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Boston's Gun Bible has the best info on all of this. He rates all the battle rifles (1.M1A, 2.M1 Garand, 3.FN FAL) and dedicates over 100 pages to why he reaches the conclusions he does. Don't get your feelings hurt if he doesn't choose your personal favorite.

In this thread I've seen alot of people advocating lever actions and AR 15s. The lever guns have the advantage of being able to reload or top off in midstream, you don't have to drop the magazine. For guns in a pistol caliber like the .44 Mag you can have a companion piece, and they don't make people nervous. Down side is the power is anemic compared to rifle cartridges, capacity is low, and who cares if I make people nervous. If I have to use this rifle in anger I want to put people down. End of story.

The AR has commonality going for it. ATF has banned any imports that could plasticly compete with it. Those cheap AK's you can get are built on parts kits which have now also been banned. (Get one now before the price goes up) The AR is also very accurate and easy to get mags/ammo and is probably one of the most ergonomic and easy to use weapons out there. The downside is that it's fairly flimsy, the gas system vents directly into the chamber making the weapon maintenance intensive and very sensitive to dirt, it has no operating handle to use when clearing rounds jammed in a dirty chamber, and lastly the 5.56 x 45mm round does not do the job. Soft points are better than FMJ, but the .223 is a varmint round not a manstopper. Hate to sound bloodthirsty, but I've seen guys run away from 3 solid hits with 5.56 at a range of 10 meters. 7.62x51mm (.308) puts them down hard.

In the end however, it is the skills of the person wielding the weapon that matter. Only hits count, and if you can hit with a .22CB cap, it's better than harsh language.