Firearm Rabbit Holes You Just Don't Go Down Anymore

[Business_Casual]

Seems all AK's are up for some reason.

Didn’t Obama ban Russian imports or something?

It’s easy to forget what a bunch of knobs those guys were.

[Doc Safari]

The supply and demand situation of AK's versus M4's has flipped over time. I remember in the 1990's everybody had a MAK90 or an SKS, and you only had an AR if you had money or were "an enthusiast." In the late 1990's and early 2000's you could have Romanian, Bulgarian, Russian, and homebrew AK's of any configuration you wanted.

Years later M4's are everywhere and I literally don't know anyone personally who prefers AK's. And not many people care about full-length AR's anymore. In the 1990's it was "HBAR this" and "HBAR that." All of my AR's were full-length rifles with fixed carry handles up until about 1997 when I thought "maybe I should have ONE flat top." LOL. Later I went back to AK's for the 2000's and then went back to AR's in 2010. I won't switch back again.

[Circle_10]

And not many people care about full-length AR's anymore.

This is kind of a shame as when shooting a fixed stock AR with a 20" barrel you can just tell that's what the operating system was really designed for. Everything that came after, 7" gas systems, carbine buffers etc.. were compromises to the original system driven by the necessities of the time. An "A1" style rifle in particular just handles and shoots very well, and in that case we are still talking about a gun that weighs less than 7 pounds (unloaded)
I realize shorter is better for most "real world" applications these days though and the consumer market likes to follow what the Operators are doing. But there's something to be said for a full length AR-15 both as a range shooter and, if the length isn't a hinderance in your particular situation, as a general purpose "serious use" gun in my opinion.

[Doc Safari]

This is kind of a shame as when shooting a fixed stock AR with a 20" barrel you can just tell that's what the operating system was really designed for. Everything that came after, 7" gas systems, carbine buffers etc.. were compromises to the original system driven by the necessities of the time. An "A1" style rifle in particular just handles and shoots very well, and in that case we are still talking about a gun that weighs less than 7 pounds (unloaded)
I realize shorter is better for most "real world" applications these days though and the consumer market likes to follow what the Operators are doing. But there's something to be said for a full length AR-15 both as a range shooter and, if the length isn't a hinderance in your particular situation, as a general purpose "serious use" gun in my opinion.

I agree, and full-length guns tend to last forever with little parts breakage--or so I've been told. I never shot one enough to be concerned.

[RetroRevolver77]

delete

[Norseman]

Shotguns for me. I have owned 870's, 590's, and Benelli's, all good guns, but........

I kept one rifle sighted 870 for around they the house, but it rarely see's the light of day anymore.

[sundance435]

Chasing the latest caliber...Obama helped me recover from that. Pre OBummer, I thought every new caliber would be a monumental improvement over whatever my latest greatest.

Same. Well, new stuff, anyway. I collect C&R stuff, so there's no way around it for that.

[kerplode]

I used to just buy all kinds of random stuff that I thought was cool, so I guess amassing a collection of random stuff was my rabbit hole.

I need to work on some simplification/consolidation, but so far I haven't made much progress on that front. One of these days...

[Moose-Knuckle]

You do know that place is an anomaly in the desert where unreliable firearms suddenly work and others known for reliability- somehow fail.

I'll admit that I was a bit surprised at the CETME-L (kit gun), AKM (kit gun), Valmet, SLR-104, and the various AR variant tests. Not surprised in the least that the G3 out performed the FAL and blew away the M1A. I might be wrong but I don't think those guys are being paid by anyone and have no personal gain in faking their results.

Depends, when Germany dropped the G3 they flooded the surplus market so much that brand new steel magazines are still only $5, . . .

Whoa, whoa, whoa . . . stop the presses!

Where can a guy score new unissued surplus OEM HK G3 steel mags for $5 these days?

Another rabbit hole I keep trying to go down but will probably never commit to is getting a .308 battle rifle of some sort. In particular I really wanted an FAL for a long time, but I hear mixed things about the most commonly available and affordable ones on the market. Unless I come across a used SAR-48 for a good price I'll probably never bother.

Same here, if I happen upon an SAR-48 Para I'll be on it like Bill Clinton on an intern.

[Moose-Knuckle]

Is that the case for the 7.62 guns as well?

Didn’t Obama ban Russian imports or something?

It’s easy to forget what a bunch of knobs those guys were.

IIRC Barry's sanctions essentially banned both Molot (VEPR) and Izhmash (Saiga) now Kalashnikov Concern. So yes, even the 7.62x39 Russian rifles are going for a lot these days.