noo
"An ar-15 is just as effective a weapon at close range as a shotgun is."
....it is pointless to get some sense into the delusional!!
Anyone that would choose a mouse gun over any shotgun is just plain irrational! FMJ AR bullets that have half the energy of a buckshot or slug round can in no way even hope to match the devastation that buckshot or slugs can render onto flesh. Not only because they start out with less energy, but their fmj design makes less of their energy impact the target as they zip right through! I agree that the fast follow up shots are the ARs greatest asset, however, I have heard too many horror stories (
http://www.battlerifles.com/viewtopic.php?t=84&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=matel&start=0 )
about the ARs lack of stopping power, not to mention it's terrible reliability under adverse conditions to trust it in combat. Most people that shoot ARs, are shooting at the range with a well-cleaned and maintained weapon under pristine conditions. In combat, where the environment is anything but it is a much different story. Yes the AR-15 has been improved over the years to make it more reliable, but there is only so much that can be done on the design!
Sure fast follow up shots are nice, but I only aim on shooting the BG once. And the shotgun can follow up as fast as I can bring it to bear on another target, that is as fast as one can need in combat! If there are more than a half dozen BGs and you’re on your own, you face a problem much larger than which small arm you’re using.
And even after all the upgrades and modifications, it seems as if even the soldiers in Afganistan today are having second thoughts about their M-4s.
“The Army collected comments from U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan on smallarms performance. The following report, from Stars and Stripes, summarizes those comments. Some of those comments might, perhaps, be of practical benefit to you AR-15 shooters.
The M-4 carbine, the newest M-16 variant, was described as presenting field maintenance problems:
"...soldiers routinely reported having to purchase their own weapons cleaning kit items (in many cases asking friends and family to send them from home). Thirty-five percent of soldiers surveyed added barber brushes and 24 percent added dental picks to the cleaning kits issued to suport the M-4 carbine...
...
"While 89 percent of soldiers polled said they had 'confidence' in the M-4 carbine, only 77 percent felt it was reliable.
....
"'If I did not have so many oopportunities to clean [my M-4] I'm not sure how reliable it would have been,' one soldier commented."
A "sizable percentage" of M-4 users described themselves as either "unhappy with the weapon, or toting it without much thought one way or another."”
“I live next to Hunter Airfield which is one of the major bases for the airborne rangers. I recentlly gor a chance to talk to a ranger who is now stateside. To make a long story short he was not to thrilled about the combat performance of the m-4. He said that they have had to shoot ragheads four and five times to put them down-with a rifle! That to me is being issued a liability not a weapon”