Over the couple of weeks while I was up at Coon Camp Springs, I had a lot of time to catch up on my hunting magazines. Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, and American Hunter make up the bulk of my subscription list, and they have become the “camp library” as well.
Once the hunters were fed, stories told, and everyone else was off to bed, I’d get an hour or two of time to myself for reading. I could kick back with a magazine and a medicinal beverage and let my mind wander.
The evolution of the AR.
Something that kept coming back to me as I read through so many of the articles and ads was the preponderance of new rifles that are configured on the AR platform… the so-called, “Black Rifles”… even though few of them are actually black. You can get them chambered today in almost any caliber, from .22 to .50, and there are specialized accessories from scopes and laser sights to predator lights. They are modularized, and many have interchangeable parts that allow most garage gunsmiths to change caliber, barrel length, and configuration in a few minutes.
Now, personally I don’t have a lot of use for these things. My tastes run more toward the traditional and classic… a nice levergun, a well-made bolt action, or a fine double. Sure, there’s a “cool factor” that appeals to the more gun-crazy side of me, but even then, my tastes run toward the more antiquated M-14 and Garand. The AR-15/M-16 just never did much for me from either an aesthetic or practical point of view.
But hey, apparently other folks are really digging them, hence the huge outpouring of offerings from almost every modern gun maker.
What really struck me though, as I look back over the relatively recent trend, is the huge debt that the firearms industry owes to Jim Zumbo. His infamous posting on the Outdoor Life blog ignited a firestorm of debate and discussion about the merits of the AR platform as a viable hunting tool, and that resulted in a whole new level of interest in these military-styled rifles. (I know an awful lot of what I read immediately after the Zumbo fiasco was the sound of apologists… magazine editors doing everything they could to show that Zumbo’s opinion did not necessarily reflect the opinions of the magazines… but an awful lot was the attempt to capitalize on this hot new topic as well.)
Sure, folks were already messing around with this versatile platform, but following Zumbo’s commentary, the stage lit up. Suddenly, hunting magazines began running article after article about the AR for hunting everything from ground squirrels to grizzly bears. ARs went to Africa and the Arctic, and from bull elk to boar hogs. Whitetail hunters and coyote hunters alike seemed to embrace the new products, and manufacturers have ridden that groundswell until the market is practically glutted with options.
One might even get the idea that the AR platform is a natural, evolutionary leap for sporting arms… and maybe it is.
But to me, it’s just another semi-automatic rifle. It’s just a gun. I’ve written about semi-automatics before, and everything I said then applies to the ARs as well. Not my favorite, but if you like them, go for it.
Anyway, I’m curious. How many of you are using, or planning to use a rifle based on the AR platform for your hunting… whether for hogs, deer, varmints, or any other species?
I just don’t get the allure. Then again, I’m not a gun nut – a gun is just a tool to me, a means to an end.