Practical reason for civilians to own a FA

CajunTim · Mar 5, 2009

I want a FA and hope to get one, one day more or less for the novelty and looking at it as an investment.

Now in another thread here someone said because it is easily converted to FA. Why would a civilian need a FA, why do law abiding citizens think a FA is a practical weapon? Im not talking crew served FAs as I can see a real use for one of them; but like a FA AK or AR. Besides breaking contact, laying suppressive fire and gaining fire superiority; but when you are by yourself and cant talk your gun with others where is the upper hand of the FA?

Please clue me in.

Thanks

Enal · Mar 5, 2009

Pick a caliber and start buying ammo now because soon it will be worth more than even the most clean FA available.

Unless you have actually fired some FA setups you can't imagine just how much ammo they eat...Not to mention how much maintenance is stepped up on whatever you are shooting.

Trust me it's not really cracked up to what you think...Even while firing in FullAuto you really have to spend a lot of ammo to learn how to be accurate enough to put the rounds on target.

Even when we were training with suppressive cover it was rarely on FullAuto because the heat would cook the barrel down and spend your supply much quicker with less accuracy.

Unless it's a SAW or 50Cal mounted...it's just not worth it...

One FA AR setup @ $15K(cheap) = 10 nice new Semi AR's

One FA AK setup @ $18K(cheap) = 18+ nice Semi AK's

My choice is to rent them at the range or something like Knobb Creek and let somebody else bare the burden of the repairs and dealing with the typical ClassIII Bull...

Just my Opinion...

Doc Holliday · Mar 5, 2009

+1 to Enal's remarks.

My department has about 6 - M-16A1s, one of which was issued to me. After the novelty wore off, I quickly turned it back in to the armory & opted to carry my personal semi-auto Bushmaster M4.

In my over 20 yrs. of being a street cop, I have never been involved in a situation where a FA weapon would have given me superiority over what my M4 was capable of.

It is pounded into our heads (as it well should be), that we are responsible for every round that we send downrange. Bearing that in mind, I personally would rather send one round downrange at a time, rather than a burst.

Don't get me wrong, I own my fair share of class III weapons & DEFINITELY won't belittle anyone for wanting to own a machinegun. But I opt to spend my money on SBRs & suppressors, as in my estimation I get a lot more (or less) "Bang for my buck" with them.

Just my thoughts on the matter...

LouisianaCarry · Mar 5, 2009

First, you are on the wrong track. I am not trying to be argumentative, I am just putting this out there for thought.

Once we embark on the adventure of justifying our weapons, we have implicitly admitted that they need justification. The way I see it, we only need to put forth one blanket set of reasoning.

"There is evil in the world, and it is the right and duty of individuals and groups of individuals to stand up for themselves."

Beyond that, the means and methods are irrelevant. However we choose to do so is up to us. The idea to convey is that, since we are doing what is right by arming ourselves and training according to our civic duty, the tools we decide to use in that employ are not particularly pertinent.

Put another way, the idea here is that we should keep the argument (assuming this thread is about justification, as it seems to be, and not simply wanting ideas on cool "stuff to do with my awesome new DIAS") on the offensive, rather than the defensive. It is very hard to argue that we do not have the right to self defense. It is much easier to argue that Joe six-pack has no practical use for a C3 weapon.

Hopefully that makes sense.

LouisianaCarry · Mar 5, 2009

On second thought, me bing Mr. Activist, I was thinking "justification to others" with the above post. If your question was about justifying the purchase to yourself, then I do have an answer.

The second amendment is about our duty as citizens to be prepared to serve in a milita. In that light, the military reasons for FA you mentioned in the OP are the reasons milita should have them. Hopefully the county is peaceful forever, but the more you can do to prepare against the potential eventuality that it is not, the better.

Doc Holliday · Mar 5, 2009

I wasn't talking about justification, practicality was where I was going.

If I had unlimited resources, I'm sure that I would a few select FAs.

Please don't think that I'm against the ownership of FA weapons, because I'm not. If you can afford 'em, go for it & I'm envious of you, but I can't.

That's all...

CajunTim · Mar 5, 2009

This wasnt about the right to own but more on the lines of the logic of owning one as it appears some think they are the end all solve all firearm.

LouisianaCarry · Mar 5, 2009

dspd204 said:
I wasn't talking about justification, practicality was where I was going.

If I had unlimited resources, I'm sure that I would a few select FAs.

Please don't think that I'm against the ownership of FA weapons, because I'm not. If you can afford 'em, go for it & I'm envious of you, but I can't.

That's all...

Nothing I posted was directed at you, BTW. I hadn't even read past the OP when I posted the first time. :rofl:

Enal · Mar 5, 2009

CajunTim said:
This wasnt about the right to own but more on the lines of the logic of owning one as it appears some think they are the end all solve all firearm.

AGREED!...I don't think most of the responses had Any concerns about "Rights"...but Mostly "Wants".

I know I understood what you were asking because these days we all need to qualify our bigger purchases.

CajunTim...There are a few good sites that list the ClassIII stuff ForSale that might help you make your decision.

On the other hand...I would Really like to own a nice suppressor, but don't like the prying-paperwork that comes with one.

If you do...Invest in a good reload setup

Good Luck with your decision...

Jimmy Dean · Mar 5, 2009

For single use, I would like a FA simply for the burst fire.

The only true FA I would want for use as a FA would be a SAW or mounted .50...tehn again....deer hunting with a BAR could be fun.... :P (j/j)

CajunTim · Mar 5, 2009

No I am not in the market for one right now, the wife would just get it in the divorce anyways if I did buy it right now as it would cause a divorce. I do look at subguns a lot though. I would like a MP5 just because I have wanted one for years.

Landry308 · Mar 5, 2009

I have FA's . Have or have had HK G3K,M16's, MP5's, M2 Carbine, M11/Lage, etc. They're fun, but the novelty wears off real quick. If I were you I'd get some silencers and nice semi-autos. The FA's aren't that controlable for the most part. They are good to "hose" something close like a doorway or '76 Oldsmobile, when you're really in a hurry or caught by suprise. I guess the most "practical" one would be the MP5. That's a bad mofo. Especially with a silencer. I think that would be the ultimate to lug around in a post-Katrina situation. Small and handy enough to take wherever you go, and lots of firepower if you need it.

Doc Holliday · Mar 5, 2009

CajunTim said:
No I am not in the market for one right now, the wife would just get it in the divorce anyways if I did buy it right now as it would cause a divorce. I do look at subguns a lot though. I would like a MP5 just because I have wanted one for years.

I have also been strongly enamored with MP-5s for a very long time.

My solution was a Cohaire Arms CA-89 Pistol, SBR stamp, collapsible stock, & I replaced all possibly less-reliable American parts w/ genuine HK ones. I didn't keep track of what I spent on it, but I'm sure that it was less than $3K.

Good luck!

Doc Holliday · Mar 5, 2009

LouisianaCarry said:
Nothing I posted was directed at you, BTW. I hadn't even read past the OP when I posted the first time.

Roger that.

tactical723 · Mar 5, 2009

I agree with dspd204, I have fired and trained with M16's and Mp5's in my LEO/military career and much prefer my USPSA 3 gun tactical training in semi-auto firing mode, it is more accurate, less expensive, and you can account for every round going down range or down the street for that matter, don't get me wrong, everyone should at least experience it once or twice, some ranges rent FA firearms, I know there are several in TX,

Zack3g · Mar 6, 2009

Why do I have FA guns? Because I can.

All that nonsense about them not being controllable? Bah. Practice more! I can hold a 30 rd mag dump from my M16 on a paper plate at the 25 yd line.

the M11/9, well, not so much. Although, the mag's gone so quick most of the bullets hit nearly the same spot anyway.

Practical use? there really isn't one, except this concept. it's hard to put into words but i'll try.

better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. i have several semi AR rifles. they're great, and truth be told one of them is my bump in the night gun. however, if i had the option, they'd all be M16's over AR's. Why? because even though the selector goes to auto doesn't mean it has to stay there.

my M16 is my general purpose AR. i've got 20" uppers and 5" uppers and just about everything in between. Yeah, I shoot it on FA, but i also do a lot of shooting on semi with it.

if the time comes that i NEED the FA, i'll be damned glad i have it.

if not? still glad i have it

aroundlsu · Mar 6, 2009

Look at what happened at waco when the atf agents got full auto fire directed at them. They turned around and hauled ass. Of course they came back and burned the place down. But temporarily the FA fire worked nicely.

Nomad.2nd · Mar 6, 2009

FA is pretty much useless except in beltfeds.

-One of the few exceptions might be a small framed person who could not handle the recoil of a rifle round, but (Perhaps... streatching it here) could handle a burst from a subgun.

As to FA... you can be accurate with it, but if you REALLY work on trigger reset, you'll be able to dump a mag ACCURATELY just as fast as someone with a FA...

Cept you'll be able to do it with ANY AR etc... Insted of YOUR FA...

That said... I'd give alot for a FA PKM.

Practical reason for civilians to own a FA

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