Ok, You bought an AR15. Now what?

As anyone who follows things here knows, Assault Rifle sales are through the roof. Far eclipsing the Y2K scare. .223 and 7.62X39 ammo is in short supply and prices have nearly doubled. Mexico is unstable, fear of financial meltdown causing unrest, concern of weapons ban, the list goes on.

My question is: You bought an AR15, Now what?


My point is, you need equipment for it, more ammo than you probably have and training. I have included a brief list of things that will help you to take advantage of what the AR has to offer.

Equipment:
Stuff you need,
1) Sling, the tactical one
2) 7, 30rd magazines minimum. 10 is better. Sand the inside feed lips on new magazines.
3) Standard Cleaning kit and a Bore Snake.
4) Optical sight, ACOG or like type. Binden Aiming Concept (BAC) ACOG 3.5X35
5) Mag pouches on a belt or tactical vest. I'm old school, like mag pouches on a belt. Don't like loaded tactical vest prone.

Ammo:
If you got an AR for self-defense or SitX scenarios you should know firefights use up allot of ammo. You can easily use 10 mags in one firefight. Semiauto's can put out suppressive fire to allow other team members to gain better positions and trap enemies in position for early termination. That's what makes them great. If you live long enough, you could burn up 1000 rds in a heavy firefight. Point is, buy allot of ammo. It's just a fancy club without ammo!

Training:
It's just a rifle, you have to do your part, that's where training comes in.

1) Zero your sights: Sighting in AR
2) Practice marksmanship work to be capable of:
Standing Headshot at 100 yds
Standing Upper torso shots at 200 yds
Kneeling Upper torso shots at 300 yds
Prone (lying down) torso shots at 400-500 yds

Markmanship fundamentals are the same with all rifles, practice with a BB gun or 22 LR it's cheaper. It's OK to dry fire an AR. Practice ""dry firing" and concentrate on sight picture/breathing. Try doing 20 jumping jacks then 20 push-ups then shoot to simulate combat stresses.

3) Pactice operating the rifle until it's second nature
When shooting don't load your magazines w/ 30rds. 6 or 8 rds. This will give you more practice changing magazines. Practice field stripping it. Get used to your sight setting at different ranges. (most people shoot at the same range all time, that's not reality)

4) Try going Paintballing, it'll give you an idea of what a firefight is like. It's good practice. Find Military manuals on line about small unit combat tactics, urban warfare, sniping.


This is not an all inclusive list, just food for thought.
You bought a tool, but there's work to do to be prepared.

I'm not preaching, I'm pretty good but could use more practice. When it comes to combat, SOF operators have been killed by low skilled yahoos with a crappy gun. But the odds are HEAVILY in favor of the better skilled person.






[edit on 22-2-2009 by Exmar]

Hey, I was just about to start a thread about what kind of gun I should get.. Me and my dad are going to get a couple AR-15s really soon. I was hoping to get about 15,000 rounds to start off with.

Would this be the best type of gun to have in sitx and for what could be the coming revolution?

Get a good all metal 120 round drum magazine.
the ones from china with plastic rotors in them are junk.

The down side this will make the gun heavy but the up side is you will have a lot of firepower and if you need to use it for defence it will scare the **** out of the bad guy.

Put a red dot sight on it with a see through mount so that you can still use the iron sights.

A AR-15 .22 Conversion Kit is very handy to have also.
It is real low noise with .22 subsonic ammo

www.ar-15.us...

You can also get uppers in many other calibers up to .50 bmg

In addition to the regular AR15 upper i have a CAR upper and a .45apc upper so i can use my 1911 45 ammo in my AR if i have to.

[edit on 21-2-2009 by ANNED]

What type of AR-15 should I get.. I know there are several different ones out there to get.. any recommendations on that?

What kind of a cheap scope do you recommend, I was thinking about this one. Also where to get cheap ammo? I bought 500 rounds of Wolf ammo for $169, are there any less expensive ones out there?

Its all about SPORTS with the AR/M4/M16... I think I could do it in my sleep by now. Good advice, and I would suggest practicing with iron sights too just in case (have both zeroed at all times), as scopes are high quality but can get damaged.

One trick I learned from a Puertorican (spelling?) firearms instructor a long time ago was to dry fire with a small coin balanced flat on the barrel behind the flash suppressor and re-cock the weapon with the charging handles without the coin falling off the barrel. Repeat the exercise until the coin drops.

Another good practice is to reassemble your rifle while shooting at different targets with a pistol. THIS CAN BE VERY DANGEROUS FOR A NOVICE. I suggest using a BB gun or paintball gun for this one if your no proficient with your pistol.

If you ever drop the rifle even when its not loaded, get down with it... Do 20 push ups or more depending on your physical state. That could have been your buddies balls you just blew off. (Specially when the bolt is locked)

A couple of simple rules I have learned
When mounting dismounting a vehicle grab your weapon by the ring in front of the mag weld barrel down.
Never ever low crawl with the dust cover open (between my buddies its a common courtesy to let each other know that the dust cover is open.)
Always have weapon on safe except when engaging a target. (pull up the muzzle, safety off, pop pop, safety on, put muzzle right under your line of sight) THIS CAN BE ALLOT FOR BEGINNERS remember slow is smooth smooth is fast.
Get a retractable Stock. Nuff said
Bad mags are nails in your coffin repair or destroy.
Do a functions check after maintenance every time.
A headshot is just a near miss center mass is were the money is at

Have fun

Come on people The AR15 is a terrible hunting rifle. Most people will not be in a combat situation even in a major melt down.

Do your self a favor and forget the combat rifles. Pick something that is primarily built for hunting, and can pull triple duty. Good for self defense good for medium game and ok for small game to. Believe it or not there are fire arms out there that will do it. The AR15 is not on that list.

reply to post by Ketzer22


I like Rock River Arms CAR 4
Bushmasters and Smith and Wessons I think are good. Go to a Real gunshop not sporting goods store and tap the recievers with your finger nail or coin. You can hear the difference in the metal which ones are cheap.

DPMS sounded and looked cheap as ****.

I agree with another poster Collapsable stock for sure, 16" barrel is versatile. I think 14" barrels lose a little to much muzzle velocity and suffer a bit longer range. Unless you plan on being in vehicle convoys or house to house combat allot, 16" is a good barrell length.

No offense to another poster, I disagree with large drum mags. Simple way to solve the argument. Do SF units use them? Not that I know of. 30 round mags, I get the regular metal mags at surplus stores. As long as I check and sand the inside feed lips, I don't ever have problems.

Look online for tracer ammo. For defense have the last 2 rds (the first 2 you load) tracers, will help let you know when your mag is going empty.





[edit on 22-2-2009 by Exmar]

reply to post by Phlegmi


I think low/no magnifcation ACOG style are best. I don't think you should mount a traditional riflescope on an AR. It's no hunting rifle. Looking mostly for quick target acquisition. .223 (5.56) is not a great combat round past 350 yds, but you do want the capability to take a 400-500 yd shot if an oppurtunity presents itself. Low quality red dot sights don't offer that.
This one might be OK as a cheapy but, I don't have personal experiance with it. Mil Dot Illuminated reticle one. Anyone else know these?
Barska Electro Sight

Cheap ammo tough to find now days. Wolf is mostly what you can find, it's all right, do a search for Barnaul 62gr .223 it's a decent ammo also. I'd take 62gr Barnaul over the Wolf 55gr any day. It shoots allot better in my Rock River 1:9 twist AR. 62gr better terminal ballistics (killing power) than 55 gr.

For doubters an AR will drop a deer just fine. I'd rather use a .308 but the .223 will do the job inside 200 yrds with a well placed shot.

angryamerican
This thread isn't about debating the pro's and con's of the AR15.

It is one of the most common rifles out there. Parts, Mags, Ammo and Accessories everywhere and cheap compared to other weapons. It's a no brainer that this is a good survival/defense rifle for that reason alone.

Training/Spec manuals everywhere, military personel everwhere that can teach their friends how to use it. Recoil so low a 12 year old could shoot it. Give me a break, best rifle to buy right now. Period.


Let's talk about what else people need to have or do to ensure they didn't just buy a false sense of security.



[edit on 22-2-2009 by Exmar]

reply to post by Exmar


So you would definetly recommend getting an AR-15 for the type of situation we're heading to? I don't see how you could go wrong with it.. but it does seem like the .223 bullets are just as small as a .22 (which I already have).

What do you all think is better, a Bushmaster or AR 15? For drum ammo if you want to put the fear into you enemies in the close range area a Shotgun with a Drum would do the trick. I would think you would get better results with 30 round clip on anything else. Well except if you have a full auto with support legs in front then you are laying down supression and not so much aim/fire.

Also to add to your list that no one seems to talk about is body armor. A good set will save your ass as much as a good rife would. They go hand in hand, and in a gun battle you are one bullet away from its end, and having 15,000 rounds and five different guns will then mean nothing.

With my work I have dragon skin, and I think that is better than nothing, but just think of those two bank robbers that walked down the steet taking rounds from 50 or more cops intil the cops finally got some hits through their armor.



[edit on 22-2-2009 by Xtrozero]

For someone just getting a weapon for sitX i would recommend staying away from an AR if you have no experience with one. Someone who doesn't know how to properly maintain an AR can mess up any number of parts or miss-align the gas tube and cause severe damage to the weapon or themselves. And the bolt, bolt carrier, and upper reciever get too dirty too fast. Unless you have $2000 to drop on a Patriot Ordnance Factory P-415. A good weapon to get that is easy to maintain, very accurate, and extremely reliable is a Ruger MINI-14. You can get it in .223 or now also 6.8 spc. Or if you like Russian surplus ammo get a MINI-30. It's chambered in 7.62x39mm.


And you can get Tapco stock's that give it the feel of an AR. I have one on mine and it's very comfortable to shoot.

[edit on 22-2-2009 by Anuubis]

Thanks for tthe info guys it's good to have an idea of what specifics are conducive to victory in war. There are plenty of guys like me (only experience with guns is hunting in the bc wilderness) who'd be up at the front lines if "whatever" happens but it's only important if we are an asset.

reply to post by Ketzer22

So you would definetly recommend getting an AR-15 for the type of situation we're heading to? I don't see how you could go wrong with it.. but it does seem like the .223 bullets are just as small as a .22 (which I already have).

Yes, the parts and magazines are interchangeable with rifles military and law enforcement use, guarantied supply. Parts/accessories/magazines widely available. Survivalist have a flawed plan of hunting and living off the land. I live near a large city. Can you imagine a percentage of 4 million people going to the country to Hunt? Wildlife will get killed off quick and there will be a battle for food. All weapons can be used for combat but, the AR15 was designed for it.

Answer to your question on .223:
.223 is same caliber as 22 LR, in fact you can get a chamber adapter that will allow you to shoot 22LR in a .223 rifle. Look up "chamber adapter", last time I posted a link it was removed. Use it only for emergency when you have no .223 or you want to take a squirrel/rabbit...constant use will foul the gas tube on an AR.

.223 out of a 16" barrell is about 3000 feet per second (fps) as opposed to a 22 LR at, what 900 fps. Allot more speed and a heavier bullet than 22LR. One thing I would say, if you planned on constantly being in heavy wooded or jungle areas .308 (7.62 NATO) cuts through brush better. .223 riccochets all over the place....part of the reason it does so much damage to humans.


Responses to others:


Xtrozero

Also to add to your list that no one seems to talk about is body armor.

Very right, and I think your choice of Dragon Skin was smart. Top notch on wearability compared to others. I heard of tale of someone taking a surplus flak jacket ($100) and modifying it using old CD's spray glued on fabric in layers and inserting them inside the vest (outside the Kevlar). Might try that sometime and see how it works. If it stopped a 9mm it would be better than nothing.


Anuubis:

A good weapon to get that is easy to maintain, very accurate, and extremely reliable is a Ruger MINI-14.

No offense, piece of junk compared to AR15. 3" groups at 100 yds accurate? No suport in magazine well. I'd stay away from Mini 14's because of changing magazines alone. AR15---slap and tap. Mini 14---angle, catch front lip, rotate backwards til clicks, tap and hope it doesn't fall on the ground and embarass you in front of your enemy!

Patriot Ordnance (POF) rifles have been known to blow out in upper receiver area. Also, good luck getting one, waiting list from hell. You're right though, AR15's need to be cleaned. The direct impingement system is a dirty system. People with the money can convert to Piston Operated and cut the fouling and heat buildup way down. I'd recommend it to more affluent readers!

Originally posted by Anuubis
For someone just getting a weapon for sitX i would recommend staying away from an AR if you have no experience with one. Someone who doesn't know how to properly maintain an AR can mess up any number of parts or miss-align the gas tube and cause severe damage to the weapon or themselves. And the bolt, bolt carrier, and upper reciever get too dirty too fast.
[edit on 22-2-2009 by Anuubis]

Too right... I would also recommend anything that resembles the m14 (from a descent manufactures of course). I would recommend anything from Springfield if you have the buck, remember a weapon isn't where you want to go cheap. I've fired an m 14 with twigs sticking into the ejection port after low crawling long enough for some dirt to get into the mech. Pieces o wood would eject every time I fired a round. Also 7.62 NATO or 308. can shoot through trees, walls, windshields, multiple human bodies and sometimes cheap body armor.
This is what I would pack any day...
You can also purchase different stocks


I also agree with another poster who listed the use of body armor being as important as firepower. Remember, body armor is only effective if you're a part of an element. As a lone gun, take one in the chest and you wont recover fast enough to save your life. BUT, if you have a buddy aiming his gun right over your shoulder he'll take the guy down or at least suppress and drag you back into safety.

IMO though a gun is just a tool. I know people who could kill silently with a 22. rifle from a descent distance (I'm not one of them jejeje...) AR 15, AK 47, M 14, Abrams Tank, Any of these are not effective unless in the hands of an effective operator.