Proof that AR-15s have a "legitimate hunting or sporting use"?

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Skribs

Skribs

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I know the 2A is not about hunting or sporting. I know ARs are very common in both target and action competition, and that they are very popular for hunting. However, I don't have any sources to back this up.

I'm not trying to take away from the argument that the 2A is about defense, not hunting/sporting, but when someone says "the AR-15 has no hunting or sporting use" it would be nice to point out (in addition to the bit about the 2A) that they actually do.
 
The AR is preferred by a majority of coyote hunters in my area. I have no actual documentation but I'd ask someone that states it is not a hunting tool to prove their statement.
 
you could simply explain that many people use them for hunting. if they contest your claim, you could suggest that they actually talk to some people that hunt instead of being satisfied with being uninformed. my patience with people who are content in their ignorance is essentially no more. i'll talk to them, but the conversation isn't going to be a fluffy one. i'll save my candor for people who, though they may be uninformed, engage you because they are actually interested in becoming informed.
 
All they have to do is google or youtube it. AR's are great for many types of hunting, from hogs to coyotes, and then some. It's not just a .223 caliber rifle anymore.
 
Nemo Arms in Montana has an AR style rifle in 300 Win Mag. With that, all the way down to 22 LR, you can effectively hunt any land animal in North America with an AR of a caliber common for that animal.

Not proof, but a good enough argument for me. (I know I'm not the one you're trying to convince, though.)
 
Coyotes are allergic to the dang things. They are a very effective predator control platform...and the cute little rabbits and quail and small game all thank the AR for performing that service.
 
OK, the answer is so blindingly obvious.

ALL guns are designed to terminate something's life force. Therefore, all guns may be used to hunt.

While an AR-15 may have been designed as a military rifle to terminate a 165 man, these same characteristics make it a perfect rifle to terminate a 165 lb whitetail.

ALL guns will punch holes in a paper target. Therefore a paper hole punching contest can be conducted with any gun.
 
IIRC, Gene Stoner specifically DESIGNED it as a coyote/similar-size game rifle, and IIRC the first purchase from the military was USAF intending to evaluate it as an aircrew "survival rifle." THEN AF Security Police got a hold of it and demanded a select-fire version, then the game was on, and here we are fifty years later...
 
Listen for a wounded rabbit call in the woods in my town at night and follow it. PS - Bring coffee, even during the warm weather it is cold and I will mildly annoyed :)
 
How can you have civilian marksmanship training, in the over-century-old tradition of the national board for the promotion of rifle practice, if you ban civilian ownership of the nation's service rifle?

My son and a family friend took deer with an AR rifle a couple of seasons back. ARs are used by many competitors in the local modern military matches. Also, it is just history, that when military veterans take up shooting as civilians, many gravitate toward what they are most trained and familiar with, whether it was cartridge and leveraction guns after the Civil war, bolt-actions after the Spanish-American war and WWI, or semi-autos after WWII, or ARs today.
 
AR15 in 7.62x39, circa 2005:

attachment.php
 
How about the modular nature that gives you the ability to swap between calibers? IIRC, American Rifleman has an LMT advertisement that shows uppers in a range of non-5.56 varieties: about 7 calibers, I think. I know .243 and 7mm-08 uppers were on the list. Both of those are great for sporting purposes (long-distance comps). Swapping out a handful of parts negates the need to own several rifles if you really like the AR platform.

There's a guy on these boards (can't remember his name off the top of my head) who posts in the hunting sub (IIRC) who knocks out hogs in Texas with his AR built as a .458 SOCOM.

Good luck getting this idea through to people who use this argument. They've already dismissed punching paper in any caliber as a sporting purpose, and generally aren't open to listening to logic that goes against their closely held beliefs. From what I can gather, they're thinking "LALALAICAN'THEARYOULALALA."
 
Them to google images of 'AR-15 deer' and theyll see how many people use ARs to hunt.
 
Don't forget different caliber variants. If I'm not mistaken there is an outfit in GA that uses them with NV scopes for guided hog hunts.

I use a .223 with a 5rd mag for deer/ hog in Fl. Lately I've been using my SCAR 17 with a mag block for deer.

Remington also has an extremely popular version designed for.hunters with factory camo.
 
My 15 year old daughter harvested her first deer with an AR15 this season.

We chose the AR because of its light weight, low recoil, excellent ergonomics for a smaller stature shooter, accuracy, ease of scope mounting, adequately powerful cartridge, and excellent safety selector.

We also enjoy target shooting with it as well and she's an excellent shot at 100 yards with her AR15 rifle.
 
My wife hunts deer with a 7.62X39 Colt Sp1 modern sporting rifle while our more "modern" friends use 6.8 for deer and hogs. The Remington R25 is a 7.62X51 modern sporting rifle.

Ranchers use the standard 5.56 to protect livestock as I do here. I've also used it for 3 gun matches like so many others (AR and modern pistol competitions are more common now than clay shooters using shotguns).

My daughter plinks with a .22lr AR and uses a 5.56 to help protect the goats from coyotes.

It is a lie to say that ARs do not have a "sporting purpose" since they've always been used to protect livestock and entire sports have become popular around them.

Old Colt ads are great for this. This one from the '60s shows it well. There's another with a barn in the background we need to pull up as well. (1960s price adjusted for inflation is around $1000).

attachment.php


ColtSporter-1.jpg

All the varmint variants.
RRA-AR1500.gif

Remington's own site. http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/centerfire/model-r-25/model-r-25-rifle.aspx

Remington R25 article - http://www.americanhunter.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=1961&cid=58
 
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HSO, got direct links to those pictures, and others like them? Good info to refute the "not used for hunting" claims by anti's, and that these are "new and super-duper lethal technology never available before".
 
I think we all need to learn to respond to the anti's with statements like this: Well that is an interesting question, but I disagree with the underlying principle... and then proceed to explain that 2A is not about hunting and so forth.
 
Military guns have always been used for hunting. AR is no different. The 1903, M1, etc. How long was the .30-06 the most popular round for hunting? Long time I'd bet, and that came straight out of the military.
 
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