William sent us a photo of the first AR-15 he has owned. It’s his primary livestock defense rifle. He wrote …

Not all of us can afford $1,000 plus guns. So, we find quality where we can / can afford at that time. Or, we build it from parts that we can afford to buy at that time 🙂

Here where I live, my guns are not toys. They are tools and I do have to use them. I have to shoot lambs we raise for meat and hides, deer I hunt for meat, and, sadly, occasionally shoot one of our horses when they become too old to stand up anymore. This is very sad because our horses are our friends. I won’t let them suffer though. I also have to protect our sheep from wolves and mountain lions.

We live out in the mountains of Idaho. Not in a city. Self defense is a secondary reason for us to own a gun. It is not the primary reason we have them. We need them, so we have them. That is why the original settlers who came out here had them also.

I don’t have any particular favorite gun. My favorite pistol is my .45, my current favorite hunting rifle is my 1950’s Lee Enfield .303 with it’s original iron sights. My favorite saddle rifle is my Marlin 30/30 (of course it’s my favorite – it’s the only saddle rifle I own). My AR is now my favorite livestock defense. It has the 600 lumen light because most of the time it is only ever needed on the darkest of nights.

I built my AR because I needed that light on it for the pitch black nights. I went out at 2 AM about 2 years ago in the late fall because our dogs wanted to go out to pee. I was just about to go to bed but the dogs sounded off big time. Our sheep were in the small pasture close to our house. I knew something was wrong so I turned the light on over the door, a 60 watt bulb, and took my .45 – not ideal. Some critter was right outside the fence where our sheep were – I can only guess it was a coyote. I didn’t have any light at all except that 60 watt bulb 300 feet from our sheep in that small pasture. I saw a shadow of what was agitating the sheep and our dogs so I put a round from my .45 into the ground very close to it. I didn’t have a clear sight picture so I had to go the route of scaring whatever it was off. So, I built an AR carbine with a very powerful light on it. The next time such a thing happens on our small bit of land, I will light up the target so bright that a 5 year old with a .22 couldn’t miss at 50 yards.

Guns are simply tools, you use the right tool for the right job. You don’t use a phillips head screwdriver on a flathead screw. It’s the same with guns. People who live in cities don’t always understand this.

The first is the AR I finally was able to Finish after 1½ years of building it and saving to afford the parts. It’s a mishmash from many different companies and built on a Mag Tactical Systems lower receiver with a 16″ 1:8 twist barrel. Couldn’t afford a lot and the final price came in at $506.62 without the red dot sight. The flip up sights are A.R.M.S sights. It is still possible to build a $500 quality AR 15.

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