The ar. How on earth do you choose?

Over the last years of a democratic administration we’ve suffered a stream of attacks on the Second Amendment that have resultantly brought about the greatest surge in firearms innovation and manufacture since our independence. Never have we been so spoiled for choice! We can have almost any thing we want (cost prohibiting) in 1911’s, polymer pistols and the subject of this post, the AR. Indeed, sometimes the choices can be so crippling that they lead to indecision and malaise, doubtless some of us have even taken to the bottle to steady the reeling mind!

So how DO we choose? When a newbie asks me what they should buy for their first firearm I tell them it truly doesn’t matter because your first gun is never your last. You’ll be hooked and you’ll just go on buying until your bank account or spouse puts a stop to it. If they’re persistent I then tell them to look at three things and these rules can apply equally well to us seasoned addicts when it comes to buying our first AR.

Firstly, don’t look at the gun, look at the maker. Call them and ask about their customer service. If you can’t reach them or they don’t answer your email then look elsewhere. It’s quite simple, EVERY gun - no matter who made it and what space age materials were used - can fail! And if you’re then stuck with something you don’t know how or can’t afford to repair, you’re gonna be mad! Believe me, I know, I have my fair share of paper weights and though I’ve long since stopped caring, I once suffered a lot of annoyance over each of them. I have a friend who only buys guns made by a certain company in NH beginning with “R” (we won’t mention names): he says problems are rare but when there is an issue, no matter what happened they take care of it promptly and at no cost to him. That’s the LL Bean standard you’re ideally looking for and every manufacturer should strive to achieve that.

Secondly, thanks to the exponential growth of the internet, we now have “customer ratings”. Browse the big online gun stores and see how users mark and rate the AR’s they buy. It’s good to have customer service but ideally you don’t want to encounter a problem in the first place so look for reliability as stated by buyers, not the manufacturing company (every maker will say there’s is the best, period). 

Thirdly, I think of a gun like a car. I may want that behemoth of a truck with all the bells and whistles and road-proven intimidation credits, but in reality I can’t afford to feed such a beast. Similarly, it’d be lovely to have a 50cal, but I know for a fact it’d go largely unused whereas my 22’s get lots of action and whole afternoons are devoted to turning cans into sieves. So, it may be that if you want to actually get proficient with your rifle you need to shoot 22LR, no shame in that, any sniper will tell you a 22 will do fine if it’s placed right. So being able to hit where you aim consistently, takes range time. And if your paycheck allows for 308, then I say go for it.

The beauty of a good AR is it’s modular so you can start with the basic rifle in the caliber you want from a reputable manufacturer and know as time goes by you can add every doodaad you like, ‘cos it’ll all fit (um...for the most part). It’s like a Harley, or Lego, buy the basic kit and add as you go. You’ll also discover how well you like the platform before launching full bore into a hefty investment: AR’s are not for everyone, personally (and I may get hate mail for this) I can handle them just fine but I can take ‘em or leave ‘em. I like old school carbines because I simply get more pleasure from shooting them. But that’s me and each to their own.
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Whatever way you go it’s the start of a habit and you can look forward to years of buying and tinkering until you get it right. God Bless America! ED.

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