Thread: Why semiautos

I'll mention the elephant in the room as I didn't have a semi and still don't even have a rimfire or shotgun semi:

A semi-auto rifle has use in self-defense against several armed hostile individuals.

Originally Posted by Cordite

I'll mention the elephant in the room as I didn't have a semi and still don't even have a rimfire or shotgun semi:

A semi-auto rifle has use in self-defense against several armed hostile individuals.

That's how bolt actions started out (and every other weapon for that matter)!

Originally Posted by gundoc

That's how bolt actions started out (and every other weapon for that matter)!

As I explained once to a greenie who just didn't get anything, the only slow guns are muzzle loaders. The only exponential increase in firing rate was through the arrival of rear loading. Consider the firing rate per minute of double barrel shotguns.

One of the best features of AR15s was how quick and easy it was to change barrels for a different length, profile or caliber.

How many rifles can you buy a barrel off the shelf for $400 and change it yourself without needing a gunsmith?
Being able to have a featherweight 223, varmint 204 or a short 300blk with changing just a few parts is fantastic.

The ability to buy thousands of different parts or accessories to set up your rifle just how you wanted is somewhat mimicked in other rifles, but not to the same extent as on an AR platform.

I found many semis generally far better built and designed than commercial firearms. Many are easy to strip and clean with a minimum of tools, few spare parts to be lost, etc. I used to hunt with a winchester 94, and since I attract rain when I hunt, it spent most of its time soaking wet, which inevitably led to rust no matter how well oiled it was. Good luck stripping a winchester 94 by candle or torch light on your lap without good tools and not losing some pieces in the tent or grass around the campfire. It's ok if you're going home to somewhere with a table and light at the end of each day, but that wasn't often the case for me, so my guns just stayed waterlogged. This bears true for many other commercial firearms that use screws and flimsy stamped sheet metal over captive pins, locking levers, cast parts etc. Aside from the Tikka T3, I have yet to find a commercial bolt gun that approaches many semi-autos for simplicity and robustness of design.

As others have said, it also offers fast follow up shots. Also usually far more after-market products to build the gun that suits you. Changing a barrel or upper on an AR to go between 22, 223, 300blk - easy. Try doing that at the range with a normal bolt gun.

Last but not least, because it is a perfectly acceptable option for hunting. It doesn't decrease likelihood of a clean kill, and because it allows faster follow up shots and proven capacity of equal accuracy as bolt guns, may actually increase likelihood of a clean kill (I'm sure that statement will rile up the anti-semi hunters). Division of "good and bad" rifles is a dangerous game. Those hunters that look down on semi-autos are equally vulnerable to the same argument being made against them by divisive anti-hunting anti-gun arguments who would claim that hunting with a bow or muzzle loader is more "fair-chase". Once that was done, you would get the Aussie argument that bows are unethical because they don't kill as quickly as rifles, and then you don't have firearms or hunting, all because we allowed ourselves to be divided along dumb petty lines.

Also, it may not be the intent of OP, but competition and plinking was also a very valid reason for use. The minute we have to justify owning our own property and pleading our case to someone else, we're fighting a defensive and erosive battle that only delays the inevitable. It should be up to them to prove we shouldn't own our own property, not us worrying that saying we don't agree will have our "privileges" taken away.