Beat the rush to the White House: choose a modern black rifle now!
by R. K. Campbell
Contributing Editor
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama recently said that bitter Americans cling to their guns and religion. Faith and family is a long way ahead of guns, but I certainly will cling to my guns—and my faith.
My family was involved in founding a church less than four miles from where I now reside. It happened well over 250 years ago, and during the American Revolution there was some bloodshed in this area. Guns and religion are each part and parcel of freedom, and I will cling to them. But I am not bitter; far from it. I am among the happiest and well adjusted of men. I am not material for Dr. Phil, with all due respect.
Maintaining a good attitude, I am not a doomsayer. Just the same, I am realistic. I am concerned that if the Democrats win the White House, they may attempt to reenact Bill Clinton’s “assault weapons” ban. The measure was also known as the 1994 Crime Bill as in, “It’s a crime, Bill.”
Obama gives me the heebie-jeebies. I dealt with quite a few dangerous individuals during my time as a peace officer but few who endangered the whole republic, although I did manage to put away one neo-Nazi and was quite pleased to see his organization dissolve.
The day the Clinton gun ban passed—“9-13-04—became the name of the game: when many good Americans faced the prospect of becoming criminals. Pre-ban rifles and full-capacity magazines were grandfathered in, but some of the rules seemed obtuse to me, enough so that I simply kept my rifle and avoided any others. Unless the government wishes to reenact Bunker Hill, any new ban would also grandfather in our present rifles and magazines, but whether or not it would sunset as the old ban did in 2004, we do not yet know.
I could enumerate any number of reasons for purchasing a new AR 15-type rifle. Personal defense, sport shooting, hunting, and pride of ownership are all good reasons. I keep an AR-type on hand to keep my son’s skills sharp as he is a military officer. Simply owning a black rifle because you can is a fine reason.
I am not much of a hunter these days and no longer shoot competition. Just the same I am interested in good accurate rifles. Fit and finish are also interesting but reliability is foremost. Reliability is not something you learn about from a 300-round test and evaluation for an article in a gun magazine. That is why my AR rifles are from Armalite and Bushmaster. When I decided to add another AR 15 rifle I momentarily considered possible article slants, but this is a personal rifle. Few of us have the time and money to do a military style test, but we can keep track of high round count rifles. I chose a rather simple rifle, a 16-inch barreled carbine from Bushmaster. Shooting a handful of rifles isn’t a real test program, but I have seen many of these in service. They do just fine.
Some folks build kit guns and that is fine as far as it goes. But all kits are not created equal. Quite a few makers are really distributors of parts and parts guns. Kits are fun and a great past time, but consider this—is the barrel and bore chrome lined? Is the bolt properly staked? Are all parts up to spec or are they rejects? As a cop I never used home-built guns. A friend built a good rifle from Rock River Arms parts, and Rock River certainly offers excellent parts and guns. I would say both the builder and the parts are exceptional. I think that if you purchase a Rock River rifle the price will be forgotten, but the performance will keep on and on!
Much has been written about AR 15 rifles and the book is far from full. I recommend the 7th Edition of Assault Weapons as a good reference for anyone interested in the type. The 5th and 6th Editions are still available and by no means completely outdated. They will give you a good idea of the present state of the art in AR 15 rifles.
The AK 47 and others are also covered, but my rifle is the AR 15. My personal Bushmaster is a 16-inch barrel carbine. I have used this rifle extensively during the past few months with excellent results. Over the years the AR 15 has earned a largely undeserved reputation that it demands extensive cleaning and maintenance. This is not completely true in most of North America and modern ammunition can be very good.
If you use a domestic product—Black Hills, Federal, Hornady and Winchester—you will have good results. Wolf ammunition has worked for me by the thousands, but often demands more cleaning. I have tested very poor Chinese ammunition and as a rule I avoid surplus. Fiocchi now offers .223 ammunition and like most of the loads offered by Fiocchi, this ammunition is clean-burning and accurate. For practice I use inexpensive ammunition. For service use I go with the best product. The rifle does not have to be detail cleaned at every range trip. But it does need to be kept lubricated, the dirtier the gun the more lubrication is needed. Lubricate the bolt and bolt carrier and keep the piece lubricated and you can count on over 1,000 rounds without any problem. I think that AR 15 shooters enjoy their rifles so much they sometimes fire prodigious amounts of ammunition without cleaning and forget to lubricate the rifle. As an example, I have used several thousand-round cases of Wolf ammunition, including both 55- and 62-grain weights, with good results.
Quality magazines are another concern. I have refurbished GI magazines with WC Wolff premium gun springs with good results. Presently I am using a dozen magazines obtained from Bravo Company. (bravocompanyusa.com) These magazines have given excellent results. A word to the wise: stock up on quality magazines. My personal Bushmaster is at over 2,500 rounds with no malfunctions. I have added an extractor spring from Buffer Technologies that those in the know consider an improvement but otherwise this rifle is stock.
Why do I like the AR 15? At combat ranges the rifle is brilliantly fast into action. Hits are easy with attention to detail. Reloading is very quick. And after all, this is our service rifle or close to it. In slow fire work the rifle is more accurate than we would expect from a fixed-sight carbine with a 16-inch barrel. I have tested practically every type of quality ammunition on the market. With the Black Hills 60-grain JSP, the service load, this rifle has proven capable of a 1.5-inch group for three shots. That is nothing to be ashamed of for this shooter and the carbine in question.
The Bushmaster is a good carbine. The AR 15 has merits all its own quite apart from the utilitarian issue. The Bushmaster is simply an enjoyable rifle that is easy to use well. Any reliable and accurate rifle is interesting. And remember, support the Second Amendment Foundation and you are supporting your right to own the AR 15 and other interesting rifles and handguns.
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