Whats your Assault Rifle of choice

[anymanusa]

I like SEMI automatic sporting rifles, in the following order:

1: Bulgy and Yugo AK's, Tantal, FAL, DPMS 308 -all tied for first
2: AR15's. Their inability to cycle cheap ammo as reliably as the above mentioned rifles puts them in 2nd place.

 

[doc540]

 

[zedheadmc]

.75 Caliber Brown Bess with the bayonet of course .
Keep your powder dry!

 

[tribbles]

For me, it's not an assault rifle, but a semi-automatic version of the FN-FAL battle rifle:

This is one of my sporting rifles, which happens to be the same caliber as a well-known assault rifle type:

 

[xx7grant7x]

M1A all the way

 

[hobgob]

In order: LMT AR, FN2000, M1A. ... Normally the M1A would proceed the bullpup, but i figure you are looking for somethin with a bit more capacity.

 

[BADUNAME37]

Once....

I once owned a .223 Valmet that I purchased new (in the early 80's) that was a real fine gun. I remember I could strip that gun completely down in less than a minute, and could re-assemble in less than a minute. It had Tritium sights and a folding stock from the factory and was one sweet gun. I even had a bayonette for it that was extremely sharp and made by Fiskar (the scissor & knife people)!

I believe this was it:

Sometimes I wish I never would have sold all the guns I had in the past. I would have quite a collection now, had I not.

My philosophy now is that, no matter how tight money is, I do not sell a firearm. I don't have many, but the ones I do have I use regularly for hunting and/or for defense.

 

[Mp7]

get TWO Saigas and plenty of ammo.

 

[USSR]

DSA built Stg.58 FAL with ultra-low mounted Sightron SI 3-9x40 Mildot Scope.

Don

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

i would never buy something made in israel though.

And why would that be?

 

[Nugilum]

for my situation (aka location and such), SKS with A LOT of stripper clips.

 

[SSN Vet]

my "assault weapon" of choice...

one that has "evil" features, is black, goes bang....

AND makes liberals wet their pants...

 

[expvideo]

I like my Polish AKMS underfolder in 7.62x39. I prefer solid stocks, but the underfolder is nice because it can be tossed in a duffle bag. I put a bunch of non-tapco stuff on it, so it's a very capable little HD/SHTF rifle.

Now that Obama is president elect, I've decided to build an AR-15. I want one and now's the best time to get one. If I had a whole bunch of money, I'd probably still get an AR-15.

EDIT: Here's a pic. The smoke mag is just for show. They suck for reliability. Stick to standard steel mags. The underfolder stock has a neoprene cover that keeps it from getting too hot or too cold.

 

[kBob]

Lockingblock,

Pages lost when I moved he keyboard and touched the esc key darn it.

Synoposis follows

What rifle has the best availability of spares and acessories?

Which rifle will a local smith likely know somthing about?

Which rifle will raise the fewest eyebrows by looking like something the local stat and federal police forces might carry and which the Nation Guard and military might carry?

Which rifle are you likely to find appropriate ammo and various choices of ammo down at the local gun shop or department store with gun and ammo department?

Which gun will more available instructors be thouroghly versed in the use of and instruction of?

SOme folks will drop their teeth when kBob seems to contradict many of his rants on this rifle but

I think the AR 15 is the answer to all those questions.

I think you might be able to spend your $2000 and have a useable AR rifle or carbine with the A2 style sights on a fixed carrying handle, a rim-fire adaptor a bit of centerffire and some rim fire ammo and a few spare magazines and get some decent beging training and buy a kids meal at a burger joint.

DO go out and "try on" a few of the rifles like you think you might like. When the guys at the counter and the hangers ons roll their eyes at your hefting the rifles and throwing them up to your shoulder while pointing them in a safe direction smile to your self and know these guys order shoes by mail without trying them on first. If possible find a buddy with one or more of the rifles that will take you shooting or if a rental range is available take said buddy to the range with you and actually fire a few shots from the guns.

Don't trust anything you read on the internet, even THR until you find it to be true yourself, even me. (then how can we know if we can trust the statement to not trust anything on the internet, hmmm?)

Use modern lubes on your AR and learn what it takes to keep it clean and working. Buy spares like firing pin retaining springs, an extracter, exactor spring and retaining pin or better yet a complete bolt, a spare set of gas rings or look on some of those untrustworthy internet posts to see what others keep as spares. (do a search on THR rifles for AR spare parts for instance) Get a decent militay manual on the ARs that has soldier level maintenance and perhaps a technical manual with unit armorer information.

I have been in training classes with Morrigan Consulting where students ranged from never touched a "Tactical Carbine" before buying one (or being loaned one) for the class to federal lawenforcement and military instructors with loads of experience and seen everyone learn something and report a good experience.

Training is more important than what gun. I would rather see a friend with an iron sighted ban period thumb hole stock MAK-90 and the worst run of Chinese urine smelling ammo I ever used, BUT have taken a good three day course on shooting and maintaining that, than a friend go out and buy the latest FNSIGHK with every gegaw ever hung on a rifle for it and only played with it at the range a bit and read and even written favorable internet reviews on the FNSIGHK whatever mark III. (whew , breath kBob)

But what do I know?

-Bob Hollingsworth

 

[Tigerclaw_x]

Well. I do not wish to offend an AR15 fans, but AR15 would be my LAST choice. Here is why: the rifle is VERY touchy as to what ammunition it eats. It is equally touchy to the environment.
My choices would be ANY of the following:
HK33, FNC, FAL, HK91, STG556, AK (any), Steyr Aug. Beretta AR70/90. However, if I had to limit my choice, I would take an FN/FAL or a G3. I preffere 308 caliber to 5.56

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

the rifle is VERY touchy as to what ammunition it eats. It is equally touchy to the environment.

No. No, it's not, actually.

 

[kBob]

Tigerclaw,

I am not an AR15 fan, thus the bit about folks dropping their jaws.

It has not been my experience that ARs are finicy about most ammo. I HAVE used reloads I found to have OAL greater than spec that jammed, but not ammo in spec.

BTW I have seen HK 91 and G3 fail to function with some loads of .308 and rip the rim off comercial .308 ammo.

Of course I have seen sporting ammo and even military issue ammo from ..223/5.56 have rims torn in ARs as well and even GI amo in an M-1A for that mater.

I absolutely agree there are more reliable rifles than the ARs out there. Reliability means nothing if you can not find parts when those rifle DO break down. Reliability means nothing when you can not find a gun smith to fix what you can not.

The OP said Assualt Rifle and to me that limits the cartridges to intermediate rounds see my comments about battle rifles.

I have posted on here many many complaints about the AR as a service rifle.

But ...............oh re read the post.

-Bob Hollingsworth

 

[oneeyenurse]

Bought a Sig 556 last week. Love it. Heavy but a very high quality firearm.

 

[Kentak]

Go with a good AR15 platform in whatever configuration you want. If you've got lots of money for this new interest, there are hardly any other rifles you can throw so much money at for accessories.

And, one big advantage of the AR platform--the ability to swap out uppers in different configurations and calibers. You can go from a 16in M4gery to a 20 or 22 in target/varminter in seconds. You can swap out a DI action for a piston.

K

 

[DJAteOhAte]

For a new AK, your best bet(possibly your only choice) is a Saiga. You can convert it to its original AK configuration yourself, or buy one pre converted.

That's what I'm doing.

I just bought a 7.62x39 Saiga a couple of weeks ago. I plan to convert it to pistol grip configuration and add the bullet guide to accept standard AK magazines.

For $350, you get this:

$130 in parts and two hours time gets you this:

 

[Walkalong]

Whats your Assault Rifle of choice

None. I am too poor.

Now, I do have a couple of semi auto lookalikes. Tactical rifles if you will. I like the AK, the AR, and the Mini 14 myself for dependable, self loading rifles with a capacity greater than say......5.


You can "assault" someone with any weapon, brick, rock, knife, 2X4, ball bat...............

 

[ds92]

My vote goes for the AR-15. With that much money, you can buy a nice DPMS or Colt and customize the living crap out of it. That way it wont be "Standard". Just because lots of people have AR's doesnt mean that they're standard.

But, if your set on a non-AR platform, I would go with an M1A. I know, its not exactly a true assault rifle, but you can make those things look SO mean. If i had $2000 to spend on a gun, you can bet your buttons the next thing in my safe would be an M1A socom II.

 

[JImbothefiveth]

Not trying to hi-jack, but does anyone know if weapons made in Isreal have a reputation for low quality? One person's post made me wonder.

 

[bkb0000]

some do.. i don't know where all in the country Big 5 sporting goods stores are, but go into any of those and you'll see some PIECE OF **** IMI weapons.. generally in the form of M1A's.

that's my only experience with them. Magnum Research is israeli based, and by all accounts the Eagle line of pistols are quality... but again, I've never actually fired any.

 

[WardenWolf]

Personally, I like AK's, particularly some of the newer variants chambered in American cartridges. They're not nearly as inaccurate as some people think, and they're extremely reliable. I look at it from an SHTF perspective: if I don't have time or the right materials to clean my gun, which gun is going to keep working the longest? And which gun is most likely to work when I need it to? The AK is the answer.