Reliability of Your Home Defense AR

[Welding Rod]

After considering the risks as a middle class non-drug-using professional living in a virtual "Mayberry" town of about 3,000 people, well away from any major city, I feel perfectly comfortable with any of my Rock River ARs. I would not hesitate to rely on one if I needed to. I have shot them all enough to trust them.

I just don't see my involvement in a legally defendable AR firefight likely. Call me reckless, but in fact I would go so far as to call the odds "remote".

Then again I feel adequately defended by any number of commercial / civilian firearems for HD duty, such as my P220 which is my primary SD/HD gun. To me ARs are primarly inexpensive to shoot sporting goods.

Honestly if I felt the difference in my AR's bolt inspection method or barrel metal could realistically become a "life and death" decision, I would simply pack up and move somewhere with a lower risk. Why put the family at risk by living in an excessively high risk area?

 

[Dr.Rob]

Any defensive arm needs to be shot a lot. Some say 500 rounds is a minimum. I say that's just getting started.

I've got something like 2300 rounds through my Colt 6920 without a jam of any kind, but the first time I had it out (less than 100 rounds) I had to bump the forward assist twice.

I would reach for MY AR without hesitation, though it's not my primary defensive arm.

 

[Zach S]

Aside from using USA magazines, I have a few thousand trouble free rounds through my frankengun - since I fixed the gas block.

Its a CMMG dissipator style upper. I fixed the loose gas block and planned on using a cut down FSB properly mounted with taper pins if it came loose again. I honestly cant remember if I staked the setscrews for the gas block, used red loctite, double set screws, or all three, but it hasn't came loose again... On a side note, the rifle didnt fail when the gas block came loose, I noticed it and tightened the set screws before it choked.

Its really the only "defense" AR I have. My others are pistol caliber or rimfire.

 

[benEzra]

I just don't see my involvement in a legally defendable AR firefight likely. Call me reckless, but in fact I would go so far as to call the odds "remote".

Then again I feel adequately defended by any number of commercial / civilian firearems for HD duty, such as my P220 which is my primary SD/HD gun. To me ARs are primarly inexpensive to shoot sporting goods.

AR's are commercial/civilian firearms, and in a HD role are absolutely no different (and no less defensible) than an 870, P220, or G17. I agree that one is unlikely to actually have to use a defensive firearm, but in the unlikely event you do need one, you definitely need it to work.

 

[Welding Rod]

Of course they are commercial/civilian firearms... "To me ARs are primarly inexpensive to shoot sporting goods."

Legal defensibility has no bearing on my choice to keep my ARs locked up and my P220 out. It is that I believe it is way more likely (though still remote) that an AR left out and accesible would be stolen in a burgalry than it would be likely to offer a measurable advantage in the much more remote chance of a home invasion in a low risk area in a home inhabited by someone living a low risk lifestyle.

I am not going to get out and then put away an AR every day in case someone may break in while I am at home. I have a carry handgun that will most likely be adequate in the unlikely event a fiream may be needed.

Now if a huge asteroid hits the earth, the Chinese invade, or some other large scale need arises, I will go ahead and bust out the ARs and leave them out. If it comes to that, I do have trust in them to function, as I do in every other gun that has proven itself to me through use.

 

[Zerodefect]

I have an safe inside an oak cabinet in my bedroom. I just open the safe when I change out of my work attire and leave the doors open when I'm home.

Then I just close the door in the morning before I leave.

My AR is handy, because I can still aim it's reddot scope (Aimpoint Comp M3) without my contacts in, or glasses on.

 

[sarduy]

i dont use my ARs for home defense but i have no problem with using any of them because i have shot them a lot to make sure they work every single time. i also clean and oil them every time i use them making sure they are 100% same goes for any other of my firearms. my primary HD weapon is a G21 with flashlight and extra mags in the nightstand and a G19 as my CCW, everything alse is in the safe.

 

[Gary G23]

All of my guns are reliable. I wouldn't have anything that wasn't.

 

[DougW]

Any of my AR's that might be used in HD are completely reliable. The newest one needs more rounds, but no failures for any reason since assembly (even the upper). And, all of mine are built by me, so I know how they were assembled and any small issues that might affect their performance.

I also believe in taking good (some might think overkill) care of my rifles, as I don't know what might come up that would require their use outside of target shooting or 3 gun matches. I want them all ready to go, but that goes for all my stuff.