This could be posted on other threads but I'd prefer to ask here first because of the knowledge level, experience, and straight from the shoulder advice I've been reading for some years.

AR seems to becoming less active as time goes by. Can anyone suggest sites that are nearly as good as AR?

There are none and how will leaving this one make it better?

PM sent

AR is the best.

It is the "X" of hunting and shooting sites.

There is no substitute for freedom of speech.

Year in, year out, I have found AR the best.

Why? I think it has the most-civilised culture, which has attracted more mature members. Over time they fall off the twig, of course, and that may not help numbers - but those remaining often know better than the mercantile crap served up in the latest magazines and the forums that feed off them.

Mike,
what are you needing? There's some niche forums that flare up and down, and a couple good ones, like 24hourcampfire, that seem pretty welcoming - or ar15.com if you are into that

but the AR tinkertoy platform seems to have taken over - and the cutom rifle space is over full of skilled tinkers, and bubbas -- but you don't need a custom barrel on a semi custom rifle to hunt/shot anymore - (talking about bolt guns here) "any" factory savage will outshoot 'the best' custom barrel from 20+ years ago -

the AR platform - my wife and SiL wanted to take my AR from me, as it was fun to shoot -- they have never down anything more techicanl to a firearm than to load the mag, clear a jam, or run a cleaning rod down the barrel - so, except for torquing the barrel for them, they, under my supervision but NOT assistance, built their own ARs .. it was a fun morning, and then shooting in the afternoon - the point being that an untrained person can build an AR that can shoot decently by watching youtube videos - though, i expect with youtube pushing back on GS videos, more folks will come back to these forums

there's several of us posting here, including you, that are AT LEAST decent hands at building nice rifles, some are amazing, and a wealth of knowledge - part of the situation is that few people are looking for this information anymore

j

Doublegunshop.com
NitroExpress.com
Assra.com

depending on what you are into.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/index.php

https://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php

PLeae don't say building an AR. It's Assembling; like making a tinker toy or leggo gun. The term, Build, implies that some skill is required.
Other forums (Fora); I know of none. WW2 Jeeps; go to G503. They have a weapons section.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
PLeae don't say building an AR. It's Assembling; like making a tinker toy or leggo gun. The term, Build, implies that some skill is required.

Not much more I can say.

AR is my go to. I dabble infrequently with other sites when I am bored. When I first joined here it was a blast until some asshole made a public, lying stink after I passed on his unsolicited offer to build me a custom. Maybe some of you recall that I had been looking to buy a custom with a max budget of $10K at that time, not hire someone to build one from scratch.
I believe that calamity caused many good people to leave AR.
I sure miss the old days prior to that. There was much more action on here. Worth noting is many posters have passed on. Sure miss them.
To answer the O.P. directly; I too have not found one site equal to or nearly as good as AR.
Bless all you AR members. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!! CB

Gentlemen please. Never said or even implied leaving A/R. Just looking for additional info/opinions. A wider audience is a plus, especially when buying/selling. A/R remains #1 go to.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by gunmaker:

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
PLeae don't say building an AR. It's Assembling; like making a tinker toy or leggo gun. The term, Build, implies that some skill is required.

Not much more I can say.

You can buy off the shelf parts and "assemble" a fine shooting bolt action rifle, or you can buy parts and raw materials and "build" a work of art such as you do. Same with an AR. You can buy parts and assemble a rifle that will be safe and generally function. However to give my customers the finest shooting, most reliable AR that they can get to compete at the highest level, takes a shop full of machines. The difference may be small, but to some it is worth it. Same with you or Duane's masterpieces. To some of us it is worth it. To others , the deer is just as dead with a Remington 700. They just don't see it.

No knocking what you and others do at all, I have all the respect in the world for what you do. I guess maybe you just hit a tender spot with the AR comment.

gasgunner
I would not compare what you do and what jeffe describes below. My post wasn't meant to throw shade on those in the industry that actually make something from raw materials. Starting with an idea in their head, coming up with the prints, fixtures, R&D etc. This actually makes the pile of gold bigger!!!

Ordering a pile of parts and very little tooling then assembling a rifle with little instruction may be fun, but it just doesn't compare. That was my interpretation of dcpd's post I quoted above.

I've only "assembled" one AR several years ago while working for another manufacturer. However, I bought the barrel as a blank, Threaded, chambered, drilled reamed lapped gas port, built the gas block from a block of metal, machined the forearm from an extrusion making the extrusion to upper adapter block from scratch, bushing the pins between upper and lower to solid lockup with bushings I made from scratch. Also making the tac-latch for the charging handle from scratch. Not quite clicking "buy it now" and beating the porch pirates to a box of complete parts on my porch.

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:

but the AR tinkertoy platform seems to have taken over - and the cutom rifle space is over full of skilled tinkers, and bubbas .......

the AR platform - my wife and SiL...... they have never down anything more techicanl to a firearm than to load the mag, clear a jam, or run a cleaning rod down the barrel - so, except for torquing the barrel for them, they, under my supervision but NOT assistance, built their own ARs .. it was a fun morning, and then shooting in the afternoon - the point being that an untrained person can build an AR that can shoot decently by watching youtube videos - though, i expect with youtube pushing back on GS videos, more folks will come back to these forums......

We read you right Mike.
Try Africa Hunting see if you like it.
CB

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Michalski:
Gentlemen please. Never said or even implied leaving A/R. Just looking for additional info/opinions. A wider audience is a plus, especially when buying/selling. A/R remains #1 go to.

Mike

This forum is the best.

If one wants to keep it alive post more.

A good thought, PDS, so here goes:

I like AR because in most of its forums we hear less than usual about ARs.

Such things got a bad reputation here after Port Arthur, resulting in a conservative populist banning them and all our more-humble self-loaders.

Obviously things have gone the other way over your way. When I first visited the US in 1986, our hostess would not even let her husband keep his .30-30 in the house. When we returned in 2019, she owned two pistols and an Armalite herself. She took me to the nearest gunshop, a barn with 'assault rifles' floor to ceiling around the walls.

Another friend who had never been a shooter and couldn't countenance hunting later told me he had also bought a pistol, AR and an auto shotgun.

I am a equal opportunity gun owner.

The only ones I do not have much of a interest in.

Are muzzle loading black powder arms.

I see utility in most anything I can load for.

I hunted big game for decades with a Ruger No. 1.

I carried modern rifles, shotguns and handguns for decades. In my career as a LEO.

I like guns big, middle, or small.

The only thing that really pisses me off is the government trying to tell me what I can own and shoot.

It would give me great pleasure to see GCA of 34 and 68 done away with.

I don't have much interest in hunting big game with semi-autos . But I don't see anything wrong with it.

I see great utility in owning handgun and long guns for self-defense and defense of country.

Semi-auto rifles and hand guns work very well for that.

I yet to see someone complain and about having to much ammo in a firefight.

So I Like Accurate Reloading because I can comment on most all of the above.

Come down and I'll let you shoot some of the Flintlocks I built and then you will want one. They are more fun than those new fangled brass cartridge things; anyone can shoot one of those.

I have shot them.

Thanks for the offer anyway.

I find black powder ML's to be a PITA