Eugene Stoner (on the right), designer of the AR-15/M-16, the AR-180/Ar-18 rifles and the Stoner 63 light machine gun. He is standing next to some other guy from Russia.My thanks to Irregular Brock Townsend for forwarding THIS from the NRA-ILA. They are responding to THIS column by rabid pro-citizen disarmamnet advocate Josh Sugarmann at Huffingon Post.
All I can say is that Sugarmann, desperate for some good news as he sees it, decided to invent some. He must be smoking his own excrement, dried and powdered.
The way I heard it, KBI-Charles Daly's sloppy business practices, poor quality control and service issues are what sank them. But Sugarmann deduces from an anecdote some sort of "market collapse" for AR-15s.
Huh?!?
Not in my neighborhood.
Now, my favorite Stoner invention has always been this puppy:
The AR-180.I used to own an original Costa Mesa Armalite back before my divorce from the Wicked Witch of the North. (Which was my second major financial wipe-out.)
Loved it. I tried everything to make it jam. Couldn't do it. Never missed a lick. The only weak part about it was the side folding stock, but then it was still superior to the AR-15/M-16, which crapped where it ate and thus was prone to misfeeds. My son feels the same way. (He begged his CO in the 101st ABN during OIF-1 to be allowed to carry an AK to no avail. Reliability in the Iraqi dust being more important to him than accuracy at distance. They finally gave him an M-4 with an M-203 slung underneath. He was only half-disgruntled after that.)
Still, while we are both M-14/7.62 NATO men if we have our druthers, we are in the middle of slowly procuring M-4geries for all our women-folk and the young grandsons coming up -- the lightness of weapon and ammo being more important. In the end, it is all about hitting your target, and the M-16/M-4/AR-15 is certainbly easier for folks of small build to master, more so than the AK or SKS (peep sights being superior to leaf sights).
There is no doubt that the statistics cited by the NRA-ILA below are under-stated. In any case, Sugarmann is full of the same excrement he's been dealing all these years.
Here, read it yourself.
Mike
III
The M-16/M-4 family. Ain't they cute?What's "Collapsing" Here? AR 15 Ownership or VPC?
Friday, March 12, 2010
The BATFE recently released U.S. firearm manufacturer production data showing that during 2008, AR-15s accounted for eight percent of all firearms and 22 percent of all rifles made in the U.S. and not exported. The number of AR-15s in 2008 -- over 337,000 -- is staggering, but may have been topped in 2009. And, at the current rate of production, the total number of AR-15s in the U.S. will exceed 2.5 million some time this year, and that doesn't even count production before 1986, the figures for which are not available.
In other words, the AR-15 market has collapsed, because no one wants AR-15s. At least, that's what Josh Sugarmann, of the Violence Policy Center, wrote last week on the Huffington Post blog, where the fringe gathers to commiserate about everything it thinks is wrong with America. Sugarmann's evidence consists of the fact that KBI has discontinued its Charles Daly brand AR-15 line.
We're not sure what's happening on Sugarmann's planet, but on the American portion of Earth the numbers of AR-15 manufacturers and the AR-15s they produce are at all-time highs. AR-15s have been popular for decades and that popularity is growing in leaps and bounds for a variety of reasons. Innovations relating to defensive rifle use now center on AR-15 carbines. Bar none, the AR-15 in its various configurations is the leading marksmanship training and competition rifle in the country, and there are more kinds of training and competition opportunities built around the AR-15 than ever before. And the advent of new cartridges that fit the AR-15 platform, and which are legal for hunting deer-sized game in most states, are rapidly making the AR-15 one of the most popular hunting rifles in the country.
What's really losing popularity in America are the habitual rants and ruses of groups like VPC, as demonstrated by the fact that Sugarmann and his counterpart at the Brady Campaign, Paul Helmke, can't get their names into newspapers unless they perform a publicity stunt, and sometimes even the stunts don't work. Maybe if Josh, Paul, and a couple of their co-workers buy some National Match ARs, they could enter a team Service Rifle competition at this summer's NRA National Rifle Championships.
We can hear it now. "Team Malcontent, take your positions on the firing line!"
11 comments:
I have two, one in varmint mode (long, heavy bbl, picatinny rail), and the other an A4. Both from Rock River Arms. Several times during service in a far place, long ago, I had malfunctions, or jams, caused by sand in the action; but, not since then. Shooting these new ones has been a pleasure, truly easy to sight and hit where you aim. But, then again, I wasn't under fire either, and the conditions were ideal.
None the less, when the time comes, either, or both, these fine pieces will do what they were built to do so long as I can keep my wits about me. Just in case, because there's always such a case, I tote a superfine M1A from the Springfield Armory.
When I was purchasing that A4 from Rock River I was told the wait could be as long as six months because of the number of backorders. This is hardly what the idiot Sugarmann has described as a falling off of the market for AR-15s. Tell Rock River that, and see what you get for an answer when you try to hurry your order for one of their rifles.
You're kidding about "some Russian guy".........right? C'mon....I know you are.
Mikhail Kalashnikov
Just in case.
Aren't you an M1 lover, Mike. At least the .308 or 7.62?
I have an AR in 5.56 and another in 6.8 and I think it is a very good training rifle since my 17 year old daughter loves to shoot it and burns up a lot of ammo in doing so. It'd be hard for me to take her to the range with more expensive ammo...
Ain't a battle rifle though. They say you can carry a lot more ammo in the 5.56, but then again you'd have to since it takes 5 or 6 rounds to stop the bad guy from shooting at you. Not a very effective trade off really. I'd rather carry 1/5 of the 7.62 and be done with it. In fact, not really cost effective when you think of it that way.
Larry
III
Anyone got the numbers for SKS, AK, or M-14/M1A sales?
I love my AR. It is all you say for someone of a small frame.
That being said, I am working with an SKS and have plenty of ammo for both. Though I cannot say I have ever heard anyone say they had too much ammo. The SKS will not defeat me!
I too had an original Costa Mesa AR-180. Never had any issues with it, one of my favorite weapons.
I made the mistake of pawning it during my divorce from the wicked witch of the east. When I went to reclaim it, I found the pawn shop had been burglerized the week before and it was gone. Still have the original scope mount somewhere.
Regarding the leaf sights on the AK and SKS, Tech-sights and Mojo both make aperture sights for these weapons and others. The Mojo sights fit into the pre-existing sight mount; the Tech sights mount on the SKS receiver, which extends the sight radius.
I plan on getting a Tech-sight for my SKS and Mojos for my Mosins when the .gov gives me my money back this year.
The tired old mousegun arguments get old. Quit using surplus M855 from your shortened M4s and you won't feel that you have to rely on an overpowered 800m cartridge fired from long heavy rifles anymore. The right cartridge in 556 will grant you fight stopping energy as well as all of the advantages of a smaller, handier rifle in modern combat. And you can carry more of them which is important because even Chuck Norris misses more than he hits in a real gunfight. This is, more often than not, an emotional argument for many so I expect people to willfully believe I know not of what I speak. I am confident in my own past and present that I won't get my feelings hurt.
There is a reason that special units who get whatever they want for their teams, including the unheard of authority to transition back to the 1911 platform, still happily carry M16 receivers with short barrels and lightweight stocks. Its size and weight are an advantage in the kind of built-up areas where the fight has been waging for the past six years and, interestingly enough, the kind of built-up areas where the next American war is going to be fought. Do not discard your 308s, but forsaking the advantages of smaller, lighter carbines for the kind of fight that is coming and relegating them to the 'women folk' is foolish.
B
III
M1A1s and M-14s have their issues too. Personally I'd take a Garand over a Fourteen but -06 ammo might be a problem scavenging ammo from field expedient sources.
My AR in Grendel kills things reliably and functions reliably and more accurately than my M1A1 National Match. I've killed a lot of things with 5.56/.332 too. All will depend of the context of what fight you end up getting in. Of course, if you don't have an AR or M rifle there will likely be plenty of them lying on the ground if you change your mind and decide you want one.
Context is everything. I've a bren and a friend of mine has a MG-42 and a Vulcan among other things and those would both all handy at times, but a lot of times you might be happier carrying a M-3 or Uzi instead of a M-4, even...How much else you're carrying and wheres and whys will make a big difference. All a matter of context of usage and ammunition logistics.
Grendel is good medicine. Ammo/brass used to be scarce, but that's no longer the case.
Speaking of cases, there are approaches, e.g.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQgIFscVOE8
for alchemically transforming 7.62x39 brass.
Honest question:
If you aren't using M855, what 5.56 ammo would one consider to be most effective against men wearing body armor?
That said, I carry an M1A. However, this idea that the AR is unreliable because it "shits where it eats" is silly. In 5 years of carrying an M16 in the desert of Iraq to the mud of Okinawa and the Phillipines I have had 1 stoppage.
That stoppage was on a beautiful day at the KD range and soley due to shitty mags.
That goes for all the Marines who ever served with me as well. Mag issues were our only problem. Buy some PMags and stop crybabying around.
Otherwise neither my civilian nor military arms have had issues with the exception of my Saiga AK47. So much for reliability.
Though, to all you who cry about the M1A being too heavy, how about you stop acting like a bunch of pussies and hit the weights? There is no reason an adult male shouldn't be able to handle that rifle.
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