The AR Platform Has Won

"Won" implies that someone lost (well, maybe the ACR). As long as rifles are filling racks and hands, we are all winners (cheesy, I know).

FYI though, that article is over a year old.

Yes there are a bunch of ARs out there for sure.

The economy has helped the sale of SKSs and AKs due to their once held price advantage.

In the past I have called the AR Americas Rifle, that is more apparent every day and for its relatively short time of popularity it has eclipsed many of the classics.
I don't think its popularity shows much sign of waning since many are going for their 2nd or 3rd gun some even more.

The are platform is the Winchester levergun of this century.

Expected to see it fill all the same roles

I was told by one of the participants in the Tampa Bay gun shows, that the AR platform is saturated to the point where the vendors cannot even sell their wares anymore. They can't GIVE them away! I think that those who wanted them..have them. I guess the craze to own one has subsided and the supply is waayyy over the demand! In my opinion, the gun shows are not competitive as they once were. Maybe that's the reason he stated that.

Back in the day Colt had a monopoly on AR production so they could keep the supply low and the prices high. Now AR's are just about a commodity.

Yep I too joined the AR crowd a few months ago with a DPMS Panther 308. I do see what all the rage is about. The AR covers (for me anyway) both the bolt action rifle and semi-automatic need under one dust cover. I don't mind giving up just a little accuracy to the bolt action and have a rifle with broad applications. I'm just now getting into the 308 fan club and I don't know what kept me away. I guess it was the 1911 handgun craze. Sorry I'm late but it was worth the effort.

Sales have dropped off around here but so have sales of the AKs....Pistols are still selling well along with ammo.

I'd argue the 'won' part. There are approximately 10 million AR-15 rifles and variants in world-wide circulation. That is a big number. But for every AR-15, there are 10 AKs (including variants). That's right, there are 100,000,000 AK style rifles in this world. One for every three people in this country, though of course most of these are not on our shores. Of course, both numbers are mere estimations since governments are tight-lipped about production and distribution of military gear.

Source is 'The Gun' by C.J. Chivers.

Of course, Roan, Chivers would be the first to point out that a big part of the reason for the profusion of AKs is that various countries pumped them out, first as a form of political capital to buy allegiance, and then as something that their otherwise-broken economies could produce. If you set all that aside, I suspect there would still be many more AK's than AR's, but it might be a factor of 2x or 3x, not 10x.

In the domestic American market, I would agree that the AR is, and will remain, ascendant. There are a huge number of producers cranking out decent quality basic AR's, a vast array of aftermarket options for easy modification/customization, a built in marketing advantage to being patterned on our military's primary arm, and solutions to every real and percieved problem in the platform. Don't like DI? Get one of the dozen or so different piston designs. Don't like that barrel profile? Get this one. Don't like a 2-stage trigger? Get a single-stage. Don't like an aluminum mag? Get a plastic one. Don't like 5.56? Get a 6.5. Or a 6.8. Or a 7.62. Etc., etc. Anything you don't like about any particular AR can be gotten around by just selecting a different one, or making an after-market modification.

Nothing against ARs but I don't have much use for the .223 cartridge. Too big for small game and two small for big game. I guess it's OK for predators but I prefer a bolt .22-250.

Do ARs come in 30.06?

salty

saltydog452 said:

Do ARs come in 30.06?

salty

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Cobb produced a limited run of .30-06 AR variants. Also look at the MCR 300 for a .30-06 in the style of an AR platform.

R.W.Dale said:

The are platform is the Winchester levergun of this century.

Expected to see it fill all the same roles

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Great way to put it. It is the modern Winchester levergun.

I was fixing to say this (the Winchester thing) but two people beat me to it.

I was told by one of the participants in the Tampa Bay gun shows, that the AR platform is saturated to the point where the vendors cannot even sell their wares anymore. They can't GIVE them away!

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Don't thnk so! I bet if they knocked a couple of hundred of the price tag they'd fly out the door!

Nothing against ARs but I don't have much use for the .223 cartridge. Too big for small game and two small for big game. I guess it's OK for predators but I prefer a bolt .22-250.

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I kinda sorta agree yet every year there are deer and moose taken with the 223/5.56.

I do not understand why someone would want the AK-74 for the very same reasons you mentioned above? But they sell and people have a use for them. I always think of the woman who killed the Grizzly with the .22 pistol. Guess it is whatever works and is handy at the time.

Woodyard said:

Nothing against ARs but I don't have much use for the .223 cartridge. Too big for small game and two small for big game. I guess it's OK for predators but I prefer a bolt .22-250.

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Then don't get a .223 version. Most cars have multible engines available to meet the consumer's demand (economy, power, etc), so does the AR. The AR-15 version can shoot .204 Ruger up to some of the WSSMs. The AR-10 variety has sever .308 Win sized chambers available too.

68wj said:

Then don't get a .223 version. Most cars have multible engines available to meet the consumer's demand (economy, power, etc), so does the AR. The AR-15 version can shoot .204 Ruger up to some of the WSSMs. The AR-10 variety has sever .308 Win sized chambers available too.

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As I mentioned earlier the Cobb MCR can be chambered for anything from .22LR to .50BMG and nearly everything in between including .338LM, .30-06, etc.

It only took 50 years to make the AR platform work reliably. It wins at nothing.

It only took 50 years to make the AR platform work reliably. It wins at nothing.

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Ahh but you're admitting it's reliable.

I believe the reason that the AR market might be flat is so many people are assembleing thier own. This along with the availability of parts and ease that you can build one. I shoot and prefer other styles of rifles but have gotten the erectorset bug as well.

Cheers,

ts