towns are diminishing in number and purchasing power. What's left are their children who hunt maybe a little, drop what they do kill off at the local processor, then head back to their cookie cutter subdivision. What they do like, however, is to buy an AR-15 and live out their Walter Mitty fantasies at the range. AR's sell, and sell well.

Certainly not all AR/tactical fans, and just my opinion.

It is amazng how an OP can be so wrong on so many levels....

Gee, I own one AR myself (Bushmaster) and it started shooting 1" 5-shot groups right out of the box with the handloads I use in any .223. Have taken prairie dogs out to 400+ with it. Have also taken coyotes and pigs with the 6.8 SPC (using one of Bill Wilson's top-notch AR's) with no problem.

I have found that with Ramshot TAC my rifle will function for hundreds of rounds without cleaning. If you really object to the gas blowing back into the action, there are lots of piston-operated AR's available now.

The stock doesn't fit? There are dozens of stocks available for AR's, in all dimensions, and many adjustable for LOP.

I haven't had any problem mounting a variety of scopes using Brownells mounts. Mine also has a Timney trigger which provides a very fine pull.

I like 'em because just the sight of 'em drives Libs completely looney tunes!

Pete

The AR-15/M-4/M-16 series of rifles are without question, to this point in time, the BEST battle rifle of all time. I've trusted my life with one in three wars and it's never failed me when I needed it. Seems to me there's more than a few guys on this thread who became subject matter experts without ever having trained with an AR.