Why the love affair with AR's?

[hags]

AR, America's Rifle.......it's the most popular "gun" in America bar none. Just look at the aftermarket for it.

If your AR is not functioning correctly then there is something wrong with it, period. They are designed to work and work they do. The fill a variety of roles such as home defense, varmint/hunting, target range, etc.....

 

[cracked butt]

taliv, when you look at the picture, the buttstock is almost completely off your shoulder. Yeah, you get a good cheek weld that way, but because you adapt to the design, not because the design is adapted to you -- the definition of good ergonomic design.

Actually Taliv is correct- if you can bring the sights to align with your eye rather than the other way around, you will shoot much more consistantly and with less strain. On every picture you have posted shooting a bolt action rifle, the person is bending their neck to align with the sights- the alignment in that case is actually helped by the scopes mounted, iron sights require even more contortion. The AR is simple- bring the gun up and plat your nose on the charging handle... you end up with a very consistant cheekweld on the rifle. It doesn't matter if only the toe of the stock is on the shoulder at all. Your cant wil be a little different between positions, but that's why we have windage and elevation knobs.

 

[taliv]

well, when i was talking ergos, i was talking mag changes, position of the hands relative to the trigger, position of the safety/selector, position of the bolt release, charging handle, etc.

some of the things that makes it the most ergonomic rifle ever is that it's ergonomic in several positions as noted above

and that it's that way for left and right handers. as a left-hander, i find i can work the gun in everything from HP matches to carbine classes as well as right-handers. (with slung in prone slow fire being the sole exception, and that only because rules state you can't put 20 rnds in the magazine and instead you have to single-feed them.)

the point really, is that the AR is quite versatile, being just as capable shooting varmints, across-the-course competition, and tactically, and that it's quite ergonomic in all those wildly different disciplines. and even if you gave another gun (like the AK, or G36) the benefit of the doubt and assumed it was as versatile, none of them are as ergonomic in all of those areas.

 

[ArmedBear]

On every picture you have posted shooting a bolt action rifle, the person is bending their neck to align with the sights

That was my point, except the drawings are not the best. Like I said, I like the Weatherby pattern. My head stays upright, the butt sits in the right spot, and I'm looking right through the sights with a solid cheek weld.

if you can bring the sights to align with your eye

Well, yeah. I shoot shotguns. Bringing up the gun instead of hunching over it is called "basic competence." A gun that doesn't allow it is called "a gun that doesn't fit."

However, I expect to bring a gun up to the right spot on my shoulder AND I expect to be looking through the sights at the same time. Not one or the other. REALLY quick target acquisition depends on consistent and predictable mounting, not raising the gun vertically until the sights meet your eye.

Note that it's not always convenient to walk around like this:

There are other rifle designs that mount and point quicker than the AR, and I don't mean the AK or G36.

the point really, is that the AR is quite versatile

I fully agree.