Why do people love the AR-15?

[Delaware_Dan]

I am wondering why people cling to the AR-15 so much? I have shot a handfull and every one of them has malfunctioned at least once during the range trip. They have all been very accurate but for the price people are paying they could have an M1A. They need to be squeaky clean and need expensive ammo most of the time to function reliably so the question is why do people still love this rifle? I cant justify the purchase of a thousand dollar rifle that is not reliable. Am I missing something?

[GAR700]

Mine is very reliable and seldom malfunctions. I would say never but it did misfeed one round out of about 100 this weekend. It is also super accurate and at this point I would choose it over my 22-250 for varmint hunting. Hopefully I can get my loads figured out so my 22-250 will shoot sub-MOA but for now my AR-15 is the one.

GAR

[Water-Man]

Not everyone loves the AR-15!

[bedlamite]

They don't need expensive ammo or be squeaky clean to be reliable. All they need is lots of lube.

[MK11]

From what I've read on these boards lately, your chances of a reliable AR out of the box are higher than a reliable M1A out of the box.

[shooter_john]

I have owned several and still have a few, zero problems with any of them. On top of that, you could take any two of my AR's and you'd still need some change to equal the price of an M1A, or else I'd have a bunch of M1A's... I haven't had ammo issues (I shoot mostly reloads), reliability issues, or any other problems, and I'm not a cleaning nazi with my guns most of the time. That is why I love my AR's. I have built most of my AR's, so I can't claim one brand over another since I've used parts from all.

[SR420]

Water-Man Not everyone loves the AR-15!

+1

And I don't own any M1A's

[Maximus856]

Because its a versatile well balanced weapon. The round has good all around capabilities, has the capability of being very accurate, high capacity, reliable if cared for, not to mention the military uses it.


If the military uses it, it must be the best right?...Right?! But it is a good all around rifle AND if you think you have to spend a grand or more on a good one ya need to look around a bit more.

-Max.

[davlandrum]

They don't need expensive ammo or be squeaky clean to be reliable. All they need is lots of lube.

Amen. The squeaky clean myth, unfortunately, will stick around as all myths do.

Let's see - light, accurate, totally modular, simple enough that anyone can put one together, fun, deadly....

I am surprised everyone doesn't own one!

[Moloch]

I would say never but it did misfeed one round out of about 100 this weekend.

Thats actually a lot for a serious rifle.

Bad ammo?

[T.A.Sharps]

The U.S. Army is using it as the platform for the M110 Sniper rifle that will be replacing the bolt action. That would be a hard thing for them to accept if it wasn't as reliable as a bolt action. Its not a .223, but it is an AR, actually its an SR-25 modified.

[azredhawk44]

Dan: You can build an AR for around $600, or buy one assembled around $750 pretty easily.

An M1A will run you around $1300 for an entry level model.

Ammo is more expensive for the M1A. Much as the AR has ammo quality requirements, so does the M1A. It must be between 140 and 175 grains in weight. It must use a certain range of powder burn rates. It must not exceed a certain pressure. The primers must be of a particular hardness.

AR ammo is cheaper, AR construction methods are cheaper, and AR accurizing is cheaper.

The AR, with an A2 configuration for its sights, does not require horizontal canting of your head when taking aim. More comfortable shooting, though at less precision at close range due to the increased distance from bore to sight plane.

About the only thing that the M1A does better is run more reliably. That, and hit harder downrange (mitigated by the existence of the AR-10). And have a closer bore/sight plane distance in traditional configuration.

The AR's a great rifle. I like mine alot, even with its limitations. I get more range time with it than the M14/M1A because it's cheaper to shoot.

[Delaware_Dan]

I would have one if I had a good experience with one. I am dead on out to aprox 150 yds. with them it's just every time I shoot one it jams. As far as price goes, if I started a thread asking for a reliable and accurate AR for $750 I would get laughs. I feel like a lot of people have spent a lot of money on rifles that just aint reliable. Maybe my expectations are to high but my $209 Saiga has thousands of rounds through it and it has never had a hiccup. Damn accurate too. Not to trash the AR, it is an accurate and well balanced rifle but reliability is slacking IMHO.

[T.A.Sharps]

I used to be a non believer in the AR. But with all the option you have with one, you can go cheap and easy, build it all yourself easily, or get a highly accurized one it is really hard to argue why you shouldn't buy one over any other semi automatic rifle.

If you can afford any other semi auto, you can afford an AR if your concern is only price. If you can't go buy an SKS.

M1As are great, I would love to have one, but I will not be spending $1300 on any toy in the near future, and from what I've seen $1300 is pretty generous.

However i can get a lower and upper a for about $290 for one, and about $350 for the other. $700 is about what you would pay for almost any quality rifle.

[Smaug]

I don't have one. I was thinking of buying one as a pre-ban gun, but I finally decided that I'll risk not having one at all.

I shot them extensively in the Army. Our didn't need lots of lube. We shot them dry, except for one drop of CLP on the bolt.

I bet the lots of lube is what causes them to not be reliable. That lube attracts carbon & grit. Then, they get dirty & unreliable.

I bet you just had a bad AR.

or maybe you were limp-shouldering?

[rocket12]

it's a great rifle,and long as you run decent ammo in it it does not jam
wolf and silver bear are not decent ammo :barf:

[cat9x]

very modular, very accurate, very American

[johnwilliamson062]

get a norinco SKS that uses AK mags!!!!

Oh wait, wrong thread.

No one knows why people like the AR-15 outside of it is what the military uses and it is an elite tacticool EBR.

[zippy13]

Sadly, I love my AR less since California classified my, previously exempt, Match HBAR as an assault weapon and greatly restricted its use.

[shooter_john]

if I started a thread asking for a reliable and accurate AR for $750 I would get laughs.

I'll agree with that statement, you have a good point... I guess I have just been EXTREMELY lucky with my collection of sub-par, out of spec, <$1500 AR's. $750 has been more than enough to put together a good rifle in my experience though.

[Delaware_Dan]

Maybe my Saiga has spoiled me

[The Gunny]

Yesterday You could have gotten a great AR for $750 A Smith & Wesson a Stag-Arms maybe even a Yankee-Hill. But Today.... If the election goes south?.... Look forward to paying double!

[TPAW]

Why do people love the AR-15?

Couldn't say, I don't. I'd rather stay with my Arsenal AK, It never has malfunctioned, accurate enough to hit any man size target with ease at 200 plus yards, cheap Wolf ammo shoots fine.

[kraigwy]

Why do I like the AR, let me count the ways.

Along in about 1967 I was a young paratroor, sent to an little out of the way place where people were trying to kill me with AKs. I was given an AR to defend my self as a infantryman in the 101st Abn Div. The lady served me well. It never failed me. Not once, I crawled around rice paddies, mud, rain and sand. The little AR never let me down no matter the conditions. I've heard rumers how its gonna jam, fail me, and those little guys with the AKs were gonna do me in. Never happened. I had a chance to play in captured AKs and SKSs, I wasn't one bit impressed.

During that live fire FTX with pop up - shoot back targets, My competitiors were using AK,s I was using an AR, I'm here. They arnt.

I bit later I joined the Alaska National Guard. The first three years I was the small arms SGT of a Special Forces Company (A-Team). I was tasked with teaching others American small arms as well as AK and other foregin arms. I failed to see the AK any more reliable then the AR and wasn't no where near as accurate.

One year I was running a sniper school and was contacted by a regular army Cpt who requested I take some ammo off his hands so he could show an ammo usage. He dropped off 30K rounds of 5.56. I sent my armor to the unit to pick up 10 M16s and we went to work. We ruined some barrels, and we turned the gas tube blue but none of the guns failed us.

Later, after OCS, I still heard rumers of the failings of the AR. I was running the markarksmanship until and had control of the the rifles and ammo. I desided to do a test. So I issued myself a M16 and kept it seperate location. refusing to clean it. Several thousands of rounds later it still function. I cleaned it only when I turned it in. It didnt fail me.

I also had an SP1 Colt AR, did the same thing with it. It didnt fail me. I've had a few mags that were defective but no ARs. I rebarreled it to a 1-9 twist barrel so it shot heavier bullets better. Gave it to my son, he also isnt having any problems with it.

I got another colt SP1. Shot if for years without problems. In Multi and 3 gun matches. The 1-12 was ok there but I desided to join the AR High Power Band wagon. I got a White Oak Service Rifle Match Upper. Now this is a very tight, match chamber and I'll admit it was picky about my reloads. When I got that worked out, it serves me well out to 1000 yards.

You can count AKs and SKSs at highpower matches on one hand and still have 4 fingers and a thumb left over. I run high power clinics at 100 yards. I never an AK/SKS that was competive with the ARs.

Sorry folks, I have over 40 years experience shooting the AR, gonna be hard put to convince me they arnt reliable. I've heard rumers. But those rumors have never proved out to me in my experiece or that of those I PERSONALLY KNOW, who have extensive trigger time on the AR.

[dirksterg30]

I am wondering why people cling to the AR-15 so much? I have shot a handfull and every one of them has malfunctioned at least once during the range trip. They have all been very accurate but for the price people are paying they could have an M1A. They need to be squeaky clean and need expensive ammo most of the time to function reliably so the question is why do people still love this rifle? I cant justify the purchase of a thousand dollar rifle that is not reliable. Am I missing something?

1. My AR-15 has malfunctioned twice in about 1,700 rounds - both times due to a defective cartridge. From what I've seen, reports of AR's malfunctioning are greatly exaggerated. One other thing to consider - the AR-15 isn't made by 1 manufacturer; there are dozens of companies making AR-15 variants. Some do it very well, and some cut corners, which can cause reliability/durability issues. That is not a fault inherent with the AR-15 platform; it is because the manufacturer cuts corners.

2. I bought my AR new (a Rock River midlength flattop) for under $1,000 - show me where I can get a new M1A for that.

3. They do not need to be kept squeaky clean; as another poster said, you just need to keep them lubed.

4. Yes, the ammo is expensive. That's the price I pay for having an accurate, reliable lightweight rifle. That's not just an issue for the AR-15 platform. 7.62x51 ammo is more expensive than 5.56x45 anyway.

In short, I think your post contains a lot of broad generalizations that don't necessarily apply.