[AsLan^]

Originally Posted by Luca The problem is attaching value judgments to them based primarily on their appearance or a few arbitrary things like the presence of a flash suppressor, bayonet mount, threaded barrel, folding stock, or pistol grip (five of the criteria for a gun to be considered an "assault rifle" under the assault weapons ban of the 90s). I'm not really sure what you're talking about when you say the pistol grip allows "firing from behind cover." I suppose you mean it allows you to fire it one-handed so you don't have to expose yourself in order to fire? I guess that's possible, but good luck hitting anything if you do that. What's so bad about the ability to do that anyway? I just don't get it.

Also, firing around corners, into rooms, that sort of thing.

Originally Posted by Luca ... and single it out because it looks scary

I was wondering when the "scary" thing would come up. The point of my argument is that guns are designed with specific purposes in mind. There is a reason an assault rifle looks like an assault rifle. It's because the engineers who designed it thought about how the rifle would be used and designed it accordingly.

As you know, the SKS you showed is available in many configurations. Some are more suitable for hunting and general purpose shooting, others are more suitable for combat. If the form of a weapon was not important there would have been no reason to transition away from the M1 Garand, Lee Enfield 303s etc. But the fact is that the form is important and a defining characteristic of what is an assault rifle.

I specifically didn't include any value judgements so as not to derail the pretty good thread you guys have going. I just hate that whole "it's not an assault rifle" thing so I jumped in

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by AsLan^ The point of my argument is that guns are designed with specific purposes in mind. There is a reason an assault rifle looks like an assault rifle. It's because the engineers who designed it thought about how the rifle would be used and designed it accordingly.

Or it's a look-alike knock-off for folks you just like the looks. I'm not saying you're wrong, only that, just as a seriously tricked out Honda may take design cues from a Ferrari, it doesn't *make* it a Ferrari... but it's that way because the owner likes the style.

Looks aren't everything. Some people like the Rambo looking firearm. Not my cup of tea, but whatevva, you know? I'll stick with my 1942 Husqvarna 6.5x55mm.

[Fooboy]

Originally Posted by Kickaha Looks aren't everything. Some people like the Rambo looking firearm. Not my cup of tea, but whatevva, you know? I'll stick with my 1942 Husqvarna 6.5x55mm.

PICS!!!

[Dave]

Originally Posted by AsLan^ Also, firing around corners, into rooms, that sort of thing.

You can do that without a pistol grab. Just rotate your wrist.

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by Fooboy PICS!!!

It's back home in family storage, but I've been meaning to snag it sometime soon.

They'll let me fly with it, right?

"What? It's not *concealed*..."

[Fooboy]

zombie pig flu making the rounds.

Turtle - must be nice to know your family is safe from the hordes of zombie pigs AND the hysterical reporters.

[turtle]

What's funny is I just attended a pig-picking! One of the best bits of pig I've eaten in a long time too.

[Kickaha]

Oh you bastard... haven't been to a good one of those in long while.

[turtle]

That's what you get for moving up north. Ever heard of "Little Washington"?

[Kickaha]

Nooooo... do tell.

[turtle]

Central Eastern NC off of Route 17. Good ol' country where the head is still on the pig and they start cooking it at 4am or so. Wow, just wow.

I hear it's actually a dot on the map now too. Though we were actually in a smaller dot just south called Chocowinity.

[Fooboy]

Kick - are you in NC?

[Kickaha]

Used to be, for several years. Up in the NYC area now.

turtle, I always went to Allen & Sons, north of Chapel Hill on Route 86. Sounds similar, it looks like a bump in the road, but holy crap is it amazing.

[turtle]

I've never eaten out for pig like that. This is a family thing. We have two reunions a year and cook a pig every time.

[Kickaha]

Nice. Had a buddy in grad school whose family smoked their own, so once a year he'd drive up to Hickory and get one of their portable smokers, and we'd have a pig pickin' at our apartment complex. Awesome, awesome stuff.

My wife makes a killer Piedmont sauce, and can cook a shoulder as well as can be in the oven, but... not quite the same. (Still the hit of every gathering we've taken it to up here though. )

Allen & Sons catered our rehearsal dinner, which had my NW family kind of wondering what the hell they'd gotten themselves into... but after they tried it, they couldn't get enough.

[Kickaha]

Somehow, I thought this completely appropriate for this thread, all things considered...

[turbulentfurball]

I'm most concerned about the chipped nail polish in all honesty.

[Kickaha]

You'd think that if you're going to be working with machinery, you'd at *least* put on a proper topcoat, y'know?

[Maciej]

Man. Hands. That is all.

[turtle]

I know someone who caught a shell in her cleavage once during a life fire exercise!

[Freewell]

Ooooh... Sounds painful!!!

Really funny pic, Kicka! I really do have to agree with Maciej on this one though... Man hands... and a straight man at that! Correct me if I am wrong, Turby or Robo, but a gay man would NEVER have such sloppily painted nails! Forget the chipping, they didn't look good to begin with!

[Freewell]

Oh... but if it makes you guys feel better, I believe the boobs are probably perfectly authentic...

If you look closely, you can see how the skin tones do not match, and how the hands appear as though they are reaching around from behind... A 2 person shot, I think!

[Maciej]

Originally Posted by Freewell Oh... but if it makes you guys feel better, I believe the boobs are probably perfectly authentic... If you look closely, you can see how the skin tones do not match, and how the hands appear as though they are reaching around from behind... A 2 person shot, I think!

Haha, maybe. I just thought it was a lady with some really mannish hands.

[Matsu]

Responding late to discussion earlier in thread:

Unlike the AK47, which has unquestionably killed the most people, not enough kids have had the pleasure of shooting an M16/AR15, let alone an antique like the M1, for those platforms to even come close to the body count amassed by the Kalashnikova.

However, I don't see the fun in hunting with an M16 platform rifle. The lack of wood and polished steel takes all the joy out of blowing the guts out of some unsuspecting creature. Joking, sort of, the sarcasm (itself an apt term) has more to do with tools as objects of design than the ethical questions about hunting/violence. There are some beautiful rifles out there, and almost all come from an earlier time when there was less distinction between the ideal of a hunting weapon vs a battle weapon. The AR15/M16 has a functional bluntness about it. It's designed to kill combatants, which with proper loadings it does well. An animal has none of the habits of a combatant, it does not behave the way a person/troop might. The closest military weapon I can think of for the purposes of ethical hunting (one shot kills) would be sniper rifles, emphasis being on patient, deliberate, economical actions.

[murbot]

Originally Posted by turbulentfurball I'm most concerned about the chipped nail polish in all honesty.

I actually LOL'ed.