Patrick Sweeney - The Gun Digest Book of the AR-15

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2005 Gun Digest Books

Published by

Gun Digest Book

An imprint of F+W Publications

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All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a critical article or review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper, or electronically transmitted on radio, television, or the Internet.

Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2005922945

ISBN: 0-8739-947-6
eISBN: 978-1-44022-437-9

Designed by Kara Grundman

Edited by Kevin Michalowski

Printed in the United States of America

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

F irst, let me thank the manufacturers who sent me their product in the hopes I would praise them to the skies, and like them so much Id actually want to buy them, thus saving their shipping department the hassle of re-entering it in the bound book. Seriously, manufacturers take a leap of faith in sending out guns.

So Id like to thank them all for sending a rifle or rifles. In particular, Walt Kulek of Fulton Armory, who practically had rifles here before I finished the cup of coffee Id been sipping when we discussed the project. Tom Spithaler, of Olympic, who kindly answered my questions about how ARs are made and what goes into them. Mark Westrom and the whole crew at Armalite, for allowing me to wander the plant for a day and take photos and pester them with endless questions. Jeff Hoffman of Black Hills, who did his best once again to bury me in ammunition.

And most of all, thanks to Felicia, for her support, encouragement, and for listening to me prattle on about the latest tidbits of AR lore that I might have found each day, and not letting on that I was boring her to tears. Without her help in the beginning, I never would have gotten this far.

INTRODUCTION

F or those of us tuned into guns, a firearm represents a time, place, incident or age. If you see someone in a suit, holding a Thompson, you immediately think Roaring Twenties. The same image, but with Winston Churchill instead of an anonymous person, and you think WWII. If you see a tri-corner hat and a smooth-bore musket, you think American Revolution. (with apologies to my international readers, who may think of some other fracas)

The M-16 brings up a plethora of images, each with a particular time and place. A triangular handguard and a plain green uniform brings recollections of Vietnam. Round handguards and woodland camouflage brings photographs from Central America to mind, or to someone stationed in Europe, Germany, Italy, Belgium or Turkey. And an M-4 and tan/desert uniforms bring to mind Afghanistan, Iraq and whatever else the current situation brings us.

The ubiquity of the AR-15/M-16 rifle is due to exposure and time. While you or I might only have a single drawing of the American Revolution to fix that image in our memories, we have a constant repetition of images of modern rifles, courtesy the modern news media. As an example, several friends of mine, when they see an AK-47, cannot escape the visceral reaction of there is something terribly wrong here while my first reaction on seeing one is to think of the news photo of an AK being held aloft at Wounded Knee. (As far as I know, no one was ever prosecuted for owning or handling that firearm. Never mind that at that time there was no such thing as a semi-automatic only AK, and thus it had to be a select-fire rifle.) They were a few years older, there in the jungle, and I was reading the newspapers at home.

The AR-15 has been with us now for over 40 years. Longer than the 03 Springfield was a front-line rifle, longer than the M-1 Garand, and far longer than the M-14. (Despite the M-14 still being used in many tasks, it isnt a front-line, general-issue weapon.) Despite the struggles of the 30-caliber crowd, the AR has supplanted 30-caliber rifles as the winner in target competitions. It is now being accepted as a law enforcement tool, and is embraced by many as an entirely suitable defensive firearm. There are still some who feel it isnt powerful enough, but powerful enough is not a valid question. If it were, wed still be using rifles with designations that start in 5 or 6 as only those calibers can be depended on to stop miscreants reliably. As in 50- caliber or bigger, although there were instances in the American Civil War of combatants who were shot with .58 caliber Minie balls who kept on fighting. Indeed, there were reports over a century ago coming back from the Indian Frontier about the adoption of a smaller caliber. From British Officers, complaining that the new .303 round did not stop the natives as well as the old .45 had.

The AR is deceptive: It is both the easiest rifle to home-gunsmith, and can be the most maddening to get properly assembled and reliably functioning. When I was a practicing professional gunsmith, during the height of the first (there will be more to come, Im sure) wave of home-assembled kits, I did a good business finishing the assembly and ensuring proper function of home-assembled AR kits that the owners had gotten almost finished. Sometimes they needed a special tool to finish, something too expensive to buy for a one-time build. Or in other cases they needed special knowledge to figure out the real problem, and apply the correct fix, not the obvious and wrong one.

The AR doesnt need any specialized stock work, no sanding, oil-finished wood, or complicated glass bedding. It doesnt need (in most cases) a free-floated barrel or special bedding methods. The triggers are simple, and with a little work or the right parts can be quite livable. And the recoil is soft, encouraging practice, practice and more practice. Where you can beat yourself into a flinch in an afternoon with a 30-caliber rifle, you can burn out an AR barrel on a weekend with no fear of a dreaded flinch.

And for the gadget buffs there is perhaps no rifle on the face of the planet for which you can buy more gear, accessories, add-ons, improvements and just plain stuff. You could easily take a 6-pound AR and turn it into a 12-pound AR by bolting on essential additions. Indeed, target shooters add plain old lead weights to bring their ARs up past 15 pounds, to make them more stable for long shots.

Those who have read my earlier books know my methods in these matters. In order to properly address the field of AR-15 rifles, I needed rifles to test. It would not be suitable to simply photograph and write about my own rifles. For the most part, they are not stock. And they have all been fussed over until they can be depended on for reliable function. And it would not be acceptable to simply digest and re-write the press handouts of various manufacturers and wholesalers. Not that they would lie, but the whole idea of marketing is to remove dispassionate analysis and replace it with lust. So, I needed rifles. But what to cover? There are a host of parts suppliers, and gunsmiths who are at least basically competent to build an AR. Many are more than just competent, and turn out marvels of reliability and accuracy. How to decide which guns, options, accessories and custom features for the first book? I settled on two tests, both of which a manufacturer had to meet, or I would not give a full test and review: They had to manufacturer or assemble complete rifles. And they had to have their name on the receiver. Bob Smith of Bob Smiths Gunsmithing may build excellent ARs for his SWAT and competition customers. But if it didnt say Bob Smith Armory on the receiver, hed have to wait for the second book. Assembly was also a requirement. If a firm offered complete kits, but not assembled rifles, they too would wait. I inquired with all the manufacturers I could find. In the process of writing the book, I found even more than had known of. I figured Id be lucky to locate a dozen makers. I ended up with over 30 rifles. And, I re-discovered the world of marketing. A world where some makers are much better than others.