The old saw about the Militia's rifles doesn't hold true too much. The organized militia's who marched to war had issued muskets - the rifle stayed home with the family to continue it's duty. Many were not heavy calibers and more suited for light game. Very few had multiple rifles laying about the house, the one was considered pretty valuable.
As for the AR 15 not having "warmth," that is usually an aesthetic consideration that avoids the reality. AR's are plenty "warm" - they operate efficiently and ergonomically, without creating a lot of difficulty. It's the civilian rifles that can be "cold," lacking that feature known as being "user friendly."
Approach a lot of field conditions, one hunter with a traditional manual action, the other with an AR, and then see which is easier to deal with. Fence? Unload both, right? Too few manual actions let you dump the ammo in one motion, and unchamber the round in another. Nope, it's a slow feeding and chambering exercise than cycles every round thru the chamber nicking up the bullet nose, and being an individual ND waiting to happen. The AR? Drop the mag and open the bolt, it holds back for the reload.
Which gives me more warm and fuzzies, emptying a gun in two motions, or jacking the action with 6 or 7 rounds feeding every time?
Warmth isn't really in the eye of the beholder, it's in the experience of the user.
Bring it home and time to clean it? I don't care if you carried it in a down pour, the AR only needs a quick wipe down with an oily rag and maybe a patch in the barrel IF you don't have a nitrided one. The manual action one? Get the screwdrivers out for a prolonged session of difficult instructions. Some guns like the Win 94 aren't meant to be thoroughly disassembled in 35 seconds and easily cleaned. Which explains why they have horrible bores and generally get junked from lack of maintenance over the years.
I don't have to clean my AR, but if I want to, I can do it in less than 2 minutes and give it all it needs. Civilian gun designers make them harder to take apart so that gunsmiths get the business.
Nope, no warmth at all in my eyes.
Want to build one yourself on the kitchen table? Well, aside from the Ruger 10/22, you will likely need a press to get the barrel into the receiver while setting the headspace at the same time. Friendly warm procedure NOT.
The AR, you can drop in the barrel with extension into the upper of your choice, torque it enough to clear the gas tube, and move on. Takes about an hour to assemble an AR from a pile of parts. Takes expensive equipment in mass production to fit a manual action barrel. That goes for AK's, too. The designer didn't plan to refit them over decades of us, just make more.
Who's being warm and friendly about your tax dollars? The Air Force and other units still have '60's and '70s era M16's in service. No other First World country can claim that - their battle rifles get junked out or shipped off as military "aid" to third world countries. No sense letting them have the good stuff, they might need to go and settle things down.
We give our allies the right gun the first time and they fix the problems. Our boys stay home for Christmas more often because we don't have to go there. Unfortunately, we have to go to countries where the traditional, "warm" weapons are still in use.
Thanks, I will keep my cold, impersonal machine of war and continue selling off and giving away the "warm" guns that are a pain in the rear in use and upkeep. Now that I'm old enough, I don't have to keep training with my machine of war to deploy against the "warm" guns wielded by sociopaths or criminals in other countries. BUT - I do get to keep mine for protection against those who would use "warm" guns against me.
That's not to say it's all bad - I sold off the cold impersonal military pistols made of plastic and bought a nice "warm" 1911 style subcompact. Warm has a place when it's done right.
