Tuesday, June 5, 2012

MMmmmmm. . . vintage!

The M16A2 is now old enough to be considered vintage, right?  ARFCOM has an A2 picture thread going to show all the plastic handguard haters what old school looks like!

I know all the M4 types love the look of the carbine in all it's CQB glory, but back in my day a "battle rifle" wasn't limited to 300 yards or less.  600 yards isn't a big deal for the A2 with serviceable sights, and the Marine Corps still to this day shoots out to 500 meters.  Despite the flood of optics, lights, lazers, and doodads that adorn the AR type rifles these days, I still think the good ol' A2 rifle is sexy.  I can remember a certain day in Kuwait while waiting on a trip to the airport, some Soldiers were snickering at my M16A2 with its well worn and shiny receiver, sans an optical aiming device.  They all had M4's, and a couple of them had the M16A4, which I didn't even know existed at the time.  Each one had a $500+ optic sitting on top of it, which was a marvel to me that the Army had the coin to buy every Soldier an Aimpoint, from cooks to high-speed infantrymen.

On my list of guns to get is an A2 style AR, but it's going to have to wait for a few years.

3 comments:

ZerCool said...

My first AR was intended to be a flat-top 20" with a scope. It turned into an A2 HBAR with a free-float tube. Just an absolute joy to shoot.

Of course, the build I just finished is a flat-top 16", but ... well, variety is the spice of life, right?

Broken Andy said...

The vintage look is cool.

ExurbanKevin said...

There's a guy at my range who shoots 3-gun with a 1911, a wood-furnitured 1100 and a retro AR set up to look like an A2.

And he's durn good with them, too.