Survival Saturday

Suns out Guns out Literally

Welcome my dear readers once again to my Asylum. I got inspired to write a new Survival Saturday post. I apologize now because you will see this post at the same time as my editor so please forgive any minor discrepancies that she would usually clean up. You know wild hair and all. There has been much written by many people about the core group of firearms everyone should have, and while I recognize that there are thousands of topics to cover in the world of preparedness the plain truth is that guns are the most fun to talk about, and in my opinion probably the first thing that should be prepped along with the skills to use them correctly. I say this because firearms may well be the only way to keep your water supply, food, or shelter if and when things go pear-shaped. There have been pages and pages written about if you only had one gun, and as I mentioned before what should a person consider the minimum armory to have and be considered prepared. Great arguments can be made for the pump 12 gauge as the one and only if you only have one firearm, and every list of what should your minimum armory be will be slightly different with varying degrees of wisdom behind the selections.

I am not going to do either of those things today. If you are completely new to the world of firearms I recommend you read my introduction to arms (here, here, and here) before you go on. If not or if you have already read those posts here we go. Every list of minimum armament includes a semiautomatic centerfire rifle of some type. Some of the lists get very specific as to what the best rifle is to specific configuration and some just say you need a semiautomatic centerfire rifle in your collection. In this category, there are a lot of options and calibers to choose from, and if I am being honest I was opposed to what I am going to say in the rest of this article up to around 2016 or 2017. It was around that time I became convinced that modern AR-15s and AR-10s (AR platform rifles) were viable options due to advancements in ammunition and rifle technology. Since that time I have ditched 7.62x39 totally (I even traded 3500 rounds of it for an AR one time as I was changing over). If you haven’t figured it out to this point I am going to talk to you about AR platform rifles this week. Please don’t take this as me saying they are the best or even the best for you. Understand that I am only saying they are viable and may be a good choice for several reasons that I will present as we move forward.

The first reason I would recommend an AR platform is that outside of market panics where people are convinced there will be a national ban on Modern Sports Rifles. A ban at this point is almost impossible after the Heller and Bruen Rulings (here and here) but people are still people and prone to panic. The most recent being the end of 2020 into mid-2022 due to the election of Joe Biden when you couldn’t buy or build any AR for much under $1200. The panic is over and once again the AR platform is probably the most affordable of the centerfire semiautomatic rifles (more on this later).

The second reason I would recommend the AR platform is the wide range of calibers the rifles are available in and often you can pull two pins and swap the upper receiver to change between calibers without changing anything else including the magazines used. A perfect example is 5.56 NATO and 300 Blackout. Making them extremely versatile rifles that can be tailored to your specific needs. There are two points to be made about this reason. The first is that there are a lot of new hot Wizbang calibers being introduced on the AR platform and not all of them will make it long term so be aware of that. I know you are safe with 5.56, .223, 300 Blackout, .308, and 6.5 Creedmoor on the AR15 and AR10 platforms respectively. The 5.56 and .308 will be the least expensive and most plentiful options for quite a while to come. The second note is when swapping uppers between calibers that use the same magazines (like 5.56 and 300 Blackout) make sure the ammunition matches the upper or it could result in catastrophic failure (here) and we do not want that.

The third reason is these are the easiest rifles to adapt to close-quarters, mid-range, or long-range applications. I am personally a fan of equipping my AR15s with dot sights (not bigger than 2moa) because they are extremely quick on target and with the proper zero are effective at aiming dead on from as close as 10 yards out to 150-200 yards. As such they are effective for close into the medium range and incredibly fast on target. Seriously where the dot is the bullets will be also. While it is slower to target than a dot First Focal Plane (FFP) Low Power Variable Optics (LPVO) scopes are an excellent choice providing both close-range accuracy as well as the ability to confidently engage targets through mid-range and into the start of long-range when zeroed correctly. The slowest option that provides the best accuracy when properly zeroed at mid and long ranges also typically drastically reduces or eliminates the ability to engage at close ranges are your traditional full magnification optics. These can allow you to effectively engage targets at extreme ranges beyond 800 yards (with proper training, practice, and zero) that are much more difficult or impossible to hit with the other optics options. I personally reserve these for bolt action rifles and other weapons that are both more accurate by default and have a much slower rate of fire that lose their defensive effectiveness as ranges close especially if the opposing force is armed with any semi-automatic arms. Any of these options can and should be backed by “iron” sights in case the optic gets broken or otherwise becomes unusable in the field so you are not left guessing where the bullets are going. There are a ton of options for iron typ sights, but I prefer flip-up post and ring verities that lay flat and out of the way when not needed. I will write another paper covering the different types of optics and sights in more detail soon. I just wanted to give a very basic primer at this point.

While many other arms can be adapted similarly by changing the optics no other firearm in the world can so easily be adapted by changing stocks, forends, grips, cheek pads, or any number of other items to more easily perform a desired function than the AR platform. It is quite literally leggo in firearms form. If you have an AR pattered rifle using quick-connect mounts by marking the clamp points you can swap optics choices, slings, stocks, lights, lasers, forgrips, and other accessories in just minutes or seconds to completely reconfigure the rifle for a different task. While other rifles are trying to catch up with this versatility there still isn’t another semi-automatic rifle in the world that does it as well as the AR platform rifles do. To be honest with the ease of completely changing uppers you can change calibers, barrel lengths, and muzzle devices just as easily. No other rifle has this level of on-the-fly versatility.

The fourth reason is you can (should build) your rifle even with little to no foreknowledge or experience. The AR platform is the easiest to work on from the trigger group to the gas tube. It is also the least expensive option, especially at the entry-level. In over 20 years of tinkering with arms as an amature shade tree gunsmith, I will say the AR platform rifles also happen to be the absolute easiest to build from the ground up of any semi-automatic rifle I have ever seen as well. This not only saves you money but also gives you an intimate knowledge of how the platform works so that if 5-10000 rounds down the road something breaks or you accidentally drop it out of your tree stand you will have the skill and knowledge to repair it yourself. Being prepared is all about self-reliance, and I think knowing your weapon from a box of parts to a finished rifle is a big item to check off of that list. For example, you can build a very nice entry rifle with good optics and backup iron for $487.79 out the door (This is the total price with shipping from my checkout cart. Your taxes and shipping may vary slightly) (here, here, here, and here) these prices are with a Durkin coupon “20OFF” that gives 20% off the build kit (this will expire I don’t know when but if you are on their mailing lists these types of discounts are not uncommon). You will also need to buy magazines and ammunition. I like polymer mags and have found Amend2, Magpul, and Hexmag to be extremely reliable and reasonably priced (here and here). So at 550 or less, you are into a basic rifle with magazines that you built yourself. Is it as good as a $1500-3000 Black Rain or Daniel defense no it isn’t, but it is 85%+ as good and a much better use of your money in my opinion. Those rifles are not 1000+ dollars better than this one. (Please note I get nothing from any of these companies or linking to them, but these are products I use and I have fired thousands of rounds through finished rifles I built using these parts. These are the products I recommend family and friends build their rifles from when asked.)

After you build a rifle from these links you can expect a dependable function rifle that will shoot groups in the 1.5-3 MOA range (MOA is explained in my introduction to arms posts), and sometimes you get lucky and they will group much better than that. The other thing is after building the rifle yourself as time goes on you will be much better able to upgrade the stock, trigger, and other components to better meet your needs and truth the 1.5-3 MOA gun into a .75-1.5 MOA gun (a 2-pound drop-in trigger group can pull more than an inch off a rifles MOA) You can’t do that with many of the other acceptable centerfire semi-automatic rifles.

The way the world is going everyone should have a centerfire semiautomatic rifle if you don’t now get one. This has been my explanation of why you should seriously consider the AR platform. If you don’t already have one, and you should build another if you do (one is none two is one).

At this point, you are almost convinced, but you are asking yourself who is this guy and why should I listen to anything he has to say about firearms? You might also be thinking but the GunTuber Shooty Mc Shot show says xyz brand of rifle is the best and you shouldn’t get an AR under $1200 without optics or whatever else. Well, those guys are right that xyz makes an excellent rifle, but are wrong about having to spend massive amounts of cash to get a decent rifle. I think you should listen to me because I am a guy who has been around and handling arms my entire life. I have been to some workshops and training both in the military and out on defensive and combat arms use (I encourage you to also get formal training you don’t know what you don’t know), and I have spent tens of thousands of hours on the range in my lifetime. All of my knowledge is based on experience in my life. I have handled shot and owned super premium firearms, super cheap junk arms, and everything in between. I have tested ammo in water traps and had 1000 rounds plus range days to stress a particular firearm. While I will not claim expertise (there is a lot I don’t know) I am also at least adept with sufficient knowledge to have an informed point of view. That is what I am sharing now.

On the other hand, I am also a regular guy with a stay-at-home wife and eleven children so I must put in the time to make sure I get the absolute best value for my money that I can. To illustrate this and often the difference between many of the high-end firearms and accessories as compared to the middle-range equipment I present this video comparing a $2500 LPVO with a 200 dollar one (here). There are tons of other videos with similar comparisons and for my money, I will buy the $200 optic every day. Sure the $2500 is nominally better but not $2300 or in my opinion even $100 better. You will find that a lot with firearms and their accessories the bottom tier is near total garbage and the top tier is only marginally better than the middle tier of products. There are exceptions but only enough to prove the rule. I hope that example helps to clarify my mindset on really anything important I am considering purchasing including firearms.

Now that I have convinced you to get an AR Platform rifle and build it yourself be it the first or the fourth. You now need the knowledge to get it done. Enter YouTube there are hundreds of instructional videos of varying levels of detail, camera angles, and verbal instruction (here) So watch a few and select the one that seems to meet your needs for pace, level of detail, and video angles showing the construction.

Luke 23:36

³⁶ He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.

God Bless you

-Sam

PS. I know other gun folks read my work and I encourage conversation and criticism of my point of view. I would love to hear counterpoints to my thoughts as well as other supporting arguments. As such I am opening the comments section to all subscribers not just paid for this post.