To Wife, Reason For Needing Two Dozen Plus ARs

[arakboss]

If you wanted to explain to your spouse why you need more than two dozen ARs, what would your reason be?

Also what is the average round count life expectancy of AR lower receivers?

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[Andy54Hawken]

Life expectancy....

Would all depend on the quality of the lower....
I would suspect that a higher end model would last longer.

That said...how you treat and take care of your lower will play a role here.
A well maintained less quality lower...would probably last longer than an abused and neglected higher end lower.

How often do you shoot it....and just how do you shoot....will play a part here as well.

Difficult to answer this question without more details.

As far as explaining why....
I don't know...I ain't you...and I ain't married to your wife...you know her...
How would you tell her anything .....? Go with that.

Again....difficult to answer.... and to be blunt... not anyone else's business.
Andy

 

[Stomper]

I don't face this dilemma as my wife doesn't care (much... hookers & blow are a non-starter!) what I spend money on as long as the bills are paid.... so I paid off the house, paid off the cars, paid off the Harley, and paid off a couple different loans and now owe no "man" anything (except property taxes and monthly utilities of course)..... and we now have a nice amount of disposable income (much of which goes into savings).


As far as AR lowers themselves, they're not affected by round count as much as your barrel, BCG, FCG, and buffer spring. If you buy a standard forged 7075 aluminum lower they (IMHO) are all pretty much the same, as all the rifle manufacturers buy from the small pool of forges that produce them and then put their "Gucci" roll-marks on them. Same goes for a standard forge uppper.


The smart money goes into a quality components like a barrel/sights, BCG, FCG, and buffer components.

Polymer AR lowers are a complete non-starter for me.

 

[Xmark1]

I have over 8,000 rounds through my bushmaster lower with no ill effects.
The BCG on the upper broke a tooth at about 5K rounds but according to my internet research, that is normal. I replaced the BCG and all is well once again.

 

[orygun]

With all due respect, unless one is actively collecting Colt ARs to show the evolution, I see no reason that anyone would want 12+ ARs. I'd be more inclined to have higher end guns if I wanted that much money tied up in one platform of a gun. Plus, I'd not want to store that many. If I had a dozen, 10 would be for sale.
But, in no way am I advocating for any limit on guns.

My wife doesn't care too much how many guns i/we have. In fact, sometimes I buy her a gun.

 

[tdemore1743x]

I'd tell my wife:
"Well, what if a civil war breaks out due to the political climate in our country? I'd be able to arm everyone under my roof and the people I'd want to stay protected."

 

[toonerfrank]

"But honey, they'll be worth 10x as much when they're fully outlawed, but I'm grandfathered in!"

 

[Tlock]

Damn another one........

 

[User 1234]

In the late 90's I was issued Vietnam era M16s that had seen untold number of rounds and deployments. They worked fine. During my military career the M16's received replacement barrels, bolts, and springs, but I never encountered a bad receiver.

A cheap lower could have the holes enlarged through heavy use, but I have not seen that first hand.

 

[CamoDeafie]

In the late 90's I was issued Vietnam era M16s that had seen untold number of rounds and deployments. They worked fine. During my military career the M16's received replacement barrels, bolts, and springs, but I never encountered a bad receiver.

A cheap lower could have the holes enlarged through heavy use, but I have not seen that first hand.

Reminder; issue weapons and things generally made by lowest bidders that met specifications

"Mil spec" is usually a minimum level of quality, again due to the whole lowest bidder that meets specs.

 

[arakboss]

Storage is the main issue I am dealing with. My AR collection, which consist of a lot of parts, takes up a lot of space.

Let's say I kept only one lower receiver for each brand I have and I could get 10k rounds out of each one. At 1000 rnds a year, I would have two lifetimes of lower usage ahead of me. My guess is lowers will last well beyond 10k rounds.

These past few years I have been on an extreme buying spree, thinking that I won't be able to get the stuff after Measure 114 goes through. When I look at the numbers for AR lowers, I can see that won't be an issue even if my usage picks up after I start working part time.

I can't justify keeping so many to myself, let alone to my wife.

 

[1775usmc]

There is zero reason other than want - which is totally ok.

The average AR will outlive the average owner.

I used to have over 10-15 ARs at one point when I worked in the firearms industry. I now own 1.

 

[Cavedweller]

"Honey, I wanted to win the 'How many ARs do you own? challenge'. "

 

[nwwoodsman]

I can't justify keeping so many to myself, let alone to my wife.

Looks like you answered that question yourself.

As for myself, I have been putting a lot on the chopping block lately and enjoying the firearms I am holding onto. If it isn't one I enjoy the hell out of or one my kids haven't claimed for when they move out I have sent it or will be sending it packing. This has solved some of my storage issues and I can really enjoy the firearms I do have; rather than just enjoy a few and use the rest as expensive paper weights.

 

[ScottInPDX]

How many rounds do you think have been through the various registered machine gun lowers that are available on the market now?

10k rounds seems absurdly low for a good lower, that's the low end of general purpose chrome-lined barrel life in 5.56.

Barrels, bolts, springs, their associated pins, and magazines are the consumable items to worry about keeping spares for. As long as the lower is made correctly, the wear induced by round count alone pales in comparison to getting banged around, dropped, and scraped up through normal hard use.

 

[Juniper9mm]

You tell her, 'guns are jewelry for men'.

 

[bionic knees]

I can't justify having one AR, had one and didn't like it so I sold it.

 

[CamoDeafie]

On topic, I currently have 3, and I don't really have a need currently for a 4th or more... Not when I have a decent amount of spare parts to keep the three I have running..... One of the three is in 6.5 Grendel and is a registered SBR, the others are 5.56, in 16" Midlength and 20" rifle configurations. These three satisfies my perceived needs (home/CQB/range toys/camp guns).

 

[titsonritz]

There are receivers that have been in military armories for decades that have been rebuilt dozens of times and they are not an easy going crowd on their weapons.

As to the other question, I don't have that problem so I can't relate, I kept my guns and my children over their mother with zero regrets.

 

[Robear]

If you wanted to explain to your spouse why you need more than two dozen ARs, what would your reason be?

Also what is the average round count life expectancy of AR lower receivers?

First, turn it around. Why do you need to explain to your spouse that you want more guns? It's more about the relationship than the guns.
Also, It's hard to imagine what parts would wear out from normal use of a well built and maintained AR lower that aren't replaceable. The actual receiver is a machined forging with no moving parts.