Why Military Guns? AK-47s and AR-16s

[Max-the-Silent]

I have a theory about this whole issue.

Outside of tactical need, there is a reason (imho) why individuals purchase semi-auto versions of full-auto mil. type firearms.

Popular culture.

In my fathers generation, the movie hero's came from the Westerns. The firearms they used were the Colt SAA and the Winchester Lever. Guess what gun collectors often collected pre-WWII?

In my generation, we watched WWII movies, and the heros carried M1 Garands, M1 carbines, Springfield 03's in various configurations, 19911 types, Thompsons and BAR's. Loyd Nolan put a 1917 watercooled to good use in Bataan iirc.

Guess what guns I couldn't wait to get my hands on.

The VN era didn't have too many heros on film. Anti-heros maybe.

Then we get to the era of the action hero. They use every self-loader under the sun. Guess what people started buying like they never had before, even though FAL's and HK G3's were available as early as 1959 and 60.

My opinion is that many purchasers of semi-auto mil style firearms are doing so out of a desire to emulate in some way the heros they see on film.

Certainly there are end users of just about every type of semi that actually use the things as intended, but I'd take a swag that many of the buyers of AR's and AK's et al never do anything more than take them out of the safe and look at 'em.

[dondo]

He was one of the bad guys. They did a job with him earlier in the movie; when he acted like an idiot and killed the armed car employees for no reason (because he was an aggressive, evil person) they wanted to kill him to get rid of him. He escapes and betrays them to Van Sant (sic?) who then betrays them to the cops right before their bank heist.

McCauley kills him NEAR the airport at what is presumably an airport hotel. Making the decision to go after Waingro was McCauley's downfall. Had he let Waingro go, and just left the country with Edie, he would have escaped. But, such are the choices we make.

Uhhhh......your new name is Cliffnotes.

[5150-417]

almost every kid grew up wanting to shoot an ar-15 and ak's, to own one in cali was a dream and is now a reality.

[wilit]

Explaining why you buy/collect anything to someone not in the hobby is near impossible. If you 're not into it, then you will never see the value of owning a particular item. For instance, I know someone who collects spoons. She can explain to me till she's blue in the face the value and fun of collecting spoons. If it brings her joy, hooray for her. Personally, I think collecting spoons is a huge waste of time, but that's because I'm not into spoons.

Now, if I were to explain to her why I collect firearms, she would never understand the why I would choose firearms over spoons. If I don't bash your hobby, please don't bash mine.

[subdjoe]

Waingro wrote: "I am sorry if my post offended you guys - I was just curious. "

Some of us are touchy about posts like your intital one because we have given honest answers and then later seen them edited and twised into something almost unrecognizable and being labeled as how "gun nuts" think and why we shouldn't have guns. And just about every one of those ambushes has somewhere in it something like "Hey, I'm new to this and want to ask..."
Heck, look at how Mikey Moore spliced and edited several of Mr. Hestons speaches to get the version he put in his mocumentry.
Once you have been burned a few times, you get cautious.

Now, I, myself, don't much care for the ARs and AKs, although at some point I will get one or two of the AR varients. Why don't I like them? I prefer the look and feel of a bolt action. Or better, something in a Civil War rifle musket. Personal preference. OTOH, I'll gladly play with any firearm you put in my hands. And have fun doing it.

[MudCamper]

Once you fire an AR, you will want one. It's that simple.

[chickenfried]

Also they're very distinctive in appearance. Despite their practical differences most bolt guns look the same, Most lever actions look the same. But you're not going to mistake an fal for an m14. So maybe we do it in part to celebrate diversity.

[DB2]

Now, I, myself, don't much care for the ARs and AKs, although at some point I will get one or two of the AR varients. Why don't I like them? I prefer the look and feel of a bolt action. Or better, something in a Civil War rifle musket. Personal preference. OTOH, I'll gladly play with any firearm you put in my hands. And have fun doing it.

Oh you wait. I never in thousand years thought I would ever want an AK, never. Always wanted an m16a1/clone. Built the AR retro, and then it was all over. Just built two AK's. It'll get you too.

[NeoWeird]

Many people are missing a few key points about military-esque firearms and why they become popular, not just in California, but through out the country.

What you have to keep in mind Slick (I love that someone brought that reference up!) is that these firearms were not choosen because of their military nature, but they were choosen for the same reason that the military chose them. Firearms in the military must meet certain requirments; such as being user friendly even to those that are not as sharp as the next knife. They must be simple yet reliable and dependable. They must operate well under many varrying conditions. They must be able to handle abuse, neglect, and they must be able to be do all of that while being rock-n-roll; on the go. They are usually light for their caliber, accurate, fast, and all around a great firearm.

Many people don't buy EVERY military firearm there is, it's just that almost every military firearm was made a military firearm because it fits the same characterisitics that most people's ideal defense/plinking/hunting/etc gun does. I know very few people, if any, who HAVE to go buy a firearm because the military has it. I know a LOT more who hear about the great new gadgets that were made to meet military requirments and they realize that the same item would be benifiticial to them.

Another great point to military firearms is they are CONSTANTLY being abused worse than we could do in our normal shooting routines and they are constantly being upgraded, improved, etc to meet the higher demands. If the AR was always a civilian rifle chrome lining the bore would probably not be as standard as it is now. We benifit from the fact that people put their lives on the line with these weapons and they demand the absolute best.

Furthermore, many people are either current military or were military at one point in time. They are familiar with particular firearms and they know how to use them, and usually use them well. People that grew up here and learned to drive here, if given the choice, would much rather drive on the right side of the road than the left or center of the road. We are trained in it, we are comfortable knowing we are trained in it, and we are experienced in it; this alone keeps us that way and firearms are no different.

There is of course the fact that there are CONSTANT government contracts going out to many companies to fill their demand. This promotes new tooling, machinery, larger production runs, more employees, bolstered experience, etc. which in the end brings costs down for us civilians. The AR-15 is a VERY advanced weapon and takes quite a bit more production time than most firearms and it requires some pretty special tooling. There is a reason why people like Stag can offer lowers for $100 whereas smaller companies offer the same thing for $200; Stag is already established and at this point in the same they only need to cover base cost, labour, and their profit instead of having to pay off a $1Mil CNC machine, $.5Mil forging press, etc.

So you see, with the sophisticated nature of military firearms, the unquestionable support by producers and consumers, the availability of parts and services, and the general grace, simplicity, and absolute reliable nature of the military firearm the question isn't 'why?' but it's really 'why not?'. Do you really want to spend your hard earned money on a long shot or a gamble, or do you want to get something tried and true?

[Solidmch]

Because it is essential liberty!

[subdjoe]

Oh you wait. I never in thousand years thought I would ever want an AK, never. Always wanted an m16a1/clone. Built the AR retro, and then it was all over. Just built two AK's. It'll get you too.

Oh, I wouldn't mind having an AK or 2 or 3. I would actually prefer that to an AR - krepkii, ne krasivwii. Sort of like the Energizer Bunny, they keep going and going. Not any time soon on either one, though. I'm saving up to buy the cannon I'm storing in my garage.

[bohoki]

i like my ar-15 because at the time i could get reliable 20 and 30 round with fairly cheap ammo reason for the mak90 is cheap and reliable 30 and 40 round magazines and super cheap ammo

my ar-15 has such little recoil the first few times i shot it i thought something was wrong the spring noise is funny though

the ak is very accurate contrary to the myths it is extremely sturdy and a snap to strip and clean the adjustible range rear sight works very well

[Rogerbutthead]

When I saw an AK for the first time, on a TV news report in the 60's - I was under 10 - I wanted one.

When I went to Traders in the mid80's and bought one with 3 mags and 1000 rounds of ammo for around $500 - walked out with it the same day I bought it - I said I was living in the greatest country in the world.

Didn't stop at one, can only state what I have told various people since then - they were on sale.

[dondo]

In a glorious fit of higher thinking, I sold my MAK90 right before the ban. I can almost hear the applause. Thank you..thank you. Since then I have handed my own as* to myself for that move time and time again. Now I can legally own something just as good or better and my *** thanks me for it. I am a sucker for military hardware. I don't even shoot all that much, I like the machine.

[thedrickel]

In a glorious fit of higher thinking, I sold my MAK90 right before the ban. I can almost hear the applause. Thank you..thank you. Since then I have handed my own as* to myself for that move time and time again. Now I can legally own something just as good or better and my *** thanks me for it. I am a sucker for military hardware. I don't even shoot all that much, I like the machine.

Congrats, you avoided registration with the .gov, which IMHO is to be avoided at all costs.

To the OP, again IMHO, it is your duty as an American to want to arm yourself as if you were in the military.