Clocking in with the AR: Not your grandpa’s hunting rifle
When Eugene Stoner designed his famous AR-15 in the 1950s, the bolt-action rifle was an aging king on the throne of both military and sporting rifles. While the new 5.56mm rifle soon ascended to the top of the service rifle food chain, bolt-guns remained the go-to for hunters. Now, over sixty years later, a pretender to that throne is increasingly taking to the woods in the hands of sportsmen from coast to coast– the hunting AR.
Why this evolution?
Throughout modern history, hunting rifles have often just been surplus military guns pressed into this new duty. As guns were withdrawn from service with the army, sports shooters (who in many cases had experience with these rifles from prior involuntary military service) picked them on the cheap for the purpose of putting food on the table. For instance, some of the most common hunting rifles in the late 1800s were Civil War-era Springfield muskets and Spencer carbines, which had been sold in surplus stores for as little as $2. Introduced for military service some fifty years before, they were the modern sporting rifle of the time.
Read the rest in my column at University of Guns