As soon as we finish building a 5.56 AR for Mrs. L I’m going to start playing with uppers in different calibers.
L
Because the deer are now carrying AK-47’s?
;^)
With my Remington 700 Short-Action .243, I can cycle the bolt and never lose my sight picture.
My son helped me build my first AR, a 6.5 Grendel, with a 24in barrel. I haven't hunted with it yet.
I do hate the use of acronyms presented without full use in the 1st mention within an article. Anybody care to enlighten me? I doubt if it is Main Stream Rifle, but I could be wrong.
Modularity and the ability to customize to suit personal taste seems to be a strong selling point in pretty much anything.
The ones made by a reputable company are quite as good tools for hunters as they are defensive weapons.
I am in my sixties now, with a bunch of physical issues that are common to codgers. I used to prefer manually-operated long guns, but I will now occasionally bobble a stroke on a pump-action or hang up a lever-action... no biggie when out plinking, but not real nice if I would need that round real bad. Advantage: semiautomatics.
Most semi autos are now coming equipped with relatively painless ways to mount optics and lights, two more things I didn't need when I was in my twenties but appreciate now. Another semiautomatic advantage.
Mr. niteowl77
For us older ones, it may be a little different.
I’m too old to go big game hunting so don’t really need a super powerful rifle. I am on blood thinners and they now leave a big bruise on my shoulder that takes weeks to go away, and the possibility of a blood clot can kill you.
AR-15 or such type rifle is perfect. No bruising, the pistol grip is perfect for arthritic hands.
And it still makes the faint hearts lose bladder control to think I have one.
"Modern Sporting Rifle".
A marketing term, really, thought up by those who advocate for the AR platform as a hunting rifle. Fine by me, honestly. It makes a lot of sense, although it does limit one's choice of cartridges to those that can be accommodated by the AR action, which may or may not be a problem. (In which case, the obvious upgrade would be to an AR-10 platform.)
Have fun, guys, just please don't throw those old bolt guns in the trash. I'll take them if you don't want them.
My life once depended on a “piece of crap” M16.
The damn thing jammed on the 2nd round and I had to duck and scramble to repair the jam while under enemy fire. This happened a whole 2 weeks after they took our highly reliable M14s from us and replaced them with the M16s.
Excuse me if I have no love or respect for the M16 or its civilian version the AR15.
To me, the best thing about the AR-15 is that it was designed to be easy to handle, easy to carry, light and unbelievably accurate for such a short barrel.
You can sling it so that it is on your back and go up a deer stand ladder like a squirrel.
Climbing the same ladder with a conventional .243 Remington or Winchester, .30-06, shotgun, etc., is very awkward and has caused many a nice gun to be scarred, fropped, or worse.
I find the AR-15 to be almost as easy to handle as a revolver or pistol. Just grab it and go.
For several years, I thought they were an ugly fad.
I now own two and am about to get a third.
Jim Zumba is deeply saddened.
No blaze orange cap.
Very bad.
I was hunting with an HK-91 in 1985.
The AR-15 is growing in popularity amongst the women folk because there are so many accessories available for the AR platform.
Women love to accessorize...
I like the modularity aspect. Only thing that threw me on the article was this: “...because I don’t have to run the bolt (and) lose the target in my scope”
I’ve never had an issue losing something in my scope while cycling the bolt - at least not since before I started shooting match in high school.
Is this a real issue? Or just a bad habit of picking your head up when cycling?
I remember in years past, gunwriters and old time hunters would wax eloquent about why they preferred bolt actions with wood stocks. They were emphatic about the non appeal of plastic and aluminum.
More people and groups now have accepted the AR pattern rifle as a normal part of hunting and shooting. And of course there are wood Ar stocks/hangduards available.
Absolute nonsense
And hunters don’t trade in gear