So, little confession... I've always been a bolt gun snob. For whatever reasons, some I could explain, others I might not be able to explain, some reasons real, some reasons probably not so real, I just never cared for ARs.
Shot just a very few, just a little bit, here and there over the years. Of those few times, I... Hated the triggers, hated the sprong, hated the stocks, hated how loud they were, hated the lousy accuracy (of the few I shot). Oh, and I hated the way they looked, too
.
I, personally, NEVER saw ANYONE shoot worth a crap with an AR in the field. Not that I was ever around many of them. But I'd go out bunny blasting once in awhile with guys using ARs and they invariably used four times as much ammo to kill one fourth as many rabbits as I would with my bolt guns. I've taken a handful of guys calling over the years that brought ARs and couldn't seem to make a clean kill on a coyote to save their ever loving lives. More misses and leg hits and gut shots and spinning yipping running escaping coyotes from one guy in one trip using an AR than I was accustomed to seeing in an entire season.
ARs just felt alien and foreign in my hands and unpleasant to shoot and I couldn't really imagine myself ever shooting well with one. So, I never owned one. Or wanted to own one.
But then, just this past season...
I got to shoot a friends "nice" AR doing some night hunting this year and the trigger wasn't horrible and it didn't sprong and it was suppressed so it wasn't stupidly loud and I actually hit pretty much whatever I shot at and killed coyote cleanly with it.
Went hunting with another friend, Steve, that uses ARs and he had no trouble dispatching his fair share of an 8 coyote day with it, including a triple he collected by himself while I watched helplessly with a shotgun. And in fact the only coyotes hit and lost that day were by me (shotgun...).
Steve has been telling me for a long time that the ergos on the AR make it just super easy to shoot well with. I just couldn't see it. I believed it was true "for him". But I didn't believe it could be true "for me".
So then, some stuff happened and things just lined up to where I decided I wanted an AR. So, I bought one.
Have only had it about a month. Long enough to now know, I was just wrong, wrong, wrong about the AR. Have put almost 600 rounds through it so far, in about a month. About 250 from the bench testing loads. And another 350 in two days of jump shooting jackrabbits.
The AR is the bestest most funnest most awesome bunny blaster EVER!
And, what I'm really writing to say here, all that stuff I had in my head about not being able to shoot one well because of how funky they are, that was just a bunch of hooey. I can't hardly believe how well I'm shooting with this thing in the field. Off hand, or occasionally kneeling, on jack rabbits, both the running and sitting variety. In the two days of using it on jacks, I've killed somewhere between about 150 and 175 jacks with it. Lot's of those have been jumped up nearly at my feet, gun comes up, sight picture is there, gun goes bang (soft bang, suppressed) and rabbit goes splat. All in about 1.5 seconds. Not infrequently in mid air, mid leap.
Bunnies sitting at 75 yards off hand, bang, splat. Bunnies sitting at 150 yards, take a knee, bang, splat. Bunnies hauling ace doing 30 MPH over the snow let to right, bang-bang-bang-splat. Okay, took me four, some even five, six shots, but when it comes to a full speed bunny, if it ends up getting skidded across the snow, I don't take those misses personal
.
Yesterday, on one walk, I just got into the zone with it. Jacks were hopping up all around me in the snow and I was just on FIRE with that rifle. I was running off strings of six and seven hits in a row before missing. Had to start back for the Jeep after only about 500 yards because I was already into my second 20 round mag. Ended up killing over 30 jacks with 40 shots in 20 minutes. Just couldn't hardly believe it. I've turned into a LOUSY shot in recent years. Haven't run off a string of death like that in a LONG time!
Anyway... Just wanted to get it off my chest. I was a bolt gun snob. And I was wrong! This thing is as easy to shoot well as my friend has been trying to tell me. I'm still surprised by it. But I'm sure having a lot of fun with it. And that, really, is the thing. This rifle is just plain FUN!
- DAA
This post is nominated for Hunter of the Month. Sorry, the nifty little .gif isn't rotating, so all you see is "Nominated" for now.
Shot just a very few, just a little bit, here and there over the years. Of those few times, I... Hated the triggers, hated the sprong, hated the stocks, hated how loud they were, hated the lousy accuracy (of the few I shot). Oh, and I hated the way they looked, too
I, personally, NEVER saw ANYONE shoot worth a crap with an AR in the field. Not that I was ever around many of them. But I'd go out bunny blasting once in awhile with guys using ARs and they invariably used four times as much ammo to kill one fourth as many rabbits as I would with my bolt guns. I've taken a handful of guys calling over the years that brought ARs and couldn't seem to make a clean kill on a coyote to save their ever loving lives. More misses and leg hits and gut shots and spinning yipping running escaping coyotes from one guy in one trip using an AR than I was accustomed to seeing in an entire season.
ARs just felt alien and foreign in my hands and unpleasant to shoot and I couldn't really imagine myself ever shooting well with one. So, I never owned one. Or wanted to own one.
But then, just this past season...
I got to shoot a friends "nice" AR doing some night hunting this year and the trigger wasn't horrible and it didn't sprong and it was suppressed so it wasn't stupidly loud and I actually hit pretty much whatever I shot at and killed coyote cleanly with it.
Went hunting with another friend, Steve, that uses ARs and he had no trouble dispatching his fair share of an 8 coyote day with it, including a triple he collected by himself while I watched helplessly with a shotgun. And in fact the only coyotes hit and lost that day were by me (shotgun...).
Steve has been telling me for a long time that the ergos on the AR make it just super easy to shoot well with. I just couldn't see it. I believed it was true "for him". But I didn't believe it could be true "for me".
So then, some stuff happened and things just lined up to where I decided I wanted an AR. So, I bought one.
Have only had it about a month. Long enough to now know, I was just wrong, wrong, wrong about the AR. Have put almost 600 rounds through it so far, in about a month. About 250 from the bench testing loads. And another 350 in two days of jump shooting jackrabbits.
The AR is the bestest most funnest most awesome bunny blaster EVER!
And, what I'm really writing to say here, all that stuff I had in my head about not being able to shoot one well because of how funky they are, that was just a bunch of hooey. I can't hardly believe how well I'm shooting with this thing in the field. Off hand, or occasionally kneeling, on jack rabbits, both the running and sitting variety. In the two days of using it on jacks, I've killed somewhere between about 150 and 175 jacks with it. Lot's of those have been jumped up nearly at my feet, gun comes up, sight picture is there, gun goes bang (soft bang, suppressed) and rabbit goes splat. All in about 1.5 seconds. Not infrequently in mid air, mid leap.
Bunnies sitting at 75 yards off hand, bang, splat. Bunnies sitting at 150 yards, take a knee, bang, splat. Bunnies hauling ace doing 30 MPH over the snow let to right, bang-bang-bang-splat. Okay, took me four, some even five, six shots, but when it comes to a full speed bunny, if it ends up getting skidded across the snow, I don't take those misses personal
Yesterday, on one walk, I just got into the zone with it. Jacks were hopping up all around me in the snow and I was just on FIRE with that rifle. I was running off strings of six and seven hits in a row before missing. Had to start back for the Jeep after only about 500 yards because I was already into my second 20 round mag. Ended up killing over 30 jacks with 40 shots in 20 minutes. Just couldn't hardly believe it. I've turned into a LOUSY shot in recent years. Haven't run off a string of death like that in a LONG time!
Anyway... Just wanted to get it off my chest. I was a bolt gun snob. And I was wrong! This thing is as easy to shoot well as my friend has been trying to tell me. I'm still surprised by it. But I'm sure having a lot of fun with it. And that, really, is the thing. This rifle is just plain FUN!
- DAA
This post is nominated for Hunter of the Month. Sorry, the nifty little .gif isn't rotating, so all you see is "Nominated" for now.