There are HK fanboys who paid well over a grand for a warmed-over Armalite AR-180 with an awkward plastic thumbhole stock, mediocre optics as an extra-cost option, and a single-stack magazine made of compressed unicorn tears, so this thing should sell well to that demographic.
I can't see the hype over ANY of these gussied up EBRs everybody is releasing for north of 3 kilobucks..
ReplyDeleteI did happily pay 1100 bones for my SIG though, and I though that was spendy.
You can pick up a piston driven 16" AR from a whole bunch of other people for usually less than $1500... so you're shelling out twice as much to have H&K stamped into the magwell that won't even accept most AR magazines... (and it's ugly on top of that!)
ReplyDeleteI'd suggest that someone try to reverse engineer their product, here, or buy the rights and machinery to build good quality copies, but, well, that's what they are kinda, sorta doin'.
ReplyDeleteSomeone needs to smack these retards on the head any explain to them that they are playing on a rather expansive, and new field, with players who have more experience and better products at far more reasonable prices. Hell, what's a Les Baer AR going for these days...just looked, he's offering a "Police Special" for $1690.
Jeezis.
"You can pick up a piston driven 16" AR from a whole bunch of other people for usually less than $1500..."
ReplyDeleteI think the whole retrofit piston craze is wack anyway. If somebody wants a piston gun, they should buy a gun designed from the ground up to be a piston gun, not a kludge on Stoner's DI design.
Hey! I own an AR180b, and it's worth every penny of the $500 I paid for it! Please don't compare it to the HK fanboy moneysucker model 6200.
ReplyDeleteAt what point did everybody decide three kilobucks is the right price for a new combat style rifle?
ReplyDeleteThis is getting nuts.
Tam,
ReplyDeleteAgreed to a certain point, but a good piston driven AR- ish sorta gun has the advantage of piles of aftermarket stuff.. Hence why I like my 556. It eats from PMAGs!;)
I built an AK from a romy parts kit, and got a set of rusted up mags ( surface rust plus dings I had to drill out ... bonus! ) that still work better than p-mag's best for just a hair under $200 total cash spent.
ReplyDeletePeople are horrified when they learn I assembled it with u-drive fasteners and a big hammer ... heh.
But it shoots and shoots and shoots ....
I agree, the whole piston driven AR market, especially the drop-in kits, are overblown. Both my ARs are DI driven guns, and they haven't failed me yet, and they're a bit lighter.
ReplyDeleteIf I want a piston gun, I'd get a Sig (and not one of the ARs).
But really, past the piston, what advantage does it have over any other AR, other than the magical "better than everybody and their dog" markings?
And what decided $3k-ish would be the price for new combat carbines? Probably when SCARs came out around that price and people actually paid it.
Century Arms International sold me my civilian-version A2. Which has all the same manufacturer parts, in the same condition, other than the receiver, as my National Guard A2 locked in the vault down at my Armory. Shoots the same, too.
ReplyDeleteFools and their money....
Isn't the HK416 now being produced for several large armies (Turkey and Norway I think)?
ReplyDelete(I've never handled either but was surprised the 416 beat out the G36)
No way they are paying half that price per copy. HK's profit margin must be enormous on the dozen civilian rifles they will sell.
Bram,
ReplyDeleteI don't get the fascination with the G36. The ergos blow. No army that uses it that has won a war in the last 100 years (or really been involved in a big one in the last 50.)
Like I said - never tried it. A friend used one at a range while deployed in Kosovo. He thought it was the sh*t - compared to his 20 year-old M16A2 at least.
ReplyDelete(I do like my HK91 but I'm no fanboy, it just happened to be cheaper than the equivalent M1A1 in 1990)
The thing that bugs me most about the G36 is the charging handle.
ReplyDeleteThe one on the '16 isn't the best, either, but its ergonomic shortcomings seem to be easier to work around via various improved latches and newer TTPs.
Here's something I don't get.
ReplyDeleteWhy would a company like Sig Sauer who makes an apparently very serviceable Gas-piston rifle that eats from STANAG boxes...feel the need to make a Gas Piston AR?
"...feel the need to make a Gas Piston AR?"
ReplyDeleteGetting into the AR biz is an almost zero-overhead proposition. Most all the parts can be outsourced, and if one has a suitably swoopy brand name or ad campaign, one can pad the price tag enormously.
I know it's tacky to keep rolling in comments, but has anybody seen that new Sig 716? Google it up. They definitely blew that one..
ReplyDeleteWhat Kristopher said. Screw megabuck poodleshooters, no matter the logo.
ReplyDeleteIn fact I'm considering a whole new ad campaign - AK47! It's ugly! It's unfashionable! It doesn't know what a piccatinny rail even is! I don't fear scratching it! It goes bang every damned time! And it cost pocket change and a weekend's work! Also, it was designed by people who really hate us and think we suck!
Heath that's actually the reason why I'm bitching about the Sig making an AR, because I'm in the market for a 7.62x51mm battle rifle, and the world already makes several AR-10s, one more, isn't doing anything for me. But a 556 in 7.62 (Sig 762??) would be something interesting and potentially viable.
ReplyDeleteGod it would even interest me if they just put a side-folding stock on the damn AR-10 knock-off!
Weer'd, 10-4. Got you loud and clear..
ReplyDeleteThe worst part of that whole Sig "thing", is that it takes the most bloody expensive 7.62 mags known to man.
A scaled up 556 that eats from Magpul products would rock.
The next best thing is the new Crusader Broadsword 7.62 AR, it takes G3 mags!
A grand won't even get you started. Many of us fanboys have paid well over 5 large on parts kits and skilled labor to convert said coveted warmed over Armalite AR-180 into a 100% receiver correct non stock blocked SBR copy of a G36-K which will probably spend most of the rest of it's life among the other rank and file safe queens. Satisfied with our creation, on the 7th day we rested. So worship at whatever alter you like, but don't hate us because we're beautiful... the coolaid just tastes too good.
ReplyDeleteYou know those Bimmers are made in Germany too, do exactly the same thing as a Honda, and for some reason are still strangely crazy expensive in comparison. After you drive one though, I think you tend not to question why as often. Seems for some of us an 'epiphany' is only an extra 0 away.. :-)
Actually, my Bimmer was made in South Carolina, and I let another sucker take the depreciation hit. It won't do quite the same thing as an S2000, but it does it without having to rev the piss out of a tiny four-banger. I am neither fast nor particularly furious.
ReplyDeleteThe koolaid just got a bit stale, that's all. Sold my HK91 and P7s and USPs years ago.