AR-15 Alternatives

AR-15 Alternatives

I think every firearms enthusiast and prepper knows the day is coming when there will be a large public and political move yet again to ban the Black Rifle and 30-round magazines.

Whether they have enough political juice to get it done? That’s another question, but Spice and I think it’s a good idea to keep it in mind. 

A Caveat Before We Begin

Beans, Bullets, Bandages & You is almost entirely non-political. Our one major exception is that we are absolutely Pro-Second Amendment. How can we not be, it’s part of our name.

We make no bones about the fact that we believe that the right to own and bear arms is critical to both our freedom and our chances to survive if and when the Stuff Hits The Fan (SHTF)

A While Back We Recorded A Podcast

We actually have a huge backlog of podcasts that we have recorded that have never “aired”, and this was one of them, recorded right after the Parkland School Shooting. There’s some really interesting fallout from this report issued on the February 14, 2018 shooting that we may well do an article on in the future. For now, however, we will just present the podcast we recorded early last year.

AR-15 Alternatives – An Overview

There are many civilian versions of military firearms out there, but frankly a lot of these guns would be included in any ban designed to knock out the sales of AR-15 style guns.

For example, Salty & Spice’s main self defense gun are Tavor X-95 bullpups, guns sure to be included in any AR ban.

The gun has the exact same impact profile as an AR-15, and uses the same magazines.

Also sure to be included is the ubiquitous AK-47 and all of it’s derivatives. It was banned under the previous 1990’s “Assault Weapons” ban (a BS title, of course), and yet during the post-Sandy Hook gun panic, the AK remained much more available for far longer than black rifles did.

What Do The Gun Grabbers Hate The Most?

If you go by the first so-called “Assault Weapons” ban, the gun grabbers seem to hate two things more than anything else: how scary a gun looks, and magazines with a capacity more than 10.

Nearly every one of us in the prepping community knows a lot more about firearms than most lawmakers seem to. For example, we know that how a firearm performs has very little to do with how scary it looks. 

The original ban included prohibitions about collapsible stocks, pistol grips and (of all wonky things) bayonet mounts.

I ask you, dear 3BY readers… do we have a “bayoneting” crime wave going on in our country that I haven’t heard about? Is there a huge difference in bullet impact if you shoulder a weapon that has it’s stock fully extended, as opposed to one-click in? Do you get an extra 300 FPS of bullet velocity because you gripped a pistol stock?

Even the whole “more than 10 rounds is too dangerous” concept is silly. The Parkland Shooting (as mentioned above) and the Columbine massacres all were done with “small capacity” magazine guns.

Equally silly, the SKS wasn’t banned, even though it was an actual military surplus gun with a quick-load mechanism and had a bayonet installed. 

A Look At Some AK Alternatives

First, lets take a look at a few guns that are every bit as effective ans an AR-15 but that don’t look scary and are likely to pass any new so-called “assault weapons” ban.

The “Semi-Auto Hunting Gun” Replacement

The Remington 740 (and later the 7400) are great guns that have everything you want in a prepping gun except the 30-round magazines. Don’t let the stock 4-round magazine get you down (they are great for big game hunting), you can get reliable 10-round magazines for the guns as well. For most situations, 10 rounds of .30-06 or .308 will get the job done.

The Lever Gun Replacement

Another type of gun sure to survive any future weapons ban? The ubiquitous Marlin 30/30. Every deer hunter in the midwest probably already has at least one of these bad boys, they are quick to load, quick to fire, accurate as all get-out and common as dirt.

The “Shotties Are Better For Home Protection Anyway” replacement

For home defense, I would argue that the AR-15 is often not the right tool for the job to start with. For defense of property from 75-yards out on to where you are, there’s nothing better than a good, old fashioned pump shotgun… shown here is a Maverick 88, a fantastic choice for home defense.

The “It’s An AR-15 Equivalent That Doesn’t Look Scary” Replacement

Another great alternative are the guns that do the exact same thing as the AR-15 but simply don’t look as scary, guns like the Ruger Mini-14 and Mini-30. 

Here’s a Mini-30 I owned for a while, and while I didn’t have very good luck with mine (to say the least) I have had much better experiences with Mini-14’s. 

The bottom line with this gun is that it does EVERYTHING an AR-15 can do, but it looks like a “normal” gun while doing it. This makes it much more likely to survive any ban attempts.

The “Get A Bolt Gun In Your AR or AK’s caliber” idea

I’ve got “way too much” ammunition for what was my primary self defense rifle (the AK-47) sitting around my house, a ton of steel cased full metal jacket & hollow point rounds. Since I have switched over to the .223 in the Tavor, what am I to do with all this “extra” ammo?

Well I still have my AK’s, so it’s there if I need them, but I have also picked up a 7.62×39 bolt gun for hunting. It’s legal to hunt with the hollow points I have (they don’t actually expand worth a darn, but when you hit a coyote at 100 yards or less, it sure doesn’t matter… and it is legal, which DOES matter).

I’ve also got at least one .223 bolt gun (you can see a review I did on one of mine by clicking here) for the same purpose. 

Neither of these guns is a real “alternative” but if it becomes necessary to “not be seen in public” with your black rifle or AK, well… you can still shoot your ammo. 

The Pistol Caliber Carbine Option

I recently did an article on pistol caliber carbines, so rather than reinvent the wheel and duplicate information I’m just going to put in the link and let you read that article. Suffice to say, PCC’s are a really good option when the banners come around.

Pistol Caliber Carbines: PCC A Great Prepping Gun?

Wrapping It All Up

We think it’s a good idea to have some AR alternatives in your prepping gun collections, they are just plain great guns and have their own useful place as stand-alone firearms.

If there comes a day when you cannot legally buy or sell AR’s, AK’s and other likely-to-be-banned firearms, options are good things to have.