My AR-15

Right off the bat, I just lost respect from some circles. There are many who don’t have such an affair with the AR platform, but I’ll never understand it. Maybe its because they like to be different and have something that not many other people have. Maybe it’s because they don’t like the native round of the 5.56 and are firm believers in the “bigger is better” line of thinking. Maybe it’s more sinister, and they are anti-American and are really just communist sympathizers! Okay, just kidding about that last part. But seriously, what’s not to love about the AR-15?I will readily admit that it had very humble beginnings. It was introduced in a time of war and had not been thoroughly meted out: From design issues to the terrible conditions of jungle warfare, the AR-15 certainly had issues. But fast-forward to the present…a time when the platform has come such a long way in reliability, from piston operated actions (short and long stroke), to specially coated carriers, better and longer lasting lubrication, better ammunition, etc. For this and many other reasons, in the past 10 years the AR platform has literally exploded into the market. There’s hardly a time when I walk into a gun store that I don’t see a newbie at the counter fondling the newest iteration of AR-15 awesomeness: They don’t know the first thing about rifles or even weapons in general, and yet they are wanting to dive into the world of guns….and what is their first pick? That’s right, the AR-15.

Maybe it’s due to the lure and glorification of said weapon types from the likes of Call of Duty, or Battlefield 3 and others. I would certainly say that they have played a big part in the last 10 years and why the AR market has gone bat crazy. Add to that our current president, the #1 firearm salesman of the decade, evil men like those who caused Sandy Hook and the Colorado movie theater shooting, and the calls from the halls of Congress to limit (aka: Infringe) law abiding citizens of their God-given natural rights that pre-date the inception of our Constitution……all issues that have created a “Perfect Storm” scenario that propelled the AR market (and indeed, the general firearms market) to new heights of popularity. It’s the “get it while you can” fear that has caused a lot of people to buy now, or buy more than they normally would.

But these aren’t the only reasons that the AR-15 has become America’s Rifle….It’s numerous configurations; cheap and expensive, blaster or precision, short range and long range, heavy and light, competition and defense….the list goes on and on of different configurations to suit anyone’s needs or wants. And if those categories weren’t enough, there are thousands of options within each category and endless possibilities of achieving the setup of your dreams. Many people don’t do their own upgrades for fear of doing something wrong, but it really isn’t hard to piece together an AR-15. You can do much/most of the work yourself with typical wrenches and a vice. Shoot, there are lots of people who are even making their own lowers from scratch on CNC machines now! The AR-15 has really gone mainstrean now and there is nothing they can do to stop it.

I personally prefer the lightweight AR setups. My philosophy on the AR platform is that it is best served within the 300 yard role. Past that, especially with the shorter barreled setups, it is simply not as effective as I’d like it to be. There are other means to increase the effective distance, however….one of them is changing caliber. I am a HUGE fan of the 6.5 Grendel because of the ballistics and bullet choice. This is yet another example of the AR platform’s modularity. Need more distance? Change calibers! All it takes is a 15 minute barrel and bolt change (if you have the barrel wrench), and start using the new magazines. Or if you don’t want to constantly switch out barrels, you can purchase a complete upper that is dedicated to the new caliber. Not only can a caliber switch-out extend your range, but much like the 6.8×43 SPC, you can greatly increase the kinetic energy level due to the heavier bullets, which translates to heavier hitting power. 6.8 and 6.5 aren’t the only caliber choices out there either….other popular options are the .300 Blackout, .50 Beolwulf, 9mm, .45 ACP, .338, 7mm x 43, 7.62×39…..there are no less than 60 different options! Many are wildcat cartridges that have a special niche in the market, but there are at least 10 mainstream and highly supported calibers.

Below is a picture of my AR-15. It sports a lightweight Daniel Defense 14.5″ barrel, a Seekins Precision/Spikes Tactical 12″ free-floated rail, and is topped with a TA31F Trijicon ACOG. It also has a lot of other internal upgrades for reliability and performance enhancements, like a tungsten buffer, chrome silicon flatwire buffer spring, a Timney single stage trigger (which needed a KNS trigger anti-rotating pins due to its drop-in nature) and some other random stuff. All in all, it weighs about 7lb unloaded with the scope. I am extremely happy with the way it turned out: