Boomsticks: The Ghosts of Evil Black Rifles Past...

It's true. I have fallen out of love with Evil Black Rifles.

Don't get me wrong; Project Housegun does yeoman duty at the job once filled by a Remington 870, and my 9mm AR, while justified on the roster as an indoor-range-capable trainer, is an amazingly fun plinker, but I just don't collect accumulate Scary Black Long Guns the way I used to. I've traded them all off or sold them in order to fund more purchases of derelict Mausers in odd calibers.

That phase did allow me to get some hands-on time with some interesting guns that didn't make the "tools" cut, however:

There was, for instance, the Beretta AR-70. To your rabid He-Man AR Haters, this gas-piston poodle-shooter would seem to be ideal. After prolonged exposure, though, I grew disenchanted with the mediocre ergonomics, flimsy stamped receiver, and magazines priced like imported sin. It got turned into a stainless Delta Elite with a ton of extras and a stack of hundred dollar bills.

Beretta AR-70. Photo by Oleg Volk.

There was also my all-alloy .223 FAL, built on a Williams Arms receiver. While undoubtedly handy and light, it was a pain to get set up for reliable running, and even then the "almost as handy as an AR's" controls and the knowledge that the receiver would eventually get beaten to death made it, in the long run, disposable. It's gone, and now I have a one-of-200 3" 625 in .45 Colt to replace it, plus the associated stack of C-notes.


These, and others like them, such as my Daewoo and a .223 AK, are gone, while my ARs linger on. The end result? For all its alleged flaws, I've found the oft-derided plastic poodleshooter to be a handy, reliable, and versatile rifle, while other guns came and went.

I still don't like my ARs, but I can't argue with what works...