Consumerism and the AR15 - Are we here to shoot or to buy?
The amount of money I’ve spent on all things ARs over the past decade plus makes me shudder.
Now, I have more ARs than I can count on two and 1/2 hands (and guns in general) - more than I’ll ever need or want, but yet I still buy shit. Why? Partly an obsessed sickness I’ve come to realize, but mainly because it’s fun and I enjoy it. I’m not an AR builder. Not my thing nor do I have the desire. I’m proficient in knowing how they work and how to maintain them, but I buy good, quality stuff from the start. I shoot about five a lot, the others not so much.
I’m fortunate enough to be in a great financial place in my life which helps. Shooting is my most fun and desired hobby followed closely by flyfishing. I also put a lot of time into training and proficiency.
That said, I have reached a point with my ARs that I’m buying less and less stuff to adorn them with. I say this as I just threw down $1600 for a new Vortex Razor Gen2 E 1-6 and Scalarworks mount... for an SBR... replacing a perfectly good T1. And I swore I’d never put a 1.5 pound LPVO on an SBR... Why’d I do it? It’s the rage, man! Seriously, my aging eyes and some struggles in low light are why.
The night vision discussion is interesting and relatable. A few of my shooting group are getting into NV. “Why have all those ARs you don’t shoot, instead of NV?” they ask? I see their point but if I’m buying NV, I’ll buy good ones which is about a $7000 price tag. One just doesn’t use NV. One needs to train to be proficient. Finding a viable location and someone with knowledge to train us isn’t very feasible. And while the cool factor and tactical advantage is there, the likelihood of needing NV for real in my world is very, very low. I’d rather buy $7000 worth of ammo versus the NVD.
End of the day I don’t see what I do any differently than my friends with other hobbies. I have a few friends who do the car thing. The time and money they spend tinkering with or racing their cars is equal, or the track thing with one friend, far exceeding my AR addiction on an annual basis. Or other friends who snowmobile. Every few years they are buying new $18,000 sleds to have the latest and greatest, then they travel all over the region to partake in their hobby. Time and money.
End of the day, to each their own.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk