>>A good start. But Bryanw92 hasn’t thought any farther into the meaning of “compromise.”
>>In the military context,
I am NOT in the military. I was honorably discharged many years ago. I do not have to think in their terms anymore.
I bought my first AR-15 in 1993, when they weren’t nearly as common at the gun range as they are today. In fact, when I’d pull it out of the case, the old range coots who practically lived there would start heckling me for owning:
1) a black gun
2) a varmint caliber
3) a plastic gun
4) a Mattel gun
5) a gun that holds more rounds than they need
6) a gun that shoots too fast
7) a gun that didn’t fight in WW2
8) a gun with a pistol grip
Like you, they cited years of experience to “prove” to me that I had the wrong gun and I needed one like they have. I have heard the Garand story a thousand times—and I still don’t want one.
So, here we are 24 years later. Most of them are dead and everyone is shooting an AR-15 at the range without being heckled by closed-minded people who believe that:
1) rifles should be bolt-operated
2) rifles should have a wood stock
3) telephones should be connected to the wall
4) cars should be started by hand cranks
5) petticoats should extend to the ankle
6) internet posts should be in third-person
“...I am NOT in the military. I was honorably discharged many years ago. I do not have to think in their terms anymore. ...”
Bryanw92 may believe he’s “free” of all that icky old military stuff. He isn’t. Since most of the basics and a great many subsystems were first developed specifically for the military, he is constrained but doesn’t realize it. So are we all.
To claim otherwise is like saying, “I don’t believe in Newton’s Laws, so I can jump off buildings and not get hurt.”
“...I bought my first AR-15 in 1993,... they cited years of experience to “prove” to me that I had the wrong gun ...”
Picked up my first AR in 1977: used SP-1 made in 1974. Not in the best shape - I suspect the prior owner had no idea how to reload for the thing. Came with a set of dies, which had sustained damage. After repairing them, and puzzling out my own techniques, I was able to obtain acceptable
I see I’ll have to go back to whetstoning my rhetorical techniques.
There is no “right” gun. There are a great many guns out there, designed to fit a specific set of conditions and meant to accomplish specific tasks - at which they perform better or poorer, depending on how insightful the designers were, or how artfully they have been modified since.
But things change. Once one moves into different circumstances, or attempts a different task, performance starts to decline. Sometimes the differences aren’t too large, and the user can get away with using the same gun. Sometimes they can’t.
Bryanw92 is probably prudent to avoid the M1 Garand today. Few have been maintained to US Army Ordnance standards, for many years. They are going downhill; more are becoming unsafe to fire. The operating rod may become the limiting factor: they’ve not been made for decades and the supply of never-used rods is about exhausted.