Regarding the utter dominance of the AR and the rapid death of pretty much everything else, consider that before 2014, there were also huge numbers of parts kit built AKs, Russian Saigas, the Steyr AUG, SIG 556, H&K G3 clones, FN FAL parts kit builds, and the Ruger Mini-14, amongst others. Many of those guns are gone or at least much less popular, making the AR-15s dominance even more impressive. It didn't just kill the new players in the cradle, it outlasted many of it's contemporaries in the AWB and immediate post-AWB era.
I *bought* an IWI Tavor, just for "something different." I quickly figured out that the advantage of the bullpup for bullpup's sake (short, handy rifle) was easily obtained with an SBR. And the $200 stamp is a lot less proportionally disincentivizing when you compare it to the $1800 I got when I sold the Tavor.
So I essentially traded it for a 7.5" .300BO AR with a suppressor. Because ARs are just better at almost everything than any other semiauto rifle currently on the market.
When I bought my first AR-15 I wasn’t completely sold on how great they are, I bought it because everyone should buy one. But as time passed and I got to know my AR a bit more I realized that every AR-15 alternative is not as practical as an AR-15 is. Now days I can’t imagine buying any AR-15 alternative
The only reason is "I want to be different" because you're going to build an AR that's at least as good as anything else at whatever particular metric you're going for, unless you just really want a bullpup for bullpup reasons (and that has its own tradeoffs).
Ahem. *I* bought an FS2000. Because I'm a weird gun nerd and the goofball operation, features, and appearance interests me.
Gun nerds unite.
Regarding the utter dominance of the AR and the rapid death of pretty much everything else, consider that before 2014, there were also huge numbers of parts kit built AKs, Russian Saigas, the Steyr AUG, SIG 556, H&K G3 clones, FN FAL parts kit builds, and the Ruger Mini-14, amongst others. Many of those guns are gone or at least much less popular, making the AR-15s dominance even more impressive. It didn't just kill the new players in the cradle, it outlasted many of it's contemporaries in the AWB and immediate post-AWB era.
I *bought* an IWI Tavor, just for "something different." I quickly figured out that the advantage of the bullpup for bullpup's sake (short, handy rifle) was easily obtained with an SBR. And the $200 stamp is a lot less proportionally disincentivizing when you compare it to the $1800 I got when I sold the Tavor.
So I essentially traded it for a 7.5" .300BO AR with a suppressor. Because ARs are just better at almost everything than any other semiauto rifle currently on the market.
I bought an FS2000 before they were cool again. Seriously, prices have gone up even higher since GTs video
When I bought my first AR-15 I wasn’t completely sold on how great they are, I bought it because everyone should buy one. But as time passed and I got to know my AR a bit more I realized that every AR-15 alternative is not as practical as an AR-15 is. Now days I can’t imagine buying any AR-15 alternative
The only reason is "I want to be different" because you're going to build an AR that's at least as good as anything else at whatever particular metric you're going for, unless you just really want a bullpup for bullpup reasons (and that has its own tradeoffs).