Why you don’t own an AR 15

[Hogmauler]

I was in the last campaign in Vietnam. Back then at age 19 my eyesight was great. Those jar heads on here can attest to the fact that back then we qualified with the M16 at 2,3, and 500 yards prone. When you had your elevation and windage correct you could shoot bull’s-eyes at 500 yards. Now granted, those were 6 foot man targets. But looking through iron peep sights they looked awful small. Didn’t really care for the smooth slab side and you had to keep em clean. All great input gentleman.

[SETX_Insanity]

I don't own one...


I own 3

[ROBINHOOD11]

I've have seen the need for one but bought a 5.56 before the election and now have one in 300 blkout. I bought a thermal so both are a lot of fun. The 300 is awesome suppressed with the thermal for hogs and close coyotes.

[Jack12]

I've have seen the need for one but bought a 5.56 before the election and now have one in 300 blkout. I bought a thermal so both are a lot of fun. The 300 is awesome suppressed with the thermal for hogs and close coyotes.

Have you shot trident for your 300 ?


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[Hogmauler]

Dang RBP! Your off into this shat! Wished I had the kinda knowledge most of you folks have with bows and ballistics.

[SRK14]

They just never seemed practical for hunting use to me. Unless it was pigs maybe. I never felt comfortable using a 223 as a dedicated deer cartridge and that kinda turned me off on the whole platform. I really liked the Remington 742/7400/750 woods master rifles that were phased out by their popularity.

[TXHUNT3R]

I did not want anything to do with them for many years. When I was a teenager, I used to watch multiple people bring ARs or M16s to the range. Almost everyone of them spent their whole time on the range, trying to clear a jambed gun. There was a sheriff's deputy who used to go out to the range with his M16 and try and shoot it. I watched that gun jamb up all the time. He never was able to run a full mag through that gun without it jambing. That was back in the 80s, back when the only M16s or ARs you ever saw were Colt. Then in the 90s, we bought two ARs, never had a single problem with either gun jambing, but the best I could do accuracy wise was about 4" groups at 100 yards. The 4" groups were done with a scope, mounted on top of a A2 receiver, on the carry handle. The other gun, without the scope, I could only get 6" groups at 100 yards. The ammo we were using was good factory loaded 5.56 ammo, I think Winchester ammo, possibly some UMC. Again, both rifles were 100% Colt. I am pretty sure the guns I used to see back in the 80s that jambed up all the time, were magazine problems, but back then I did not know that. Just got old watching guys trying to get jambed rounds out of their ARs, every time they showed up at the range. At the time we had a H&K 91, that we ran thousands of rounds through, it never once had any malfunction of any form. On a bench with a scope, I could fire at a rate of about one round a second, at 100 yards and keep all 20 rounds in a group, about 1 1/2" wide by about 2" tall. If I slowed down and took my time, I could shoot under an 1" all day long with factory ammo. Back then, seeing the results of all of the guys who insisted on owning ARs, just baffled me, as to why they stuck with them. Other than it was the US battle rifle since the mid to late 60s.







But then around 2003 I bought a Bushmaster M4 carbine, with the A3 receiver, flat top gun, with the removeable carry handle. I have never had a malfunction with that gun. When I first got the gun, I bought about 1500 rounds of Silver Bear ammo, then another 1500 rounds of Wolf ammo. Never had a malfunction with either, but the variation in muzzle blast and noise from shot to shot, really made me wonder how they measured the powder they were putting in those rounds. Some shots seemed like they hardly had any powder, other rounds seemed stuffed with some magnum powder, because of the huge muzzle blast I would get. Accuracy was about like what we got back in the 90s, at first. When I was using the open sights and that cheap communist ammo, I was getting 3" to 4" groups. But obviously the ammo was junk, so what would the gun do, if I ran good ammo through it. So I bought good American ammo and shot that stuff. The gun got down to 2" and even as small as 1 1/2" groups, but that was the best the gun would ever do, with factory ammo.

Knowing the 5.56s have the throats cut deep. I decided to try loading some ammo, to try and get better accuracy. I figured out if I did get the bullet closer to the lands, the accuracy quickly went under 1" at 100 yards. So I searched for a bullet that had a different ogive, to try and get the bullet closer to the lands, while still being able to fit in the mags. I found a 52 gr. Speer hollow point, it has a large hollow point, so the nose is flat, that allows the bullet to be seated farther out of the case and still fit in the mag, then the ogive puts the bullet closer to the lands. The bullet has been my main bullet for that gun ever since. The gun will shoot 1/4" groups with about any powder that works in a 223. I have used at least five different powders with that bullet over the years, still get 1/4" groups from the gun, but I have the bullet leaving the 16" barrel a lot faster now days.

That gun for many years now, has been my go to rife for around the house. I have killed a lot of coyotes with it over the years, possums, coons, one buck and one pig. It is about the best ranch rifle/truck gun, you could possibly have. I call it my utility gun, it's been used for just about everything. Definitely not my first choice for a deer gun, but it works, if you know the limitations of the 223 ammo I use and stay within those limitations. It's a great coyote gun, I have killed coyotes out to 400 yards with it. Some day, I would like to build a 223 Wylde with a 24" barrel, but I also plan on building a 24" barreled 224 Valkyrie. The 224, I plan on definitely building, but I may also do the 223 Wylde, it would make a great prairie dog and coyote gun, if I ever get on a place where there are a lot of both.

So as a result of that gun, I have put together a AR in a wildcat caliber, called the 270 AR. It comes very close to duplicating the old factory 270 Win. ballistics, but will fit in a common AR size mag. Then I put a 458 SOCOM together, love that gun also. So far out of my three ARs, no malfunctions, once I got the magazine problems corrected. The 458 SOCOM gave me the most trouble feeding, but only took a couple days to get it corrected. I modified a mag and it has worked great ever since.

The 270 AR will produce 3/8" groups at 100 yards, it is a serious critter killer. I have killed two mule deer with it, a few hogs and a turkey. The damage, has always been impressive. The 458 SOCOM will shoot around 1" at 100, maybe a bit less, probably more like 3/4" groups. So far I have only fired it at one animal. I shot one pig in the head around 250 yards. The bullet went all the way through that pig and hit a second pig. The pigs were all walking straight towards me, when I shot. I should have waited, till they were closer, but I was not sure they were going to keep coming my way. I should have had the 270 AR that morning, I had been shooting pigs at 70 yards from that blind and figured the 458 would be a good choice, so I took it the last morning, then the only shot I got was well over 100 yards. They came out around 350 yards out, I watched them for a while, then finally decided, they likely were not coming any closer and shot. The 458 worked great at that range, I did a good job of guessing the bullet drop, never having fired that gun that far.

After hunting only with a AR for numerous years, I really got to missing having a great shooting bolt action, which is what I primarily used for 25 years, before I bought the Bushmaster. So I have started buying and working on bolt guns again, and single shots. I love my Contenders and either Browning or Winchester 1885s. That will be one of my next builds. I really miss having a nice 1885. Then I will build a XP100 some day, that is the gun, I have wanted for many years. Basically I like all types of rifles and pistols. I am definitely not a AR fanatic, or the type that if I am going to own a rifle, it has to be a AR. I love great shooting bolt actions and single shot rifles, but I like semi autos also. I have a list of non AR semi auto guns, that I plan on buying also. Then I do like lever guns also, my favorite 22 LR for 20 years or more was a 9422, till it got stolen.

I am not the stereo typical AR owner, that loads up a a bunch of 30 round mags and then burn through those as fast as possible. Yes, I do have 30 round mags, I have loaded them up and ran through them quickly, plinking at cans or whatever. That has happened, but not my normal thing. I do plan on building a AR9 for that purpose, and as a general purpose short range gun.

One of the many cool things with a AR, that you can not do with most bolt guns or other guns, is swap barrels out quickly and easily. If you have a 5.56 AR, and want more power, you can just order a 6.5 Grendel barrel or a 350 Legend barrel or a 450 Bushmaster barrel. Then remove your forearm/hand guard. Then unscrew the barrel nut remove the barrel, install your new barrel and then put it back together in reverse order. If you have a carbine and want a longer barreled rifle for more velocity and range, or vise versa, you just swap barrels and possibly hand guards. If you have a gun with a retractable stock and want a stock for more of a precision rifle, you can swap out the stock quickly and buffer tube quickly. You can take a fixed stock and replace it with a collapsible stock. You can buy one lower and then have multiple different complete uppers set up, with sights or scope, sighted in, and ready to go, just swap the upper you want to use on the lower. Just like guys do with T/C Contenders.

The ARs are very modular, pretty quick to completely change the gun from one style and caliber, to a completely different style gun and caliber. Once you really get into them and start to fully understand what all can be done with them, then you will really start to understand why they are so popular. They can be built to appeal to most anyone. Then they make stocks out of wood and stocks that don't look like AR stocks, I saw one a guy posted up, that looks similar to a old Browning BAR. I have seen some others, with wood stocks, that took a while of staring at them to figure out that I was looking at a AR. In some states, they don't allow military style guns with the pistol grip, the grip and the stock, have to be one piece.

Then another thing I have come up with, is when some new caliber comes out, that is available for the AR. You can buy just a barrel, maybe a bolt, if you don't already have a bolt of the correct size. I have multiple size bolts, so I can just buy about any barrel and install it on one of my guns, then either pick up some ammo or brass and dies. Then be out shooting quickly. A barrel is a lot cheaper than buying a complete rifle in some new caliber. But if I wind up liking the caliber, then I may go and hunt down a bolt action in that caliber. But the AR is the cheapest way to try out some caliber you don't currently own. That or something like a Contender or Encore, those are even cheaper and easier to change out barrels to a new caliber. I have been a Contender owner for over 30 years, I may finally buy a Encore. They are much stronger, so you can install just about any caliber barrel you ever want, on one of those. For use as a handgun, I would prefer a Contender, but in the more powerful rifle calibers, your only choice is the Encore. I have refused to buy one, because they are bigger and heavier, but you can't get a 458 Win. Mag barrel for a Contender, you could for a Encore, I don't know if I would shoot that very often. I see a lot of guys with 300 Win. Mag Encores. The point is have a modular gun, such as a AR or a Contender or Encore, is really a good idea, because of the modularity of those guns. But with a AR, you also have a great defense gun, if you ever need one. A Contender, is not the best defense gun, it could be used for that purpose, but a AR would be a lot better.

This is awesome, thank you for taking the time to put this all down.

[El Paisano]

If you are old enough to know what a "butt stroke" is, then you know one of the several reasons that I don't care for them. That said, I am pretty sure that they have made many improvements in them since then.

[Mission408]

Its kinda like the gun version of legos for grownups

[Jack12]

Its kinda like the gun version of legos for grownups

Exactly!


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[Hogmauler]

That would be a “ horizontal butt stroke” Pi! And the gun version of legos for grownups is priceless!

[gfulton]

Hell I like them. I'm saving up for WC .300 Hammer.

[Keg]

AR’s are the number one gun for pig hunters... I like em...

[Sleepy]

If you own one, it is either a special purpose weapon or you just think they’re cool and you have it just to have it. With all of the cartridge options available to build an AR15 or AR10, you can build one to go take on any critter you want.

For me. It’s special purpose. And that purpose is high capacity magazines and it wears a thermal optic. I could not punish pigs at night with a bolt gun the way I do with an AR and thermal.

I have one lower and two uppers that I switch out depending what I’m doing. 223 and 6.8 SPC.

[Ætheling]

They are “freedom rifles” and every citizen should be issued one. You dont ever need to use it if you dont want to. The government should just know that everyone has one and that would keep them in check. I think there are enough owners out there right now that keep our govt at bay. They know they can only go so far. You dont lose your rights till YOU give them up.

There are millions of us highly trained in their use thanks to the govt. Regardless of MOS every Soldier and Marine at least qualified on a range many many times.