Modernity is weird

1911s being from 1911 make my head spin.

The M2 is almost as old. Both are still in service around the world. Both are John Browning designs.
- It will never stop being funny to me that both the M2 and the 1911 are (according to scifi-fantasy franchise Warhammer 40.000) still in use in the 41st Millennium.
- I'm not sure why this suprises people.
  M2 Browning was bolted to basically everything american in ww2 and that was 80-90 years ago. It's an old weapon
1911 is the crocodile of guns. You can't improve upon perfection.
- The best way I've ever heard it described, "It's the gun that forgot to become obsolete."
- I fired an M-1911 a little while ago. It was the instructor’s personal weapon.
  Turns out I’m magically some kind of crack shot with a .45. He was probably exaggerating but the instructor was an army ranger or sniper or something and told me he’d never see a beginner shoot that well.
  So I’m probably some kind of Jason Bourne type who just forget about his past as a super duper soldier.
  I put about twenty rounds through an area the size of a silver dollar. Short range — 7 yards I think — but he was still impressed. Or he was really good at hyping his students up.
- I certainly love my Kimber 1911, I've never shot a 45 that groups as well as it

68 yr ago technically.

Ummm acktually the A2 developemnt began in 1979, which makes it 45 years old.
- (Psssst, that was the "technically" part.)

This is one huge problem I have had with gun control advocates. In Canada they are basically banning all rifles that look 'military'. The problem? All, and I mean ALL semi-auto rifles now look like that. Even ones that still have wooden furniture like a pre-WW2 era rifle can have them swapped out for black polymer and 'look' modern.

Even lever guns are sporting serious polymer furniture that make them look like sci-fi western guns.

The definition of 'military style' gun was created in the late 80s when your average gun owner was still owning their vintage ww2 surplus rifle (from the 1960s to 70s WW2 era rifles were so common on the market that there wasn't that much room for anything truly new) that had that old school look while all new military rifles had switched to polymers and had protruding pistol grips.

The rhetoric has remained the same despite almost 40 years passing and a lot of basic changes.

Someone needs to come up with a kit to make an AR look like the rifles at the top
- All you have to do is buy a Mini-14 from Ruger instead of an AR to accomplish that.
- There already is.
- https://www.reddit.com/r/WA_guns/comments/bld13i/my_california_compliant_ar/?rdt=44855
  This should be pretty close save for the ar mag
- If it is just as capable as an AR-15 then why not just buy that gun?
  Hint: it isn't.
I’ve always wondered. What is the thing on top of an M-16? Is that just a carrying handle?
- Pretty much, yes. It also serves as a mount for the rear sight. Since the AR platforms keep all the major moving parts in a straight line back from the barrel, ergonomics requires the sights to be higher than usual to account for the shape of the face.
- The other guy explained it better, but basically yes.
Where have I seen
that bullshit before?
- Then why don't more people have that style of gun?
  I hear this argument all the time about different banned features and attachments. (I own and shoot often btw)
  Like for braces. People say it doesn't make you more able to kill, when it does.
  When there was a brief time where braces were legally iffy, I was using a sling instead. Let me tell you something, shooting with a sling is incredibly inaccurate compared to a brace.
  Every shot removes the pressure you are putting on the sling, whereas a brace every shot pushes it into your shoulder more.
  Shooting with a brace is incredibly similar to shooting with a stock, essentially identical just barely less comfortable.
  People are so political when they talk about guns, just be honest with yourself. You can love guns and love regulation at the same time. Maybe we just shouldn't have crazy people and violent people owning them?
- That first graphic reminds me of sci fi author David Brin’s concept of a “militia rifle”.
  (He published this a long time ago and I’m unclear if he still supports the idea)
  Basically he argues:
  Mass shootings are a problem
  Resisting government tyranny is important
  (He claims) historically a group of people with lower capacity rifles can hold their own against people bearing high capacity automatics, because in many-vs-many battles the individual guns’ bullet output matters less (more about which group controls which points on the battlefield permitting covering of other points)
  So a mass shooter is a 1-vs-many scenario (shooter vs crowd)
  Resisting government tyranny is probably gonna be a many-vs-many scenario (militia vs army)
  Therefore it’s legit for people to own firearms that are low capacity, high hassle
  Seems to me the California laws approach this design equilibrium.
- IDK why the second pic says "same capacity" when...you can see they don't have the same capacity.
- Thank you for providing an explanation of this. I don’t know a lot about guns but this is very informative.
Unpopular opinion, probably, but if your hobby, such as hiking, sewing, reading, improv comedy... kills more children than car crashes, someone should be allowed to take a look at stopping that. Unless the hobby is guns, of course, of course.
- if we're gonna ban stuff just based on deaths, we should get rid of fast food, soda, cigarettes, alcohol, and cars in general
Only black powder guns, single round, should be sold to the public. Like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3-ZWLSmgco&t=527s It's all anybody needs for hunting.

Nam was fifty years ago, I think most people would think Hueys and M16s when asked that question.

- Information that appeared to me in a dream confirms that the US Army was still issuing M16A1 lowers into the 2000s.
- We were using A2s back then. I would have loved to get my hands on an A1 though. Fully auto? Yes please!
- I went to basic in 93 and we had A1's in basic but my unit (101st) had A2's for everyone, at least for the combat arms guys.

Time flies when you're having fun. No justice in that at all.

Is this a bic pen situation?

Are we forming a pen club here?
- I'm quite fond of the number 15, can we include it in the pen club somehow?

I'm not seeing a difference