CraigC
Sixgun Nut
See, you could've asked why but you chose to make a snide comment and roll your eyes.
Yes, to each their own. Some decide that they've tried long enough to hold a traditional rifle and a traditional flashlight while trying to dispatch the kinds of critters that get into feed bins and chicken houses at night. Or those that turn your property into a minefield. Or those that make their home under yours and spray their enemies with the most horrendous smell known to mankind. Some decide that maybe they need a more specialized tool for dealing with coons, possums, skunks, armadillos, foxes, minks and coyotes. So they go about designing and building a rifle that does EXACTLY what they need it to.
First thing's first, a mounted light. When you need a mounted light, you need something to mount it to. You also need somewhere to place your weak hand to control it. Picatinny rails, crazy as that may seem, work beautifully for mounting a light and a vertical foregrip from which to control it. The rifle has had several different lights over the several years I've had it in this configuration and it presently wears a Surefire M4, which is actually a good match for the rifle's range. The offset Daniel Defense mount is what works best with the stock.
Telescoping stocks are great for adjusting the length of pull right where you need it. Also makes for an infinitely better place to mount a "tactical" type sling, that's actually useful while the rifle is shouldered, rather than your average carrying strap, which is useless for anything but carrying. Every 10/22 aftermarket stock available was examined and the Tapco fit my needs better than the rest.
Not to mention that red dot sight, which is also infinitely more useful at night than iron sights or a traditional scope. Of course, there are backup iron sights as well, with an XO white stripe post that one can actually see at night. Which turned out to be a good idea because batteries die and I've already had one Strikefire croak. It's also no coincidence that the primary aperture is zeroed at 50yds, while the secondary aperture is dead on at 100yds.
If you look real hard, you'll see an extended Volquartsen picatinny rail that I turned backwards, shortened and milled to clear the Tech Sights rear sight. You'd also see four extra recessed mounting screws to keep it secure, since the rear sight used two of the factory holes. I was also careful to space them properly so that the mount can be turned back around and mounted as intended if the need arose. You might also notice that the entire rifle was blasted with aluminum oxide and refinished in Brownells' olive drab Aluma-Hyde II.
So you see, the rifle you're rolling your eyes at is actually a very deliberately designed and carefully built, specialized tool that has accounted for untold truck loads of midnight marauders, including six skunks in just the last week. Unlike all those millions of AR's that people keep for that "just in case" situation that 99.9999% of them will never see, this rifle actually gets used and often.
(My Glenfield 60 has served me well all that time) 
