Many consider the M16 rifle one of the five most innovative firearms in American firearm development history. I would have to agree with this. Yet something equally significant can be said about the semi-automatic AR-15 derived from the M16. The AR-15 may be the most important firearm in American political history.
More Americans have fired more rounds from more AR-15’s for personal defense, defensive firearm training, marksmanship competitions, individual practice, and hunting than from any other rifle. For that reason, the AR-15 is the primary firearm upon which Americans would rely if they had to fight for freedom today. This fact has not escaped the anti-gun masses, the Second Amendment attacks that we as gun owners are invariably barraged with, or the political agenda of career politicians.
Let’s explore why you should own at least one AR-15 and to become skilled in its use.
The Most Important Reason You Need an AR-15
With President Biden holding office in the White House, the political agenda of him and others has really provided for unsure and murky grounds as it pertains to our 2nd Amendment Rights and our Right to Keep and Bear Arms without infringement. But let’s face it, we’ve already been infringed upon. Is it right? No. But it is looking to become worse.
With HR 127 looming on the forefront, followed by whom knows what other infringements and restrictions, as a nation we gun owners could behold a future that does not include the AR platform of guns. Or we could be looking at astringent restrictions and/ or forebode such comings as excessive taxes on guns, ammunition, magazines, and other components as it relates to the AR platform. Such restrictions that do not make it practical or legal to own or purchase. I do hope that I am wrong, but only time will tell. President Biden has appointed staff members that during the presidential race made their anti-gun intensions very clear. Especially as it relates to the AR-15 family of rifles.
Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Being armed is your right and so is the ability to defend yourself, your family, and other individuals against common criminals and others who have the intent to inflict harm should you choose to do so. Handguns can have advantages over long guns such as the AR-15, but they also have disadvantages. Concealment, ability of one handed operation, compactness, and easy to carry are a few characteristics that the handgun has going for it.
On the other hand, a handgun when compared to an AR-15 rifle or AR-15 pistol is lacking the effects of terminal ballistics. Analyzing assorted medical studies, it emerges that handgun shootings have a mortality rate of approximately 15% to 20%. When we examine the use of the AR-15 within dwellings we find that with proper bullet selection that the AR-15 has less over penetration than the 9mm and other handgun calibers. This is due to the size and construction of the bullet.
Usability
The AR-15 is the most useful firearm with which to defend against criminal intent. Not always practical, but the most useful. Why? Because it is a rifle. The AR-15 is the type of firearm most useful for the entire range of defensive applications because they are inherently more accurate than handguns and shotguns.
They are easier to shoot accurately as there are more points of contact with the shooter, you have a longer sight radius with iron sights or a plethora of options for an optic sight.
The learning curve to shooting an AR platform firearm is much less than that of the handgun. We don’t have to worry so much about grip or grip strength. Our stance is not as critical as it is a handgun. We have the use of optics or a longer sight radius. Dependent upon caliber and how the AR is outfitted, the felt recoil and muzzle blast is generally less.
With an AR-15 we are capable of employing it over a greater range, and more effectively in diverse engagement scenarios, than that of a handgun. The AR-15 is more powerful across the greater distances at which they are effective.
AR-15’s can hold more rounds of ammunition. There is also a broad range of ammunition types and bullet styles for most AR platform calibers. This can allow the user to tailor the loadout for plausible defensive engagements.
Vetted Platform
The AR-15 is one of the most validated rifles in history. Americans privately own several million more AR-15 rifles and carbines than the number of M16’s and carbine-variant M4’s in military inventory, and they buy about 1 million new AR-15’s every year.
Over the last 55 years, the AR-15 has been improved more often and in more ways than the M16 and M4, and today it is the most versatile semi-automatic rifle in history. In addition, quality AR-15’s exceed military specifications for the M16 and M4 in terms of accuracy and quality controls related to performance, durability, dependability.
It Is A Semi-Automatic Rifle
It should be common knowledge, but it is not and it is extensively slandered. AR does not stand for “Assault Rifle,” but rather Armalite Rifle. The original manufacturer of the AR-15 before selling off the rights to Colt.
So what is an assault rifle? I do not know as the assault rifle does not exist. You will not find the term “assault rifle” in any military manual. New or old. Where you will find the term “assault rifle” is in the news media, political arena, anti-gun groups, on the internet definition resources that call it a “term” to “define,” and amongst the unknowledgeable individuals. Most of which call a magazine a clip. Kidding…… well kinda.
So how is the term “assault rifle” defined?
- “short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachine gun and rifle cartridges.” In this strict definition, a firearm must have at least the following characteristics to be considered an assault rifle
- It must be capable of selective fire.
- It must have an intermediate-power cartridge: more power than a pistol but less than a standard rifle or battle rifle, examples of intermediate cartridges are the 7.92×33mm Kurz, the 7.62x39mm and 5.56×45mm NATO.
- Its ammunition must be supplied from a detachable box magazine.
- It must have an effective range of at least 300 metres (330 yards).
The AR-15 that is commonly available to citizens is not a full-automatic or select fire weapon. Therefore under the erroneous term and definition of “assault rifle,” the AR-15 is not.
A semi-auto AR-15 provides for much more control of the firearm when shooting, allows for more precision and accuracy, and is a much better suited firearm for self-defense and the shooting sports. These are also a couple of reasons why a lot of law enforcement agencies have moved away from select fire AR platform guns.
Modularity
The AR-15 is the most modular rifle in history. The AR platform can be configured for the practical purposes of firearms. Fighting, hunting, informal practice, or competition.
There are versions of the AR-15 with rifle length, carbine length, and SBR/pistol barrels. Some of which are designed to emphasize accuracy, and some to emphasize durability. In areas where it is legal, there are a myriad of muzzle device options to outfit the AR platform to aid in mitigating recoil and/or reducing muzzle flash. Or with the addition of a suppressor, sound levels can be reduce to hearing safe levels or near hearing safe levels. All of which allow you to tailor the AR-15 to the plausible mission at hand.
They can be had with fixed-length stocks, with the adjustable-length stocks, and currently pistol braces are still a viable option.
Current AR-15’s are commonly equipped with free floating rails that utilize an accessory mounting system. For those AR platform rifles that still accommodate the traditional Mil-Spec style handguards, it is becoming quite popular to convert these over to a free float rail system. A quality rail that is well constructed and rigid in design can accommodate accessories for many uses. Some of these accessories can include white lights, visible lasers, infrared illuminators, and infrared lasers for use in low-light conditions. They may be bi-pod or tripod mounts. There are rail grip accessories available such as vertical grips, angle grips, finger stops, and hand stops that can aid in controlling the rifle or assist the shooter when shooting from unorthodox shooting positions. Quality modern day rails open up functional possibilities for you to equip your AR-15 to meet the mission specific requirements.
AR-15’s can utilize multiple sighting systems. You have the traditional iron sights, back-up iron sight capabilities when using most optics, and off-set iron sights for select circumstances. Most modern era AR-115’s can mount a red dot sight, a low power variable optic, a high power variable optic, or a combination of the above sighting systems.
The sling for an AR-15 is an underestimated piece of equipment. Most would consider it to be an accessory, but it is not on a fighting, hunting, or some competition style AR’s. Slings designed for the AR-15 allow you to support the rifle across your front to be ready for use, stabilize the rifle when aiming, switch quickly between right-handed and left-handed shooting, quickly secure the rifle to your side when transitioning to your handgun, and secure the rifle across your back when you need both hands free to perform some other task.
Easy to Maintain
With a quality AR-15 you will be able to keep your gun running with a handful of relatively inexpensive parts that you can install yourself. With the AR-15 being “Mil-Spec” from most manufacturers you will find maintenance parts commonality across most of them regardless of caliber. There are caliber specific parts such as the bolt, which you may want to keep replacements of on hand as they are a wear item with a life expectancy. You can find “service” components in the BRD Gun Works online web store.
Magazines are consumables. Meaning that they wear, break, and fail. While AR platform magazines have come a long way in their performance and reliability, they are still one of the leading causes of AR malfunctions. You would be wise to stock up on magazines for each caliber of AR that you have. Especially if you want the high capacity magazines in the current political turmoil that we are in.
Use good ammunition and make sure that your AR-15 will run with the ammunition that you have. Certain brands of ammunition are known to be under powered and can cause cycling issues in some AR-15’s. Ammunition related concerns are also a leading cause of AR-15 malfunctions.
Defensive Training
The AR-15 is the rifle most commonly used for defensive firearm training. Regardless of whether it’s a handgun or a long gun, some people believe they are skilled with a gun because they own one. This cannot be further from the truth, and fortunately, most will never find themselves in situations in which that assumption costs them their lives. I like to relate it a couple of other ways. Just because I own a car, it doesn’t mean that I am a race car driver. Because I own a camera, that does not make me a professional photographer. I think that you get the idea.
Anyone who is serious about being capable of using firearms proficiently for defensive purposes should take courses with instructors who specialize in defensive skills training. When you attend such rifle/carbine specific courses, almost all of your instructors and fellow students will be using AR-15’s.
Competition and AR’s
Browse through the various action shooting sports that use rifles and you will see that the AR-15 pretty much dominates these arenas. You can find the same in the gas gun division of PRS. The AR-15 even has its own NRA Service Rifle Match. So I think that it is pretty safe to say that the AR-15 is the rifle most commonly used for marksmanship competitions.
There is a popular belief amongst many gun enthusiast that competitions will get you “killed in the streets.” However, from a defense-related perspective, competitions have value to the extent that they support the use of firearm manipulations, gun handling skills, and execution of core shooting skills while under pressure. Competitions also support training objectives and provide a venue for testing and validating product improvements. Notice that I said training objectives, and not training scenarios or tactics. Scenarios and tactics are learned and reinforced in course specific training.
As they are currently conducted, competitions have next to zero value in terms of offensive or defensive tactics training, but you can nevertheless benefit from participating in the action-oriented variety of them because they include target-shooting stages that will show you some of the skills in which you are weakest, thus upon which you need to work. All while under the pressure of a clock and others looking on as you shoot.
“In Common Use”
Or Constitutional Rights, specifically our 2nd Amendment Right as it relates to this article, is continually under an onslaught of criticism and political attacks attempting to restrict and remove our right to keep and bear arms. The more Americans who own AR-15’s, the more likely the Supreme Court will consider them “in common use.”
The Supreme Court has already incorrectly said that the Constitution protects the right of the people to keep and bear only such arms as are “in common use.” One of the many problems with that idea is that no matter how many AR-15’s there are and how many Americans own them, judges and justices who don’t want you to have them can claim that they aren’t common enough to be considered “common.” However, until that is corrected, the more Americans who own AR-15s, the ever so slightly harder it will be for those judges and justices to do that with a straight face.
BRD Gun Works~ Performance you can afford when you can’t afford failure
