Since the adoption of the M14 rifle in the 1950s, the US has not released any later model than the WWII/Korean War era M1 Garand and M1 carbine to the public. The reason is that the M14 has been ruled capable of easy conversion to full auto, or machine gun mode, and the subsequent M16 and today's variant of that, the M4, are selective fire full auto weapons from the get-go. However, a number of M14s and M16s have been released to law enforcement, as have some .45 caliber pistols.
Del-Ton Incorporated (DTI) makes this rifle, the cheapest new AR15 author would be comfortable owning. Prices start in mid-$700 retail range.
Del-Ton Incorporated (DTI) makes this rifle, the cheapest new AR15 author would be comfortable owning. Prices start in mid-$700 retail range.
This means that if you want a semiautomatic M14 or M16 clone, you want a commercial semiautomatic rifle. For the most part, if you like the 7.62mm NATO (.308 Winchester) caliber M14, what you want is the M1A offered commercially by Springfield Armory in Geneseo, Illinois. If you want an M16 variant, unless you're up for dealing with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) for a Class III license to possess one of the relatively few grandfathered M16 machine guns in private circulation, you're really in the market for a semiautomatic, commercially manufactured AR15.
The M1A is a splendid arm, an updated M1 Garand chambered for .308 instead of the Garand's .30-06, and with a quick-reloading, 20-round detachable box magazine. Newly appreciated since the current conflicts in Iraq and particularly Afghanistan showed the advantages of an accurate, long-reaching, high-powered semiautomatic rifle, the M1A is a splendidly practical all-purpose arm. I've even used it for hunting. The manufacturer makes a short magazine for it, for just the latter purpose.
The AR15, however, is the most popular military style rifle produced in America today. After half a century, Eugene Stoner's AR15/M16 has matured. In Vietnam, the M16 created a national scandal when it repeatedly jammed on American troops in battle, sometimes with fatal results. This seems to have been a typical governmental FUBAR. In a series of errors collectively known to soldiers and gun people as "McNamara's Folly," named after the Secretary of Defense at the time, our military ordered ammo made with the wrong gunpowder to save cost, and erroneously told soldiers and Marines in the field that the rifle needed less user maintenance than it really did.
Between firearms and ammo developments, the 5.56mm AR15 system has evolved into a highly useful, highly accurate firearm. I've owned a number of AR15s over the years, and the four currently in my gun safe are all 100% reliable, and will all hold groups of one inch at a hundred yards. For military style autoloading rifles, that is simply phenomenal performance. More accessories are available for the AR15 than for any other rifle ever fielded by a nation's military. There are now approximately 30 companies producing AR15s, including Colt, the original manufacturer and still one of the best. We can expect the M16 in its current incarnation, the short M4 carbine, to remain our military's standard for some time. It is also the standard military rifle of other nations, including Israel.
Expect to be paying around a thousand dollars for a high quality AR15 bought new. Prices range much higher for top brands in specialist configurations. The lowest price I've seen on a good quality AR15 is in the mid-$700 range, from Del-Ton, Inc. Bushmaster and a few other companies offer basic entry-level AR models for a bit under a grand. Dealers around the country tell me that almost without exception, the AR is the best-selling rifle in their gun shops. Remington, owned along with AR15-producer Bushmaster by Cerberus, now offers what they call an R-15 under their own brand. This will further legitimize and popularize the AR15 platform among American sportsmen.
M1 .30 caliber carbines aren't available for $40 NRA anymore. A well-made new Kahr Arms/AutoOrdnance specimen starts at a little over $800 retail; this specimen has the WWII Paratrooper style folding stock.
M1 .30 caliber carbines aren't available for $40 NRA anymore. A well-made new Kahr Arms/AutoOrdnance specimen starts at a little over $800 retail; this specimen has the WWII Paratrooper style folding stock.
In addition to its superb accuracy, the AR is an exquisitely ergonomic platform. The safety and the magazine release button are all in the right places for fast, natural handling. In a home defense gun, you want the A2-style collapsing stock, because it adjusts perfectly between long and short-armed members of the family. When my youngest was 10 to 12, her little girl arms were just right for an A2 stock at its fully collapsed length. She got her own AR15 at 12, and since that was at the height of the Clinton Assault Weapon Ban, I had to use the "lower" of my grandfathered pre-ban Colt AR15 Match rifle to make it. (Collapsing and folding stocks were forbidden "assault rifle" features under that thankfully now-sunset law.) Olympic Arms crafted an "upper" with a 16-inch, lightweight, fluted match barrel. The result was a six-pound rifle that fit a child and shot into an inch at 100 yards.
The primary reason the AR needs more frequent cleaning than an AK is that its gas system deposits carbon and unburnt powder in the feedway—it literally "craps where it eats." New piston-driven variations of the AR promise to cure this problem, but have not yet been in sufficiently wide and heavy use to see if they live up to that promise.
Cursed as an "assault rifle" (an improper term for a weapon that requires a separate pull of the trigger for each shot), jokingly called an EBR ("Evil Black Rifle") by enthusiasts, and now widely categorized as a Sport Utility Rifle in the gun world, the AR15 is a classic American icon. If a Presidential candidate wanted to appeal to both "red" and "blue" voters, he or she might choose as a slogan, "A free-range chicken in every pot, and an AR15 in every gun rack!"
