How to choose a Fighting Rifle by tire iron

How to choose a Fighting Rifle

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There seems to be an enormous amount of threads that all have the same basic theme – “which rifle is best for me?”

With that in mind – I will attempt to provide a logical way for those that are interested – to choose “which rifle is best” for them – using the militia as a frame of reference.

So – to begin with – let’s define the characteristics of what our “ideal” fighting rifle would possess.

Before proceeding to the criteria - one should consider caliber - but in a very simple way. The only question you need ask about caliber is this: WAS IT A RIFLE CALIBER USED BY SOME MILITARY POWER IN THE LAST 50 OR SO YEARS - AND IS THE AMMO READILY AVAILABLE (so you can stock up on it)?? If the answer is "YES" - then that is all you need to know about the caliber for now.

We will discuss each characteristic in order of PRIORITY – in other words – we will talk about them in order of MOST important down to LEAST important.

#1 – RELIABILITY – our fighting rifle MUST go “bang” every time the trigger is pulled – as long as there is a round in the chamber. This action MUST occur no matter what the environmental conditions are – whether it is raining, snowing, sleeting. blowing, whether it is muddy, dusty, dirty, gritty, grimy – the rifle HAS to function. Reliability being #1 also includes the FEEDING device – whether it is via a “magazine” (like an AK) or a “clip” (like a M1) or “stripper clips” (like a SKS).

#2 – DURABILITY – our fighting rifle MUST be able to handle extremely harsh “combat/field” conditions for extended periods of time with little or no maintenance.

#3 – REPAIRABILITY/FIXABILITY – our rifle must be “repairable” in the field. That means when a part breaks (notice I didn’t say “if” – I said “when”) it must be easy to take out the old broken piece and easy to put in the new piece.

#4 – ERGONOMIC – it must be “easy” to use. The controls should all be within reach of the hands – allowing minimum movement of the hands too. This will make us want to use it more – as we all like things to be “easy”. We will not practice as much if we have to “fight” the rifle to get it to do what we want.

#5 – ACCURATE – our rifle must be capable of “minute of bad guy” accuracy – and really no more than that. Almost ALL combat takes place at 100 meters/yards or less (usually a LOT less) – so as long as our rifle can hit an 8” pie plate at 100 meters/yards – then that is all we NEED. (You may WANT more accuracy than that – but that is all you NEED.)

So – using the above criteria – how do the more “popular” fighting rifles “stack up”???

Lets look at a few. Lets start with the AK.

1. The AK is known to be “RELIABLE”.
2. The AK is known to be “DURABLE”.
3. There are LOTS of spare parts available – and it is an easy rifle to change parts on – so it is “REPAIRABLE”.
4. The AK is “so-so” with regards to “ERGONOMICS” – one must work with it more than some other competing designs – but it IS “do-able” – and – since it meets the first three criteria – then it is a worthy rifle for consideration.
5. The AK meets the criteria for “ACCURACY” (just barely – as most of the nearly 100 million AK’s have on average 6 MOA accuracy – however it DOES meet the criteria).

Now lets look at the Mini-14:

1. The Mini-14 is known to be “RELIABLE” – HOWEVER – the magazines have been/are a problem. Ruger will not sell 20 or 30 rounds mags to regular folks – only LE. Aftermarket mags may or may not be reliable (usually they fit in the “may not” category.)
2. The Mini-14 is NOT known to be “DURABLE” (When I was active we trained some Bahamanian Marines. They were all armed with pretty much brand new Mini-14's. We ran lots of patrols with them through swamps and over hill and dale - and did lots of dry and live fire exercises. Before two weeks were up - NOT ONE Mini-14 survived. They were ALL down - and I mean "down" as in would not work because of parts failure/breakage. They were all using "loaner" AR's for the rest of the time as their Mini's went down. Not surprisingly - they/we had no problems or issues with our AR's. Before this I had some 'range time' with a Mini-14 and it was a fun gun to shoot. I felt bad too – as I really liked the Mini-14 when shooting them on a range. Pat Rogers - an instructor at Gunsite - has stated that he has NEVER seen a "Mini" make it through the demanding 4-5 day carbine course. NEVER. They always go "down" and the person uses a loaner AR to finish the course with. (We had no problems with our M4’s doing all of the same stuff that we put the Mini's through. Granted – the abuse that our rifles saw was WAY beyond what any “civilian” rifle sees – but the scope of this post is way beyond what civilian rifles are designed for!)
3. The Mini-14 is not “REPAIRABLE” – Ruger made a decision to not sell spare parts for the Mini-14. If it breaks – it must be sent back to the factory for repair.
4. The Mini-14 is “ERGONOMIC”.
5. The Mini-14 is “ACCURATE” enough – it shoots about the same as the AK – which is somewhere around 6 MOA or less.

Since the Mini-14 “failed” partially on number 1 and fully on numbers 2 and 3 – it should not be considered as a “fighting rifle”. Now – it will make a dandy “home defense” or “LE” rifle that will be stored at home or in the trunk. As in those two roles it will NOT see “hard use” – and will probably work just fine. It just cannot be relied upon to survive hard use – it wasn’t designed to.

Lets look at the Daewoo next:

1. It is “RELIABLE”
2. It is “DURABLE”
3. It is NOT “REPAIRABLE”
4. It is “ERGONOMIC”
5. It is “ACCURATE” (the one I owned shot 1 MOA)

Since it can’t “pass” #3 – it should not be considered. There are virtually no spare parts available for it. Which is VERY sad – because it is a FANTASTIC rifle. The same thing can be said about other excellent rifles – like the Galil and the FN-FNC, Steyr AUG, SIG 550, etc.

Now lets look at the FN-FAL:

1. RELIABLE
2. DURABLE
3. REPAIRABLE
4. ERGONOMIC
5. ACCURATE

It meets ALL the criteria – so does the M1-a, the M1, the M1 carbine, the AR series, and the HK series. These rifles ALL meet ALL criteria. Obviously some are better in some areas – and some are better in others – but they ALL meet the general criteria.

Notice caliber doesn’t even come into play?? That is because once ALL the 5 criteria are met – THEN one chooses caliber if the choice is available. The reason why this is – is because caliber really doesn’t play that big of role. (I restrict my personal choices of caliber to the "Main 3" - the 7.62x51 NATO (.308 Winchester), the 5.56x45 (.223) and the Russian 7.62x39. Of course the 7mm, 8mm, 7.62x54R, .30 '06, .30 Carbine, 5.45x39 and some others are all worthy calibers - they are just more scarce in general compared to the "Main 3". So my personal choice is to stay with the "Main 3".)


In other words – IF YOU CHOOSE A FIGHTING RIFLE USING THE ABOVE CRITERIA – AND PRACTICE WITH IT OFTEN – YOU WILL BE A FORCE TO BE RECONNED WITH REGARDLESS OF THE CALIBER OF YOUR RIFLE.

Hope this helps,

cheers

tire iron

Parts are available for the Mini-14.

http://www.e-gunparts.com/productsch...l=1910zMINI-14