I like ARs, I own ARs, and I hunt with ARs; hell, I even wrote a book about ARs. Some folks like to use the term “Modern Sporting Rifle – MSR to describe the AR but I think this is nothing more than an extension of political correctness. It’s an AR and if you see where I have used the modern sporting rifle term or the acronym MSR in print, it was either changed by an editor or reflects a reference to the new genre of semi-automatic firearms with AR-like characteristics.
The point of all this is that I’m an AR kind of guy. I believe I was even the first to suggest that what AR should really stand for is “America’s Rifle.”
When it comes to the one rifle for the world argument, the Scout Rifle is often pitted against the AR. New millennium shooters or members of what some consider Gun Culture 2.0 feel the AR is superior to the Scout Rifle. I frequently hear tactards, gun writers, and others obsessed with the AR platform suggest, “There is nothing you can do with a Scout Rifle that you cannot do with an AR.”
They are of course patently wrong. Yes, there are things the AR can do better than a Scout Rifle and there are things an AR can do that a Scout Rifle cannot. Similarly, there are things you can do with a Scout Rifle that you cannot do with an AR. In fact, under the umbrella of the general-purpose, one-rifle for the world concept, there is one thing you can do with a Scout Rifle that makes the “the AR is better.” argument invalid.
You cannot take an AR on an African Safari. The truth is there are lots of places you cannot take an AR. Nuff said!
