I just don't get it. Yes I own one....just one, and I have owned it for over 30 years. Colt HBAR. It shoots fine, works fine....
Well, a Colt H-BAR is ...well, if that's what I had I probably wouldn't be all that excited about it either. Neat but limited.
It is fun to play with what the AR-15 basic platform has become and can be. It certainly has become "America's Rifle" and can be a foundation for a lot of neat things -- quite well. As you alluded to, it's sort of the 350 Chevy of rifles. What's so cool about a 350 Chevy? Nothing really. Pretty boring tech, but they're out there powering everything from drag race cars to Jeeps and off-road trucks, to work boats puttering around the bays and rivers. Go fast? Sure! Go slow in granny-gear low-range? Sure! Pull along the convertible for a Sunday cruise up the highway? Absolutely! As the go-to swap engine into any conceivable vehicle larger than a lawn mower? ...and some lawn mowers, too, I'm sure? YES!
If you don't feel compelled by it, that's fine, but you certainly have the back ground to understand it.
but I just don't get the rabid....and many are rabid fans.
People say that sort of thing a lot. I guess I know there are a few fans who are
irrationally exuberant about that gun. But I know hundreds who simply use them and do neat stuff with them, and have them in a variety of flavors and formats to fit their needs and wants.
There's as much addiction to ranting about "rabid fan bois!" as there is rabid fanboy-ism in our gun culture. It is just as unseemly to be an "above it all" and "too cool for school" elitist who looks down his nose at folks who "follow the herd" as it is to be overly enthusiastic about something.
The magazine thread brought this up....I don't get why a product would be discounted if it did not have an AR magazine.
That should be obvious, and I'm sure you understand it just as well as you need to. Some folks have a lot of mags for ARs, and don't feel like buying something that takes other mags. It's simple standardization. If you get two or three mags for most guns and that's all you want or need, this probably doesn't even occur to you. If you have 15-100 mags that you cycle through in competition and/or training, you might not feel like bothering to pick up some other gun and either have to deal with a lot of mag-reloading during those exercises, or have to spend $20-$50 a piece for a pile of mags for that new gun.
If your race car has a 350-based engine and you've got 20 sets of head gaskets, a pile of cams, extra valve springs, spare intake manifolds and such you've collected over the years in your shop, plus 20 years of experience in building and rebuilding and tuning that specific engine, and somebody says, "hey, I think we should put a 351 Ford in the car this year," you'd probably completely discount the idea and tell your pal thanks but no thanks. The 350 does everything you need -- and can be easily made to do whatever else you want. Why would you change that?
The same goes to Glock fans....I don't get it. We have them (glocks) at work and it is just a claw hammer....nothing special....no more reliable then any other pistol (of the same quality).
No gun is "anything special." They're just guns. So?
But the AR guys seem to go well past all that, they decide that a hot rod 22 is not enough, so they start changing things to make them bigger....not accurate enough different "upper" again...not good for that, change this....visit the barbie catalog and start to hang all manner of garbage on the side of a gun.
I don't think this is really a complaint. At least, it isn't one that makes any sense. You're literally complaining that people buy better barrels, triggers, etc, to make their guns more accurate? You're denigrating them for changing to an upper that easily takes scopes and optics? You're denigrating them for dropping on a barreled upper in a cartridge and caliber more suited to their hunting needs? Or a short/light combination that will work faster in matches? Etc,.etc.?
This isn't a legitimate beef. This is simple grousing for no reason at all. (Outside of some self-defeating superiority complex. Literally insinuating a level of elitism based on you being LESS knowledgeable and having LESS understanding than other people. Go figure.) I'm sure it doesn't even make sense to YOU if you really stop and think about what you're saying.
.I have the almost 6 figures in my race car....but again the AR guys go past this.
If you were the one READING such a sentence, instead of having written it yourself, you'd be laughing your butt off that anybody would make such a ridiculous claim. While I'm certain there are a few enthusiasts out there with nearly $100,000 tied up in AR-15s, there sure aren't very many. But there's LOTS of guys who've spent such bone-headed stupid amounts of money making a silly car go just a hair faster down a racetrack. (A pursuit about as practical and of equal eternal worth as knitting sweaters out of your belly button lint.)
I don't mind Religion....it is the fan club members that get too worked up.
And the only thing worse than the fan-boys are the anti-fan-boys -- am I right or am I right?!?
It's like the swarm of fleas attracted by the swarm of rats, attracted by the garbage, you know? Hard to decide which is worse!