The AR is America’s SH*T Hits the Fan Rifle

Here’s how one guy who is going to survive the Apocalypse sets up his AR for Maximum Effectiveness.

Story and Photos by Frank Jardim

You need an AR-platform rifle. Even if you don’t want one, you should own one just in case real trouble ever comes to your door. In my opinion, when you have an AR to defend yourself in a life-threatening encounter, far more often than not, you’ll meet that threat with what the military calls overmatch. When facing an adversary, you want to be stronger, better armed and more skillful than they are. If you can overmatch your adversary, they might opt for retreat before the fight even starts, and if they don’t, wouldn’t you want every advantage you could get to ensure you’re the winner?
If you wake to the sound of a shattering downstairs window in your home and you have the choice of arming yourself with a 17-shot 9mm pistol, or a dependable, easy-to-handle and -shoot 5.56mm semi-automatic rifle with a 30-round magazine, would you honestly choose the pistol if there were no compelling safety reason not to use the more powerful weapon? Now consider an even more dire situation where things get really bad, really quick, over a large area. The type of situation where the laws of our orderly civilized lives are replaced by the primitive law of survival, the police are overwhelmed and unable to respond to most calls for assistance, and you expect to be in danger and on your own for an extended period of time.
That’s the way it went during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which spanned six days of mayhem, arson, killing and looting that left 64 people dead and $1 billion in damage. It was among the deadliest riots in American
history. Aside from the scale and violence of it, what really stuck out for me from the news reporting were
stories of Korean immigrant business owners defending Koreatown, their ethnic community, by taking to the roofs armed with rifles, shotguns and pistols. I admired the pluck of these hardworking, tough people who refused to let the fruit of their labors, which represented the economic future of their families, be destroyed by a lawless mob. In the absence of the police, they formed a de facto militia to protect their lives and property.
Recent events have illustrated that the willingness and ability of local governments to protect the lives
and property of American citizens threatened by rampant crime and violent riots varies wildly. The protests
and riots in many large cities in 2020 resulted in millions of anxious Americans deciding for the first time
that they needed to own a firearm.
With such a demand, at times there were virtually no firearms or ammo to be bought. I recall even wholesale and retail dealers in black powder arms telling me they’d sold out completely. Think about that. Concluding that any gun was better than their bare hands, a bludgeon or sharp pointy object, several thousand people were willing to accept 1840s technology in the form of a cap-and-ball revolver, or even a single-shot flintlock muzzleloader. The lesson here is that if you are willing and able to take responsibility for protecting your life, and the lives of your loved ones, don’t wait until your local police station is on fire to buy an AR. By then it’s probably too late.

WHILE THERE ARE plenty of other excellent, reliable, durable, detachable high-capacity magazine-fed semi-auto rifles around to defend yourself with, for most Americans, the AR platform is the most practical and affordable. They’ve been widely produced by so many manufacturers for so long that they are ubiquitous, with the important bonus of near complete interchangeability of parts, military or civilian. If there were no new parts made from this day forward, there are huge quantities available to keep the platform shooting. In addition, gunsmithing the platform is not complex and has become a popular hobby. They are lightweight and easy for most people to handle. The mild recoil of the 5.56mm cartridge makes them easier to shoot well, especially in rapid fire, than rifles chambered for more powerful hunting calibers. The 5.56mm NATO is an effective, accurate cartridge that is among the most popular and plentiful in America and is currently used by the US military. More so than any other rifle in America, the AR platform is well suited to living off the land without the conventional means to repair it or keep its magazines full. I wouldn’t be surprised to see AR magazines being used as currency in a (hopefully temporary) post-civilization America. By virtue of Picatinny rail and M-Lok mounting capability, the AR platform is easily enhanced to improve its performance and compensate for deficiencies in the user’s skills and training.

LET’S TAKE A look at my “sh*t hits the fan” AR as an example. At its core, it’s a well-made and economically priced gun from Anderson Manufacturing with forged upper and lower receivers and a 16-inch M4 contour carbine, 1-in-8-inch-twist barrel. That rifling twist is the most versatile in that it can work well with a broad range of bullet weights, sufficiently stabilizing the heavier 70- to 90-grain bullets currently popular and preventing overspin with light bullets like the old 55-grain military M193 ball. However, any rifling twist would do, since a SHTF rifle doesn’t need to shoot like a target rifle. Don’t pass up a deal because it’s a 1-in-7-inch, 1-in-9-inch, or 1-in-12-inch twist.
Nor should you get hung up on buying a high-end, major brand name AR. Most shooters won’t benefit substantially from the real refinements of a top-end gun and would be better served by buying a more value-priced AR and using the money saved to meaningfully accessorize it. Anderson doesn’t spend a lot of money on advertising, and the comparatively low pricing of their products has made folks question their quality. However, the fact is they make excellent products and are the largest manufacturer of AR receivers in the country. They were a sophisticated, modern machine shop catering to the aerospace industry before they got into guns, which was something of a step down in difficulty compared to their past work. I’ve seen their production facilities in Hebron, Kentucky, and their focus on leveraging the best modern manufacturing technology is the secret of their low pricing. That, and they believe in selling their product
rather than their name.

While all AR platforms offer the same defensive firepower capabilities, they differ in secondary features that
can enhance their utility and accuracy. The main ones are stock, sight and forend configuration. These days, most new ARs have buttstocks with adjustable length of pull and Picatinny rails on the upper receivers for mounting optics or a rear sight of your choice. You can still find economy ARs with traditional front sight bases and handguards mounted to the barrel. The good news is that most AR platforms now use the more accurate free-floated barrels, which generally include aluminum handguards with various accessory mounting options, Picatinny rail and M-Lok slots being the most popular. The ability to easily and securely mount accessories is a valuable consideration in a SHTF rifle, particularly some sort of tactical light for nighttime encounters and a targeting laser for accurate shooting at closer range when you can’t shoulder the rifle to use the main optic or iron sights. Green lasers tend to cost more, but because of green light’s central position in the color spectrum, the human eye sees green better than red. I think the green lasers are worth the additional cost. My rifle was an old Anderson with a discontinued proprietary forend mounting system. Fortunately, they still stocked Picatinny rail sections for it, which I mounted at the customary 3, 6 and 9 o’clock positions.

I SEE THE main mission of the SHTF AR as engaging threats within 200 yards with maximum speed and minute-of-man accuracy. The most dangerous targets are generally the closest ones and the magnification of conventional glass telescopic sights narrows the shooter’s field of view, making it harder to locate them quickly.
Iron sights, or ideally a red dot or holographic sight, will get you on target faster inside 100 yards. Red dot optics are easier to use effectively without practice or training than iron sights, making them ideal for people who own guns for protection but don’t otherwise have enough interest in shooting to spend the time to develop a high skill level. Though I prefer a zero magnification red dot optic on a SHTF AR, I wouldn’t want to go without a backup iron sight, or BUIS. In the event that your optics break, get too dirty to see through or just get wet, you have to be able to aim effectively in the daylight and darkness.
Even with night sights, defending against an attack coming out of the darkness is a grave challenge. Night
sights alone only address the sight alignment half of the problem. A powerful forend-mounted tactical
light, preferably with a strobe setting to disorient an attacker, solves the target acquisition half of the problem, denies your adversary the advantage of the concealment, and improves your situational awareness.

SHTF AR ACCESSORIES
Here are a few places to start:
andersonmanufacturing.com
meprolight.com
xssights.com
streamlight.com
magpul.com
blackhawk.com

LIVING WITH YOUR rifle during an extended emergency is a lot different than just going to the range for an afternoon. For example, readiness is key. Any ammo left packed in its original retail boxes is ammo that’s not readily available for your defense. The safer play is to carry it loaded into quality polymer magazines that can endure a waist-high drop onto concrete without breaking. Though somewhat bulkier than metal magazines, polymer magazines’ bodies don’t fail from rust, dents or getting their feed lips bent. If, or when, the time comes to put your SHTF rifle to use, expect that you’ll have it on your person constantly for the duration of the crisis. You’re going to need some type of reliable sling to keep your hands free when you aren’t shooting. Single-point slings have become quite popular for military and law enforcement applications because they allow the rifle to hang ready at hip level, ready to bring to bear if needed. On the march they aren’t as practical as traditional, over-the-shoulder, double point slings. Dual-use slings with quick, intuitive adjustments and the addition of a few extra QD mounting sockets at key locations let you get the best of both options.
You could further enhance your SHTF AR with muzzle brakes or suppressors, drop-in triggers, or by starting with an AR pistol or NFA registered short-barreled rifle. If that helps you hit your target faster and you’ve got the money to burn, I say go for it. My concept for the SHTF AR is that it is a piece of emergency equipment (like a fire extinguisher) that most owners will rarely use, and it should be fitted with only those
accessories that significantly assist the shooter in using it effectively. ★