I bought my first AR earlier this year, a S&W Sport.
My last semiauto rifle was a Saiga conversion. No doubt it was fun, but once I tried to reload ammo for it, everything soured me to the platform. Relying on imported ammo supplies made me rethink what I wanted out of a rifle.
Much happier with the Sport. I haven't done anything 'tactical' with it, just a red dot, canvas sling and ergonomic butt pad. She's a shooter, just like my Garand.
I was in the Air Force, 92-96. We shot the M-16 once in Basic, and like others have pointed out that first SPROING! really makes you wonder if it was normal. Fully 2/3 of our group had never fired something like that, and probably 1/4 never shot a gun at all. Being the novice I was, I noticed the recoil was pretty much zero and asked if something was wrong with mine. He said, "yeah...we're using training ammo that is half the power of normal stuff".
Liar.
My Sport doesn't have that spring sound to it, thankfully. It was really distracting during our qualifications. BTW we weren't allowed to put it on full auto. One guy did and got 'washed back' to an earlier group.
It was the last time I handled a firearm in the military in four years.
