Why are my smartest AR builds ones I dream up for other people?
I've been trying to come to terms with this for a while, and I suspect I'm not alone in that regard; but I'm amazed at just how much better carbine arrangements I come up with for my wife or a friend actually work, mostly because I'm not insistent on some marginal capabilities.
Example - my go-to rifles for myself are a pair of 16" Carbines with low powered variable optics, a flashlight, and a DBAL. This is way better than I had done before, where I was running really heavy rifles with tons of extra junk, but even this iterated things aren't as enjoyable as the rifle I have set up for my wife.
Her setups: a pair of 14.5/14.7" lightweight carbines with fixed front sights, bare lightweight handguards, an Aimpoint H1, X300, and MOD stock on the back (EMOD/SOPMOD). I've had these for a while, and the first time I realized I liked hers better was when I realized I needed something closer (which led me to change to my current pair, but I still failed to pull that off).
What I'm trying to put my finger on is why I have much more clarity on prioritization of features when I'm not consciously making a rifle for myself. My do-all recce is a truly awesome carbine, the 1-6x optic and DBAL both add pretty impressive tangible function, and the match barrel with suppressor at least in theory are big improvements in capability, but the sum total is that her $2000 rifle for 95% of the time is actually slightly better than mine which I've piled 3x as much money into. As part of the outright simplicity, hers is completely ambidextrous (BAD Selector, X300 light at 12:00), and balances a lot better. The favorite aspects of my suppressed SBR are ones which I just gave up and decided to copy from her rifle (the above, plus the handguard), and not the ones I originally had in mind.
Is this mostly an inaccurate assessment of my own abilities, or just a bad assumption that because I'm trying to make carbines that span my entire capability range instead of making simplifying assumptions of the capability of others which end up in choosing more focused tools? I figure if I can better understand this phenomenon, I might be able to do a better job of spending my money on stuff that fits the mission instead of shiny crap that seems like it does that and more.
Why are my smartest AR builds ones I dream up for other people?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TehLlama
subscribed to the pre-2012 Marine Corps logic of 'if you can unscrew the TA-31 mount, you can then add a charging handle', so that does apply.
What? You have to unscrew an ACOG to have a charge handle?
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Why are my smartest AR builds ones I dream up for other people?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Outlander Systems
For the carbine...
Add red dot. Add light. Call the Sumbitch good.
+1, in addition I found a significant benefit from running a steeper angle grip and short VFG with modern techniques.