Posted by on 10/25/2021 to
There are so many ways that you can categorize firearms, it’s easy to get bogged down. Just focusing on the hand held kind that one person can use, you’ve got the revolver, pistol, carbine, rifle, shotgun, assault rifle, sub machine gun, and machine gun, at least according to one list. Another list might say that there is single-shot, repeating, semi-automatic, burst fire, and fully-automatic. Yet another would break down the single-shot types further into lever action, pump action, bolt action, break action and semi-automatic. There’s magazine loading, breech loading, and even muzzle loading. Yes, muzzleloaders are still around, with new and modern versions that a colonial soldier would’ve soiled their breeches over.
Most civilian AR-15’s are gas operated, semi-automatic, pistol gripped, buffer systemed, and magazine loaded. They are generally considered intermediate carbines yet since there are many options they can also be considered a pistol or rifle, depending on the barrel size. The semi-automatic designation may be considered twice since it has a self loading system as well as it fires one shot at a time. I’m not sure if badass looking can be considered an official category, but it’s definitely an unofficial category and the AR-15 excels in that one. Here at Davidson Defense, we tend to like most firearms, but we definitely have our favorite. I think you’ll soon be able to guess which one if you haven’t already. Get ready for a few biased comparisons of our little darling compared to all of the other -yawn- firearms.
An AR aims better than a pistol or revolver. Of course it does, the steadier you can keep your firearm the better you will aim. With the AR-15 you have 4 points of contact instead of two hands, which is really just one point of contact. If you are correctly using your AR, then you will have(1) a hand on the handguard or a grip, (2) another hand on the grip by the trigger, (3) the stock will be firmly on your shoulder, and (4) your cheek welded with the cheek piece. The AR also has ammunition magazines that hold more. Their rounds are the high velocity kind that look like they mean business and also do mean business. The AR has a longer range but the pistol is not the worst in that regard.
The worst at long range, or rather the best at short range is the shotgun. The shotgun is fun to shoot, that is true, but more fun than the AR-15? Our favorite kicks less than most shotguns, and shoots much farther. The magazines have a larger capacity for ammo, by far. They are generally more accurate and definitely more precise than a shotgun at any range, though as long as you are in range you are more likely to hit the target with buckshot.
Ok, what about the hunting rifle? This one is closer since they are the most alike of what we’ve looked at so far. Once again the magazine holds more rounds. In fact, let’s just say that the AR-15 pretty much wins that across the board, at least in the handheld civilian realm. Considering that most AR-15’s use the relatively small 5.56 and have assault rifle magazines, there’s not much that can compete with that.
Finally, how does the AR-15 compare to other options in a similar category, that is a semi-automatic rifle? There is a wide variety of these that shoot a lot of different calibers made by a lot of different producers from all over. Many of them are also pretty cool. However one of the best things about the AR-15 is it’s availability, modularity, and price. In other words, it’s easy to find any part you need for your AR-15 and it’s not going to cost you too much. With all these things going for it, it’s easy to see why the AR-15 is so loveable.