Accepting that there are multiple, valid reasons for owning a black rifle, why is it that the worst (and downright dangerous) behavior at my public range (in West Virginia) invariably is by folks whose arsenal includes a black rifle?

Agreed on all counts. For these very reasons I joined the Paranoid Club and bought a slightly used Mini-14. I'm finding that locating decent magazines for it is a challenge though...

They need not be black. The Steyr Aug comes in desert sand and green. Does anybody know how much one goes for? I really want one!

I think there are two kinds of black rifle owner and hardly any in between: the rifleman and the Rambo. The rifleman practices gun safety, takes great pride in gun hygene, and mostly shoots at paper targets. The rifleman mostly found on an organized range. The Rambo regards his rifle as a toy. He shoots rapid fire at old refrigerators, tries to saw trees in half, passes his gun around to his friends and cleans it with a few shots of WD-40. Rambo leaves the ground littered with spent Russian cases. Be extra careful if Rambo shows up on your range. Try to educate him. Usually he is aged 15-25. But in some cases he is an adult. And those Rambos are usually beyond hope, from what I've seen.

I blush to recall when I was very young and foolish some 35-years ago there was a series in one of the Peterson Publications on survival. I believe the author was M (?) Tappen (?). At first I followed his column like modern Jesus freaks follow Revelations and current events….depending on your powers of imagination we’re either at the beginning of the End or at the end of the Beginning. Don’t think it matter much to these folks…. His series set the stage of social-economic collapse….

Remember this was between ’73 and ’76! Monster inflation, Oil Shortages, Ford and then Carter…. To be frank, *Hillary* pales in comparison to these good ol’ days of yore.

…and his point was people needed to set themselves up in remote hideaways with food, power, communications, and of course lots of guns to fight off looters. As this writer continued his series, he postulated a person needed a multi-dimensional arsenal the size that could arm a third world dictatorship. This is where he lost me with the Dogma. It’s also where the black rifle survival freaks loose me, and I loose interest in black rifles.

I can see having a modest assortment of rifles and shotguns to pot shoot food and maybe in dire need fire at a looter. Otherwise, I want to travel quickly to food, shelter, and group safety as fast as my hinny can go. Hauling three AR-15’s/AK, four sporting rifles and another four shotguns, plus three or more handguns. /..with ammo isn’t gonna get me there.

I would keep a good rifle and maybe invest in one of those USAF 22/410 survival pieces, but that’s it. I would put most my resources into food and communications.

Bury my prized Beretta O/U’s. Naw, can’t do that!!!!!!!

O yes, M(?) Tappen(?) never finished his Peterson Publication series. He died from a heart attack.

I blush to recall when I was very young and foolish some 35-years ago there was a series in one of the Peterson Publications on survival. I believe the author was M (?) Tappen (?). At first I followed his column like modern Jesus freaks follow Revelations and current events….depending on your powers of imagination we’re either at the beginning of the End or at the end of the Beginning. Don’t think it matter much to these folks…. His series set the stage of social-economic collapse….

Remember this was between ’73 and ’76! Monster inflation, Oil Shortages, Ford and then Carter…. To be frank, *Hillary* pales in comparison to these good ol’ days of yore.

…and his point was people needed to set themselves up in remote hideaways with food, power, communications, and of course lots of guns to fight off looters. As this writer continued his series, he postulated a person needed a multi-dimensional arsenal the size that could arm a third world dictatorship. This is where he lost me with the Dogma. It’s also where the black rifle survival freaks loose me, and I loose interest in black rifles.

I can see having a modest assortment of rifles and shotguns to pot shoot food and maybe in dire need fire at a looter. Otherwise, I want to travel quickly to food, shelter, and group safety as fast as my hinny can go. Hauling three AR-15’s/AK, four sporting rifles and another four shotguns, plus three or more handguns. /..with ammo isn’t gonna get me there.

I would keep a good rifle and maybe invest in one of those USAF 22/410 survival pieces, but that’s it. I would put most my resources into food and communications.

Bury my prized Beretta O/U’s. Naw, can’t do that!!!!!!!

O yes, M(?) Tappen(?) never finished his Peterson Publication series. He died from a heart attack.

Oops! Sorry about the 2x"s post, folks.

O MY Gawd! It's 3x's posts. This keyboard is going nuts!!!!

I now own a a black rifle, and do so for a number of reasons listed in the above article. I also purchased an AK-47 for my young son, who is becoming quite proficient with it.

US State Department plays down Russian arms sales to Iran
Staff and wire reports
Washington
The United States on October 13 played down Russia's violations of a 1995 pact on ending arms sales to Iran, saying the intent of the agreement had been met.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the aide-memoire – signed by Vice President Al Gore and then-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin - had been effective, rejecting implications to the contrary contained in a report in the New York Times the same day.
"The aide-memoire that was signed by (Gore) and the Russian prime minister was clearly in America's national security interest," Boucher told reporters.
He allowed that Russia was not in compliance with the deal because it had continued to deliver certain weaponry to Iran past an agreed December 31, 1999 cut-off date, but noted that Moscow had kept a pledge not to sign any new arms sales contracts with Tehran.
"They're continuing the delivery of the weapons covered under the aide-memoire," Boucher said.
"But the operative thing is that ... they haven't signed new contracts and they haven't sold weapons that might be sanctionable ... and we're all safer because we've done this aide-memoire because we've managed to curb the sales of weapons to Iran," Boucher said.
The agreement allowed Russia to complete existing sales contracts with Iran for specific weapons, including a submarine and hundreds of tanks, by the cut-off date.
In exchange, the United States promised not to seek sanctions against Russia under a 1992 law which punishes countries that sell advanced weaponry to nations designated state sponsors of terrorism by the State Department.
The weapons Russia was to supply Iran were a Kilo-class diesel-powered submarine, 160 T-72 tanks, 600 armored personnel carriers, numerous anti-ship mines, cluster bombs and a variety of long-range guided torpedoes and other munitions for the submarine and tanks, the New York Times said.
Boucher denied an implication in the Times report that the pact was intended to bypass the law, as the weapons covered in the aide-memoire would not have drawn sanctions because the contracts for them pre-dated the legislation, and because they did not meet its standard of "advanced conventional weapons."
But he said the United States had complained to Russia that it had not completed the transfers by the deadline in the agreement, and was opposed to a Russian request to extend the deadline.
"We have made clear in no uncertain terms in our discussions that we don't approve of that extension," he said. "That is the one issue that's under dispute that is involved here."
After learning that deliveries continued after the deadline, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright sent a classified message to her Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov warning that "continued transfers to Iran could be subject to sanctions under relevant US laws," the Times reported.
Boucher did not deny that Albright had sent such a message but said the negative effects of Russia's violation of the pact were not as dire as the Times made out, as Moscow had not signed any new contracts with Tehran.
"They have not expanded the scope of the understanding, nor do we believe that they have signed new contracts for advanced conventional weapons," he said.
Boucher also denied that the Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement had been kept secret, maintaining its existence was disclosed at the time it was signed.
The Times said that while the pact was mentioned by Gore after he signed it in Moscow, the 12-paragraph document listing the weapons Russia would supply to Iran and the US commitment not to seek sanctions was not disclosed to the US Congress or the public.

Ummm, Mike you can actually get semi-auto version of the M2 they will set you back over 5G's though. Ass for this rabid anti-AR15 babble by some on here, I will remind you that they 2nd amendment guarantees the right bear arms (not just hunting rifles, but any weapon)without infringement. In fact the true spirit of the second amendment is such that everyone really should own a combat worthy firearm of one form or another in order to defend against tyranny at home or foreign invasion (the original intent of the 2nd amendment).

There are irresponsible people with firearms whether they are ARs, AKs, Remington 700s, or Savage 110s. There are irresponsible people who drive cars. There are irresponsible people elected to the highest positions of power in both state and federal levels. You can't do much about immature people who at stupid, unfortunately it seems to be part of the human condition. So quit griping because you do like a particular firearm. Don't like it? Don't buy it. Don't like the people at the range, talk to them about it, talk to the management, and if all else fails shoot somewhere else.

It's not necessary to put out $1700 for a S&W M&P rifle. A good lower receiver can be purchased for around $125 and a parts kit from Model 1 Sales or M&A will set you back around $500 depending on your preferred configuration. Put it all together yourself with the aid of online sources such as AR15.com and you not only have outfitted yourself with a good rifle at considerable savings, but you have also become very familiar with it's construction and operation.

I think you are missing probably the single biggest reason owners of "black rifles" own them, e.g. recreational target shooting.

Mr. Petzal mentions "organized competition" as a reason, but for every competitive marksman, there are 100 recreational shooters who shoot for fun and practice.

Ascribing end-of-the-world fantasies to owners of black rifles is just another symptom of how an older generation of shooters just doesn't "get" the simple truth that we Gen-X and Gen-Y shooters own guns for the EXACT SAME REASONS that Baby Boomers owned guns in their prime. We younger shooters just gravitate toward rifles with more modern styling, instead of following the styling aesthetic of the post-WW2 generation. Why is that so hard for older shooters to understand?

As a Gen-X'er (born in 1970), the music I like is different than the music you grew up with; the TV shows I enjoy are different than the ones you enjoyed when you grew up; and when our family wants to play games together, we do it on an Xbox instead of a Monopoly board. Why *wouldn't* my guns be styled differently than yours?

For recreational target shooting, the "black rifles" are gentler to shoot than full-power rifles and don't beat up your shoulder like most centerfires would; they shoot cheaper ammunition than most centerfires; they have better ergonomics; and (to my Gen-X eyes) are more aesthetically pleasing. Give me the aesthetics of a quality AR or a nicely finished AK over a Ruger No. 1 or a frilly gilt-edged Mauser lookalike any day. The aesthetics of the guns I own has nothing to do with end-of-the-world fantasies, and everything to do with what I find interesting and appealing.

Like the majority of gun owners, I don't currently hunt, but I am interested in hunting and support the rights of hunters. If I ever DO have the privilege of hunting, it will be with a modern-looking rifle in an appropriate hunting caliber (maybe an AR with a 6.8mm upper, or even a 7.62x39mm), not some blued-and-walnut Mauser derivative. Because that's what I own, and that's what I choose to shoot.

One commenter above opined that "there are two kinds of black rifle owner and hardly any in between: the rifleman and the Rambo."

That categorization would be just as applicable to owners of guns with straight wooden stocks, unless you think no idiot ever shot up a fridge or a road sign before black plastic stocks and aluminum receivers were invented. I dare say there are more idiots out there with 12-guage pumps and .22's than there are with AR-15's and civvie AK lookalikes. Methinks that sort of stereotyping is just another illustration of the generation gap among gun owners.

We "black rifle" owners aren't mysterious; we're not any different from you guys shooting lever actions or bolt-action Mauser derivatives, and we (hunters and nonhunters alike) typically own guns for the exact same reasons you do. We're probably a little weary of being stereotyped, though.