Poconos gunmaker's vision: an AR-15 for every American

An AR-15 semiautomatic rifle sits perched on a rack, higher than all the other things that decorate Justin Moon’s office in the Poconos.

He built the rifle himself, and it rests above his diplomas from Harvard and the University of Miami and shelves jammed with thick economics textbooks and business guides. Last week he sat at a desk beneath it, discussing a dead-serious plan to make that black gun even more ubiquitous in America.

“I mean, every American should really have an AR,” Moon said. “It’s America’s rifle.” ---SNIP--- Moon’s hatred of communism and socialism has direct roots in North Korea, where his father was imprisoned in a labor camp for five years, accused of being a spy for the South Korean government.

45 years ago, one of my customers had a Thompson that sat in the corner of his office. He carried one in WWII and he just had to have the civilian semi-auto version.

I suppose they are still available. some states will probably not allow high capacity magazines.

The very sight of one is disturbing for some people. They don’t bother me.

A friend of mine and previous Freeper LOVED these guns. I hated it.

You had to be hulk to rack the damned thing, and the serrations would tear up your hand. He said “You have to run a few hundred rounds through it”

Not me, thanks. Chunky, difficult to perfect leather for and like you said - a bit difficult to get through a whole mag. It’s the slide, really. That’s why it FTE’d all the live long day.

The build quality is great though. Not a gap on the damned thing. The mags were an issue, IMO they would chatter and rattle around like change in your pocket.

Speaking of “real” guns, I was interested to learn about Savage. Turns out the founder was an interesting character who owned the biggest ranch in Australia back in the Nineteenth Century. After that he got a job with a gun maker - and, with his son, developed the 1895 Savage lever action rifle, the first few thousand of which were produced by Marlin while Savage got his production act together. Savage invented the removable magazine in universal use in military rifles.
But the funny thing was that I learned this in the context of radial tires. Back before the Energy Crisis hit, Americans didn’t use radial ply tires in a big way; they were invented - actually reinvented - by Michelin in the postwar 1940s. And they were always popular in Europe because of their lower rolling resistance than the old bias-ply design which was the prior standard. After all gasoline had always been ridiculously expensive in Europe as compared to America.
After the Oil Embargo hit, Consumer Reports magazine extolled radial tires for fuel economy - and that precipitated a switchover in America to the radial tire, which now is standard with 100% of the market. Goodyear’s CEO was criticized when he bet the company on the radial tire at that time. But other US tire manufacturers didn’t, and are no longer independent. Even Goodyear sold a tire plant in NYS to a Japanese company, Sumitomo, recently.
But the reason that relates to Savage is that Mr. Savage patented the radial ply tire in 1915! Michelin apparently didn’t realize that, and reinvented the radial tire just as Savage’s patent on it was running out.

My wife purchased a Kahr 380 from a private party. Similar experience to yours. Traded it at an FFL for a reliable alternative. Unrelated, Kahr acquired Magnum Research. My wife had a 17M2 semi-auto rifle with a carbon fiber barrel. Kahr converted it to .22LR at no charge including new barrel, bolt and bolt handle. 17M2 was becoming unobtainable and Kahr had reports of unreliability. I had the same rifle in .22LR. Had to replace the firing pin and hammer spring. As originally shipped, the firing pin was cutting the rims on the .22LR ammo. A broader face on the replacement coupled with a heavier spring fixed the FTF and cut rims.

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