The AR has some very strong interests going for it. First, over 20 million prior servicemen and women have been trained on it. They all have an intimate knowledge of how easy it is to operate and tear one down for cleaning. They all know how to put it back together right the first time. That is the biggest pretrained and sold user group that has ever existed.
It's the one design that continues to influence modern rifle designs - not the AK. First, the barrel extension, which allows a light receiver made of polymer or extruded aluminum. Name a new battle rifle that doesn't use it - the ACR, XCR, ARX, SCAR, L129A1, etc. All barrel extension designs, and most also use the control layout, which is proven superior.
The modularity also carries over, and inventing the Picitinny rail and mounting it on the cutdown upper was a stroke of genius. Now we have a universal optics mount, and every maker can use it.
AR's aren't going away, we're just seeing a bit of a downturn because disposable income in a recession isn't there. AR's are more like smartphones, if you want to do something different or just get it the way you want, they have an app for that. With the same lower and stock, you can do a CQB suppressed 12" in .300 BO, a 16" 6.8 with rifle handguards for deer and hog, a 20" 5.56 with scope and bipod for prairie dogs, or a 24" 6.5G for precision shooting at 600m. And that leaves out the big bores, and the AR10, too.
Can you do that with an AK? Can you even build four different AK's like that, and have all the parts ship to your front door and assemble them next week Thursday afternoon?
What's horribly ironic is that the American shooter finally gets a gun that he can make his way with very little complication or hassle, from .204 Ruger to .50 BMG, and yet some people just don't see it as exactly what we've been wanting for decades and couldn't get from all the makers. They would never cooperate and deliver one platform to do it - but like the internet, now we have it, and we're not likely to go back to a world where every gun was a unique proprietary action and good luck finding accessories. Yet, some still complain about it.
It's Lego, it eats it own residue, it's underpowered, whatever. What they won't do is quit carping about it. Here's why - IT'S THE ACKNOWLEDGED LEADER IN DOING NEARLY EVERYTHING BETTER. They don't pick on something universally regarded as a poor design, they set their sights for the Big Kahuna, the front runner, the One.
It's just starting to hit it's stride. If the Army picks a new non-compatible design, it will just fuel the fire even more.
The AR-15. It's here to stay.
