Curse me for buying guns that fly under the gun grabber's radar that I already know how to use more effectively.
I guess I could go throw down $700 for the AR 15 parts and bolt it together, and then spend $550 on a complete set of spare parts sans lower receiver. Oh and spend a while tweaking it too.
Or I could just spend $700 and get two complete lever action rifles that will outlast me and their next 3 owners.
Oh btw I CCW a revolver most of the time. I love being told how I'm going to die horrifically for it...
I tell you what. You put me out in the field with a lever action rifle against some hippy who hates guns and arm him with any rifle you want. I win.
You put me out in the field with a .22 caliber pistol against the same person in the same situation. I still win.
You put me out there with my lever action rifle against a US Marine armed with the fantastic plastic gun of the week. I lose horribly and quickly.
You give me all of that Marine's Equipment and give him a rock. I still lose horribly and quickly.
No, when I really want to "do it right", I'll get that bolt action .308 with the forward scope mount like Cooper told me too.
Don't get me wrong I want want want a lot of the cool EBRs (typical...) and I even want to learn how to use them (not as typical...), but it ain't about the hardware it's the software and I'm not talking about marksmanship or shooting technique. I'm talking about the ability to be able to pull the trigger, which I have, and the ability to do it with no hesitation whatsoever under the worst conditions imaginable, which I don't have and probably never will. That's the reason I win against the hoplophobe every time, that's the reason the Marine wins against me every time.
At any rate, even the very best in the world who have the best software available have been known to spray and pray when it goes down. My uncle as an LEO saw two officers shoot in self defense, real veterans with lots of training and expertise. Both of them emptied their gun into their assailant, and both of them commented they just did it, not out of fear or anger, they just did it even though they knew better. See that's okay when you're a sheedog. Darn a Marine emptied a magazine into a mosque. Shoot, he might have killed another terrorist. Darn.
Now in my situation as a civilian, if I do that, well lookie there I just killed someone's grandmother. Or, heaven forbid, a 15 year old kid.
I'll stick to meaningful, controlled firepower thank you. The lever action rifle moves as fast as my target acquisition skills do. It scores as many hits in 10 seconds as my SKS does. Maybe someday I'll be so magically good that the manual action actually slows me down, but that's not the truth for me at the moment.
Okay rant over.