The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Tactical Rifle & Carbine => Topic started by: Walter45Auto on August 31, 2007, 01:18:49 PM
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What was it that attracted/attracts you to the AR15 Platform?? What brand do you have? I've never been really impressed with AR's. Sure I have one, and I wouldn't mind having an AR10, but I bought it cause it seemed like a good deal, and I didn't have an AR yet. I gave $650 for it. Mine's the cheapest one on the market. An Olympic Arms Plinker with the 16 inch barrel. It's fun to shoot and its accurate, but it just never struck my fancy. So, what brand is yours, and what attracted you to the AR?
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Walter,
I don't have one and I don't plan on getting one. Yes, I have shot them (heck, carried one for 10 years) and they are accurate and easy to shoot but they just don't excite me.
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Walter..
I got started with the AR when my Garand barrel that I used for HP went kaput for the second time. The cost to get it reworked was more than the cost of the AR, and it would only be 1/2 as accurate. So, I got a DCM Rock River..and I loved it. My family has about 6 of them now between us. I find that overall it actually works better for me. I also like the fact that I can easily change the configuration to suit whomever in my family want's one "their" way. My boys have collapsable stocks, my wifes has the entry stock on hers as she is not much bigger than the boys. Mine use the full A2 stock as I prefer that. Theirs are all carbines, mine is a full size. I can also easily work on them to fix them as well, including barrels. The only other rilfe that I can think of that come close is the Savage bolt actions (off the top of my head).
I recently got an AR-10, which is just a massive AR-15.. :) I plan to use it hunting this year.
Is the AR for everyone.. no. We like them, and enjoy them. Oh, funny tidbit. My wife has been shooting AR's for 15 years at least, and is really all she has ever shot. She had to shoot a coyote the other day, and the only rifle with her at the time was my Marlin bolt action. The boys had to show her how to get the safety off since she could not find it on the LEFT side of the rifle. :) She now makes sure she has her AR with her. :)
-Bidah
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Walter,
I don't have one and I don't plan on getting one. Yes, I have shot them (heck, carried one for 10 years) and they are accurate and easy to shoot but they just don't excite me.
I haven't fired but a few rounds from one, and like Hazcat I don't have the AR fever. I DO however daydream about a Henry Big Boy now and then.
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I resisted ARs for over 20 years, but once I bought my first one, a Bushmaster, I have been hooked ever since. Some boys at work had a couple, and hearing them talk about how much fun they are kind of got me to want one. And the fact that my Mini 14 was about as inaccurate as a pepperbox gun. I decided I wanted something I could kill groundhogs and coyotes with and if I missed, it would be my fault, not the gun. I loved the Bushie so much, I built another one (a Double Star lower, and Del-Ton upper), and I got a Mini 14 for sale boys if you are interested! The AR platform is very user friendly, once you get the manual of arms down, you can customize it almost endlessly, and if something does break, parts are readily available and easy to change. Magazines are cheap and plentiful too. I used to think a gun had to have blued steel and walnut, and I still think they look better, but there is something to be said for the utilitarian virtures of the AR!
(http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/8069/1001555ko7.jpg)
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Yeah availability of parts and accessories is definitely a big advantage in any gun, and the AR15 (along with the 1911 so many of us are in love with.... And yes, I'm crazy about the 1911.) Defintely is well covered in that area. I'm sort of releived to hear there's at least 2 others out there who don't hardly bat an eye at AR's. And NO, I'm NOT like Mr. Zumbo. I don't consider them Unnecesary or terrorist rifles, and I wouldn't be against hunting with it. Being a hunter I see hunting potential in all of the long guns I buy, and some of the handguns, as a matter of fact. Like I said, AR's are accurate at ridiculous distances, easy to use, light, and all over the place, but they don't excite me for some reason. I AM nuts about cowboy and WW1 and WW2 guns (Probably all the John Wayne movies I've watched.). Or a big bore DA revolver like my redhawk .44, That will get me to droolin'. Or a nice Side by side shotgun.
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Never cared for the AR until the AWB in '93. Couldn't stand the looks of the Clintonized AR's so I had to find a deadly pre-ban.
Ended up with a Colt HBAR and paid a lot. Put it in the safe only bringing it out for ocasional cleaning.
About 2 years ago the daughters started shooting handguns and wanted to try rifle, more than 22lr. I loaded up the Colt and they liked it and so did I.
Was saving for a Socom II this year but watched the show where Michael shot the S&W MP-15 and bought it instead, and the ammo is cheaper. I really like this one.
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Read my piece on my "conversion" to ARs in OUTDOOR LIFE:
http://www.outdoorlife.com/outdoor/shooting/article/0,19912,1639507,00.html
ARs are the Swiss Army Knife of rifles, and fun to shoot to boot. Am looking forward to getting one of the DPMS .308s, and DPMS is going to GIVE US AN AR to give away on DOWN RANGE this winter!!!
Michael B
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I bought my Bushmaster because it was a good buy , and it had all my requirements in a rifle, mostly because it was a good buy. I know I can make 300.00 tomorrow if I sell it. But that being said I will enjoy seeing how it does on the range, and it does bring back memories, its been so long I had to break out my M16A1 operators manual LOL
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DPMS 308...put me in that drawing! I've been looking at AR-10's the last couple of weeks...a win for me would help put a child (mine) through college.
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I don't have an AR and really haven't had much interest in them...but, having said that, lately I have been doing a serious bit of research on building one from a kit. I'm thinking this would be a fun and interesting project.
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The modular design and adaptability of the AR makes it the 1911 of rifles. You can configure it anyway you like for any mission you deem necessary. It's used for everything from close quarters CQB to long range precision work and everything in between.
It's really a do anything platform.
Erik
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My first is a RRA Gov't model (DEA gun) with goodies already attached, and liked it so much I picked up a stripped RRA lower reciever 'cause I thought it'd be a fun project. It was - I'll pick up another before long. Got a RRA lower parts kit w/ a match trigger, which made everything nice and simple. Will probably pick up a LWRS 6.8SPC piston upper. Hey, go big or go home, right? ;)
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I've been watching the 6.8's with some interest over the last couple of years. I think it has some real potential, but until some major ammunition manufacturers really step up and start producing the round in quantity, the training costs are too prohibitive for me to switch over at this time. Hopefully this will change, but until it does I'm sticking with the 5.56.
Erik
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I'm a newby to AR15 myself. Bought a Bushy through aimsuplus.com - good price. When shopping for the AR15 and asking lots of questions, the one common denominator among all in a good product was Bushmaster.
Only down side is now ammo is hard to find and/or a lot more expensive.
The Website www.ar15.com is great/ huge, but you have to spend alot of time searching to find stuff.
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I've been watching the 6.8's with some interest over the last couple of years. I think it has some real potential, but until some major ammunition manufacturers really step up and start producing the round in quantity, the training costs are too prohibitive for me to switch over at this time. Hopefully this will change, but until it does I'm sticking with the 5.56.
Erik
Erik,
I have been watching the whole 6.8spc and 6.5 Grendel thing for several years as well. The 6.5 seems to be popular here in Montana due to the good ballistics, and use as a hunting round. I am still thinking of getting one or the other, but yep, ammo cost is up there. I do a lot of reloading, so it isn't quite as bad, but still expensive anyway. I have a few years till my boys can hunt, so the thought was to make up my mind by then so that I can get them squared away for hunting.
-Bidah
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Well, here's yet another opinion... ::)
I've got a 5.56 RRA gov't model, and a RRA lower that I bought and built up the day Pelosi became speaker... I've been bouncing back and forth as to whether or not to go with another 5.56 upper, or to set it up with 6.8 or something else...
Long story short, I'm about to order a LWRC 6.8 piston upper. I've spoken to several operators who have used them in 'points East', shall we say, and can't break the damn things. Also, there are several posts at LWRC's forum, Lightfighter, and AR15, that - while they should always be taken with a grain of salt - seem to point to several gov't tests and/or contracts that are about to become public in early CY08, with regards to certain agencies and/or organizations adopting 6.8SPC. SSA ammo seems to be the preferred round, and there's plenty of examples of hunting success with this round, as well.
YMMV, and there's something for everyone out there... But as for me and my money, I can only afford to pick one 'bigger' (than .223) round to stock up on as my 'do everything' gun if the fit hits the shan, and 6.8 is it. If I find the links to some of the specific forum threads, I'll post links. (Been a few days.)
Take care, watch your 6, and vote guns.
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:P
Pardon my lack of coherence and forgetting that I'd already posted here once about the LWRC... I have a 19-month old - 'nuff said. One thing I did omit from the previous post that was outlined by some LWRC staff on their forum is that once the aforementioned contracts are finalized, ammo production in 6.8 will be stepped waaaaay up, which should help drive down the cost for us before too long. Hopefully before the election and/or Iran finally snaps, but then that's a whole different post, I suppose...