Worth it?
You said it right when you said Mauser. Same thing.
AR owners can have a gun they know has been "used" in combat and proven. Not every Mauser has, although undoubtedly far more - that's all because of the "full auto" factor that cannot be sidestepped by any future generation. But, the AR is definitely in the same genre.
If you're one of the 25 million prior service, you know the gun - well enough to likely disassemble and assemble it in the dark.
The "worth" is appreciated by those of us who have used them side by side, so to speak, over the years - M16 in service, and civilian gun hunting on our time. Better yet, if some of those guns were other service rifles.
I've been trained on and shot the 03A3, 98K, G43, M14/M1A, HK91, Rem 700, Win 94, 10/22, and M16, A1, and A2, along with MG's, grenade launchers, and anti tank weapons. I'm certainly no expert, but handle enough of them, and what doesn't work is what you remember as being particularly irksome.
Manual action guns impede getting another shot - you lose the sight picture jerking the action around and getting your face out of the way. Safeties need to be where you can work them easily. Scopes should mount right where you look, not straining your neck or accepting a combination of flimsy pieces that offset the sight picture. The action should help the shooter load, not make things worse by forcing the magazine against a closed bolt, or even worse, then charging it because it's closed on an empty chamber.
Last but not least, it should have acceptable recoil and enough power to do the job. Getting beaten by recoil and having to "recover" from it to regain the sight picture is exactly why so many don't go shooting as often as they do - or substitute "fun" guns like the 10/22.
Frankly, the AR15 has addressed a lot of what is wrong with older types of actions, and assembled more of what is right than any other. That seems to annoy some, because it makes shooting it easy. I don't know why that's a problem - seems like all their trucks at the range have auto transmissions, power steering, a/c, stereo, and can practically park themself. But their manly rifles have crank turn bolts, a rare tree died for the stock, and they chose the worst finish possible to maintain, blued steel, which consumes all sorts of carcenogenic petroleum compounds to preserve.
I don't even clean my AR, anymore than I clean the deck on my mower.
That's why I think the AR is worth it - it helps me to shoot it and makes it fun. So I built one to hunt with, a foliage green A1 fixed stock, A3 flattop dissipator with rifle handguards. Its the best hunting gun by far than any other I've used, and that alone makes it worth it.
