Could AR popularity and sales getting low

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"Most people who buy an AR keep it in the closet or go shooting occasionally"

Hey, now I remember, I have a RRA entry-something-or-other-tactical I'd nearly forgotten about. I bought it nearly-new for $800 iirc in 2007. Remembering half-forgotten stuff is almost as good as finding money. :)

The seller had just bought the rifle, but he had rent, a shiny BMW and an expensive girlfriend to maintain, judging by her hair cut, makeup and clothes brands. Nice young couple from the University of Richmond (tuition $50k.)
 
As a longtime bolt man, I could never understand why the AR15 style rifles achieved such popularity to begin with. A local range officer here aptly noted that they "lack warmth". With all due respect, this rifle was designed for use on the battlefield, and it should stay there. Personally I would never want to carry another M16.

On the other hand, the interchangeability of the platform is efficient and it drives significant economic activity. It's gotten huge, kind of like what happened to the V-twin platform for motorcycles.

Maybe they've just gotten old, kind of like what happened in the sixth week of boot camp.
 
With all due respect, this rifle was designed for use on the battlefield, and it should stay there.
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Absolutely true! Just like bolt action rifles.



And muzzle-loading rifles. And long-bows. And...
 
Stoopid me... I pawned my ARs, AKs and dozens upon dozens of very high-quality hi-cap mags and drums JUST BEFORE the last scare. Most of those mags/drums are no longer available!! Prices went CRAZY HIGH within weeks after I pawned it all. I INTENDED to pick everything up before 30 days but couldn't and finally lost it all. The PS made a friggin' KILLING on my stuff. I could have made a TON of money but I just didn't see the tide rising. My bad. Doggone pawn shops... and my lousy luck and lack of vision!!

I panic-sold during a personal financial crisis but I didn't panic-buy during any scare. I do my best to buy when prices are low. I never buy during panic situations when prices are crazy-high. But I do tend to mess-up a lot these days during personal financial crises.
 
stay away from pawn shops.


buy low, sell high. ignore fear and greed.

i don't think there's been a better time to buy AR parts than right now. load up. you'll be kicking yourself later. (assuming your kids aren't going hungry... and actually, i'd rather buy ammo than guns at the moment)


AR popularity is here to stay.
 
As a longtime muzzle loader man . . .
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spitballer said:
As a longtime bolt man, I could never understand why the AR15 style rifles achieved such popularity to begin with. A local range officer here aptly noted that they "lack warmth". With all due respect, this rifle was designed for use on the battlefield, and it should stay there. Personally I would never want to carry another M16.
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As a longtime single-shot man, I could never understand why the Mauser type rifles achieved such popularity to begin with . . . With all due respect, this rifle was designed for use on the battlefield, and it should stay there.

600px-State_Border5-Mauser.jpg
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Never had the desire for an AR in my 55 years of buying guns. After the stupid panic of 2013 died down and I gave my 30 year old Mini-14 to a son for Christmas, they started to pique my interest.

Just bought a S&W M&P 15 Sport from Grabagun near Dallas - $579 plus $5.99 shipping - cheaper than another Mini-14.

Kinda cool little gun and it's well made. If it grows on me I might step up to a Colt LE6920 MP-B, just to have one. (and keep the Sport)

Might get another Mini-14 too, this time in stainless.

Why not?
 
you're crazy to buy ammo. you can have 4x as much shooting for the same money, buying scrap lead and components. Not only should you take a magnet, flat point shovel, bags, and leaf rake to the range, for retrieving brass cases, but also have a heavy box, pointed shovel and frame mounted ratwire. Use the round point to "mine" the dirt berms. A rental metal detector can save you a lot of time/effort in this pursuit. Kids love to do it, and some of them love to sort the various calibers of empty cases, too. Give them some jerky/pemmican and make it a game.

A drop in trigger job, like the Gisselle, changes everything with the AR, along with match grade ammo. The things are like match 1911's, amazing what an old battle clunker design can be upgraded to accomplish!
 
spitballer said:
As a longtime bolt man, I could never understand why the AR15 style rifles achieved such popularity to begin with. A local range officer here aptly noted that they "lack warmth".
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When it comes to a Mall Ninja's M4gery, i have to agree.

But, i find my 24 and 26 inch long barrel, 12 pound, varmint ARs quite elegant with outstanding accuracy.
 
As a longtime bolt man, I could never understand why the AR15 style rifles achieved such popularity to begin with. A local range officer here aptly noted that they "lack warmth".
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A lightweight civilian semiauto as mechanically accurate as a typical rack-grade bolt gun, with well thought out ergonomics and Lego-like configurability. Why wouldn't it be popular?

And what warmth does a Savage 110 or Remington 700 have that a quality AR does not?

As a longtime bolt man, I could never understand why the AR15 style rifles achieved such popularity to begin with. A local range officer here aptly noted that they "lack warmth". With all due respect, this rifle was designed for use on the battlefield, and it should stay there.
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You do realize that the Winchester Model 70 is a military-style rifle derived from an infantry rifle, and was itself a military-issue sniper weapon, yes?

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Then there's the Remington 700, also known as the M24 Sniper Weapons System:

800px-PEO_M24_SWS.jpg

Before them, lever-actions were "designed for the battlefield", but after the Civil War those rapid-fire military-style weapons were enthusiastically adopted by civilian shooters.

800px-Battle_of_Middleburg.png

And before them, there was this military infantry rifle:

800px-Brown_Bess.png

And so on. Pretty much all civilian firearms are derived from military designs, going all the way back to the invention of gunpowder. But that doesn't make a civilian Brown Bess, Henry, Winchester, or AR unsuitable for civilian use; quite the contrary, actually.

As to their popularity, the fact that supply has *finally* caught up with demand doesn't mean they aren't selling anymore. The fact that supply took this long to catch up, despite 40+ manufacturers making them, says a lot about their popularity. The AR has become the rifle equivalent of the M1911 pistol in every way.
 

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I guess you have to mess around with stuff before you understand what it's about. I always thought 1911's were a bit strange having preferred revolvers and SA/DA autos until a few years ago. I bought a 1911 and became familiar with it. Bought a few more and traded for awhile until I found a keeper. I liked them so much that I sold my Sig. My 1911 is now my one and only CF pistol and I shoot it a lot. I recently decided that I needed a rifle so bought an old M1 carbine cheap to mess around with. First auto loader for me. I doubt that I will ever own an AR but I'm not going to totally rule it out. The one thing that holds me up is gun legislation. I live in a blue state and I've seen what can happen. But then I could end up having my M1 regulated also but I'm hoping because it's C&R they will pass it by.

Life is full of new adventures.
 
AR15s are an adults lego set.........

They have plenty of character.... And accuracy, and reliabilty, are easily upgraded, easy to scope, light weight,

Yep..... I hate them too..... And have NO business owning one

Im throwing mine away
 
That explains it, I don't like Legos either - mostly because they became popular after I had developed other interests.

"In 1958 the bricks were improved with hollow tubes in the underside of the brick."
 
I think the AR market has been getting pretty much back to normal for awhile now.
 
spitballer said:
As a longtime bolt man, I could never understand why the AR15 style rifles achieved such popularity to begin with. A local range officer here aptly noted that they "lack warmth". With all due respect, this rifle was designed for use on the battlefield, and it should stay there.
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Semi-auto rifles like the Remington Model 8/81 and the Winchester Model 1907 were available to civilians long before US forces adopted the Garand, and they beat the AR family of rifles by about fifty years.
As I understand it, some 80,000 Model 8 variants were sold before production stopped, so it's not like a self-loading rifle was just entirely unheard of in civilian hands.
In the case of the 1907 Winchester, some of them were adopted by the French and used in WWI. Yep... the civilian self-loading rifle was adopted by the military.

So the AR being so popular today isn't a migration of that type of rifle to civilians - it's actually more like self-loading rifles have come full circle.
 
Armalite in Geneseo,IL just shut down 2nd shift production and laid off 60 employees. They have been a major producer of AR's in various configurations for years.
 
With all due respect, this rifle was designed for use on the battlefield, and it should stay there.QUOTE]

WOW! What do you think US military snipers use? Bolt actions. LOL. I can't go on without getting a warning.

Back to the topic. It is all supply and demand.
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I'm happy to see the prices dropping so much. I just might snag a 6920 in the near future...
 
I was on the verge of ordering an LE6920 MP-B when our water heater broke, so had to settle for a S&W M&P 15 Sport.

Will have to wait a while to get the Colt.
 
Join Date: September 1, 2009
Posts: 1,229
With all due respect, this rifle was designed for use on the battlefield, and it should stay there.QUOTE]

WOW! What do you think US military snipers use? Bolt actions. LOL. I can't go on without getting a warning.

Back to the topic. It is all supply and demand.
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:uhoh:
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