Doug Howlett - Shooters Bible Guide to AR-15s: a Comprehensive Guide to Modern Sporting Rifles and Their Variants

Copyright 2016 by Doug Howlett and Robb Manning Foreword copyright 2016 by Tiger McKee All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or .

Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. Cover design by Brian Peterson Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-1-097-9 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-1-098-6 Printed in China To J. Guthrie, you may be gone, but you will never be forgottenby me or the thousands of people you touched with your friendship and your enthusiasm for hunting, shooting and life. You remain an inspiration.

Doug Howlett To my boys Justin, Tyson, and Brandon. I pray you always have the right to protect yourselves. Robb Manning CONTENTS FOREWORD BY TIGER MCKEE I t wasnt that many years ago that when someone showed up at the shootin range with an AR, everyone there would gather around and look upon it with wonder and fascination. Today, its hard to find someone who considers themselves an avid shooter who doesnt own an AR, or more likely even, several of them. The black rifle has replaced the M1 carbine as Americas sweetheart. Accompanying this rise in popularity is an abundance of parts and accessories that are available to customize the platform.

Today you can build an AR to suit any purpose or taste. Whether youre interested in competition, hunting or personal defense, the AR can do the job. The key as an owner of one (or many) is to understand why the rifle came aboutits purpose and designhow it functions, and the many ways to modify the weapon to suit your individual needs. I was introduced to the AR rifle at an early age. My dad was in the Special Forces; at one time he commanded the 20 th Group. It was here I got my introduction the tactical rifles, specifically AR-style rifles.

Dad would take me to the armory and pass me off on troops who taught me how to field strip, clean and assemble the AR-type rifle. I read and studied military field and technical manuals on the rifle. The AR was completely different from all the other rifles I grew up shooting; I was in love. In 1980 I bought an original AR-15, which had a 20-inch thin barrel and triangular handguards. Next came a Colt AR-15 A2 H-Bar, which was capable of shooting 1-inch groups at 100 yards. I was hooked.

Things would never be the same. It wasnt long before I bought a lower receiver and parts kit, took my military manuals and put together my own 16-inch CAR. I shot the rifles a lot for fun back then, ultimately using them in competition. I thought I knew a lot about them. Then I made the trip to Thunder Ranch in Texas for an Urban Rifle class. Attending that first class with instructor Clint Smith changed my life.

On the drive back to Alabama, I told my training partner, Ed Aldrich, Someday, Im gonna be teaching there. I worked hard, practiced a lot and eventually got hired on. At this point in time Thunder Ranch was the place to go if you wanted to learn about ARs. Every agency, department and serious civilian shooter in America and beyond came to Thunder Ranch to get schooled up on shooting the rifles. All different type of ARs, including carbines and accessoriesthe good, the bad, the ugly and all in betweenshowed up at Thunder Ranch to be tested. Even the military sent their first SPRsthe Special Operations Forces Precision Rifle, which became the Mk12there for formal testing in 2000.

And there I was, lucky enough to be right in the middle of it all. This was an incredible experience, and definitely influenced the techniques I still teach today at my own firearms academy in Alabama. In those early days there was a lot of trial and error to discovering how a piece of gear worked and what applications it was best suited for. Today, we have more schools, websites, videos and books like this to educate and inform us on the AR, its history and most importantly, its applications. Once you understand the modular system of the AR, its an easy step to equipping or setting one up for what you need. After getting it all together, its time to train and practice, learning how to take advantage of all this firearm has to offer.

This book will help guide you through the process of understanding the AR, putting together your baby and learning how to use it safely and efficiently. Tiger McKee Shootrite Firearms Academy February 2016 INTRODUCTION AR-15 S T HE M OST P OPULAR F IREARMS T ODAY A lot has happened in the tactical rifle world since the first edition of this book in 2011. Just a few years prior, Barack Obama was elected president, the first Democrat to hold the high office in 8 years. To make matters worse, at the time Democrats enjoyed majority status in the House of Representatives as well, a mix that generally results in attempts to restrict gunowners rights. And since the Clinton Assualt Weapons Ban from 1994 to 2004 had placed tactical rifles such as the AR-15 squarely in anti-gunners sights, there was every reason to believe attempts to restrict the guns were on the horizon. The rush to buy was on.

As one gun dealer I interviewed at the time put it, as soon as election returns began to suggest Obamas victory, customers began flooding into the store. And for pretty much the next couple of years, sales overall soared. Never mind that the administrations and Congresss attention became focused on passing the dubiously named Affordable Care Act and no serious anti-gun threats materialized. Where buying and selling are concerned, perception often drives more decisions than reality. At the height of this first Obama-era sales craze, it was nothing for companies to be backordered on every AR rifle they made for as much as a year. Some companies like Del-Ton simply didnt even bother to introduce a new model one year as most companies typically do.

The reason? They were still playing catch up with all of the orders they had amassed in the crush. Friends I hadnt heard from in years, many of them not even prior gun owners, began calling me to see if I had any inside connections so they could buy a gun. I didnt. I was like everybody else out there. I had to wait my turn for guns to become available. AR-15s are no longer merely functional; they are also works of high-performing art, as these Colt Competition Rifles attest. AR-15s are no longer merely functional; they are also works of high-performing art, as these Colt Competition Rifles attest.

Virtually every AR manufacturer was in the same boat, They simply couldnt keep up with demand, a phenomenon that stretched into the ammunition world as well. To solve the problem and make the most of the opportunity, those companies with the capital and ability worked to ramp up production, meaning investment in expanding production capability and hiring more people at a time when virtually every other industry in the country was mired in recession. But ramping up production took time, so the racks at gun shops remained empty and if a shop was lucky enough to get a few guns in for sale, they often went instantly and for two to three times what they had sold for prior to November 2008. Because no records are kept of exactly how many guns are sold in the United States, the next best way of guesstimating the number of guns that trade hands each month and year, at least through licensed gun dealers is to take a look at the FBIs NICS National Instant Criminal Background Check System) numbers. In the month President Obama was elected, even though he had yet to take office, overall background numbers increased by 346,356, from 1,183,279 in October to 1,529,635. The following month was nearly the same.