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Comment by Frondo | Hacker News Reader

From personal experience, from a social circle that spans a wide variety of types of people, the venn diagram of "people who are Into Guns" and "people who can effectively hunt their own food" has no overlap.

My friends who are Into Guns are into feeling tough and powerful, like they've always got an upper hand in any situation. When they go into the great outdoors, it's to drink beer and shoot their guns into the woods. (Yeah, it's stupid and dangerous and shitty. I stopped camping with them some time ago.)

My family members who hunt never talk about their guns, they just hunt with them a couple times a year and fill their chest freezers with deer.

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What does enthusiasm for guns have to do with this discussion?

The linked article is about rationales for possessing rifles such as the AR-15.

You can own an AR-15 without being compelled to enthuse about it to everyone (as the grandparent mentioned their poor-hunter friends do).

The AR-15 is the key word. Subsistence hunters aren’t buying expensive guns. You can get guns for that purpose for 80% less money.

AR-15s are like toy light sabers for adults.

> You can get guns for that purpose for 80% less money.

AR-15s are by far the least expensive they've ever been right now, and are substantially less expensive than any reasonable alternative.

You can get a complete AR-15 for <$500, easily. If you're willing to put the parts together yourself, you can do it for ~$350.

You're certainly not going to get a new hunting rifle of similar quality for $70-$100.

> AR-15s are like toy light sabers for adults.

Sure, they can be. It's a fairly common cliche that they're "Barbie dolls for grown men" - but I fail to see how that's relevant. The article was about preppers, not firearms enthusiasts.

That’s crazy — I’ve been out of this world for a log time, basically since graduating college. Back in the 90s, I had friends who spent multiples of that on AR-15 type rifles!

Personally, I’m not someone who will survive long in a combat situation, so I don’t spend much time thinking about guns.

Yeah, a lot has changed since the 90s. The '94 "Assault Weapons Ban" made them popular; when it expired in '04, production shot through the roof. Various panics have happened since then that kept them relatively expensive, but since Trump's election prices have fallen through the floor.

These days you can easily get a lower receiver (the part that's considered a firearm by the ATF) for <$100.

Yes, but if you're not a subsistence hunter, and only planning to become one in unusual circumstances, the AR-15 is so popular that its parts and ammunition are widely available everywhere. In fact, I'd say an entry-level AR-15 at about $400 is a better choice for someone who isn't enthusiastic about guns, and doesn't want to expend too much brainpower maintaining them, as opposed to a $100 Cosmoline-encrusted Mosin or Norinco rifle. Even if it is overkill for hunting.

5.56 is actually under-kill for hunting a lot of game, especially as compared to something like the Mosin that you gave as an example.

That's why intermediate 6mm cartridges exist. 6.5mm CM, grendel and better yet .300 blackout. All easy conversions to the AR platform. All you need to go from a base .223 ar to a .300blk is a barrel swap.

In a SHTF scenario, you'll want to stick to more popular cartridges. 6.5 is great and all, but if supply lines run out then you'll want to be shooting what's plentiful.

That was a response to hunting concerns. .223 is considered underpowered for deer hunting, but ar-15 can be easily modified to fire deer hunting caliber bullets.

If the SHTF .223 is probably better to barter with if nothing else

You're right in that .223/5.56 is only useful for game up to your typical southeastern Doe or small Buck but milsurp rifles are a thing of the past. Not only is a decent Mosin ~$350 these days, they are awful, awful hutning rifles for a dozen+ reasons. A Savage Axis is the better comparison but it costs about the same as a budget AR-15 and either option is so cheap it's hard to argue against buying both.

The only difference between "military-style firearm enthusiasts" and "hunters" that I've noticed is that the hunting focused crowd rarely shows interest in platforms like the AR-15 but they loooooove to talk about/argue about handguns. All the hunters in my family rareoy discuss their field guns (there's really not much to discuss about the differences between one .308 bolt action/12ga pump or inertia shotgun and another) but god forbid they get started on a 9mm/.45 debate or their umpteenth Wonder 9/1911 argument. Basically, the difference boils down to one of defensice ideology, tacticool people believe in the benefits of the modern carbines/rifle concept while hunters believe in the benefits of a CCW and/or bedside handgun instead.

With the dramatic increase in CWD in the US deer population, I don't know if I would be messing with deer meat anymore.

I started turning down venison at meals for good two years ago. I'm probably being overly cautious.

Why, do you particularly enjoy deer brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils and lymph nodes?

I fear improper cleaning and food preparation.

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