The World's Most Versatile Rifle: 15 Uses For The AR-15

When the M16 hit tropical shores during the Vietnam conflict with dirty ammo but no cleaning kits, it was set up to earn the undying hatred of the servicemen issued them. With a start like that, it’s a wonder that the “platform” — as it’s popularly called now — ever made it into civilian life.

But through that rocky start and against overwhelming bias, it did. The M16 and all its derivative clones went on to become the single most popular centerfire rifle/carbine in existence today. Not only that, but it’s now had the longest continuous service life of any standard-issue long arm in the history of the United States military. 

How? Why? Excellent questions, dear reader. The short answer is this: because the design is so adaptable, versatile, and useful. But who wants the short answer, right? Let’s take a look at 15 different uses that the AR-15 (and its various clonefolk) excel at. 

1. Military

Hoo-RAH. We’ve already touched on this one, but it bears deepening. Once the functional kinks got worked out of the M16, it became obvious that soldiers carried it more easily, fired it more accurately, and could comfortably carry more ammo than with any previously issued service rifle. Enemy-killing capability increased with improved reliability and the evolution of the 5.56 NATO projectiles fired in the M16. 

Being lighter paid off over time, as did better accuracy potential and a larger payload of ammo. Eventually, the M16 series of rifles morphed into the M4 series of carbines. As combat optics, night-vision optics, laser devices, and so forth became tools that enabled our U.S. combat troops to rule the night, the evolved M16-based fighting firearms demonstrated greater modularity and adaptability than everything else from the AK-47 to the FAL — in a word, superiority. 

Yes, M16/AR-15-based firearms will eventually be phased out of service, but I suspect it’ll be a good long while before that actually comes to pass. Meanwhile, the fundamental design is still powering through the longest uninterrupted service period in the history of our great nation. 

Let’s take a look at different uses that the AR-15 is ideal for. 

2. Self-Defense

Some say a double-barreled shotgun is the best tool for self-defense. That may be the case if the assailant is alone and if you handle heavy recoil well. An AR-15 kicks far less and offers a ton more shots. Plus, an AR carbine is shorter, more easily stored, more quickly loaded, and more maneuverable than the average shotgun. 

When loaded with good self-defense ammo, the AR-15 has plenty of threat-stopping authority, and it won’t over-penetrate urban walls and perforate your neighbor’s TV. With a good 20- or 30-round magazine on board, you’ll have as many shots as you need to sort out multiple attackers. 

3. Predator Hunting

Savvy predator hunters have migrated to accurate semiautomatic rifles — and that means AR-15s. Put a crisp trigger and a premium barrel on your favorite build; pick a chambering such as the .22 Nosler, .22 ARC, or .204 Ruger, and you’ll have fur-dusting authority combined with all the fast follow-up shots you’ll ever need. 

I’m partial to good carbon-fiber-wrapped barrels of about 18 inches in length. Install a compact lightweight suppressor, and you’ve got a precision tool that’ll reach out 500 yards when needed or hose lead at a running pack of coyotes like that’s what it was born to do. Which, of course, it was. 

4. 3-Gun Competition

In run-and-gun action-shooting sports, the AR-15 dominates. No other rifle type has successfully challenged its supremacy. Classic 5.56-caliber versions with a good muzzlebrake provide the plentiful firepower needed for banks of targets up close, superior accuracy for ringing far-away gongs, and unmatchable speed in terms of 
follow-up shots. 

A well-built AR-15 with a smooth-functioning, rifle-length gas system on an 18-inch barrel provides semiauto controllability no other design possesses. 

5. Service Rifle Competition

Although no longer as popular as it once was, Service Rifle competition is a discipline that challenges all the capabilities of a long-arm and the shooter who wields it. Offhand shots at 200 yards require balance and ergonomics. Rapid-fire 300-yard strings with required reloads partway through demand reliability, responsiveness, and accuracy. Slow-fire 20-shot strings at 600 yards require sub-MOA accuracy and consistency when hot. 

If bolt-actions were superior, we’d still be using M1903s in across-the-course Service Rifle matches. If M1 Garands or M14s were superior, we’d still be using them. But for decades now, accurized M16 “National Match” rifles have absolutely dominated the field and have set records for accuracy. 

The AR-15 has rendered all other challengers obsolete. 

6. PRS Competition

Although most PRS shooters opt for a heavy bolt-action rifle, the AR-15 and its larger-framed AR-10 sibling rule the “gas gun” division. And, to the surprise of many, an accurate gas gun is often superior for the stages with targets inside 700 yards or so. World-class PRS shooter Paul Dallin and I demonstrated that in a series of tests a few years back; both of us expected bolt-action designs to crush the semiautos, but inside 700 yards, the opposite was true. In fact, while shooting the AR test rifle, Dallin managed to clean a particularly challenging practice stage on his training range that he’s never cleaned with a bolt-action. 

7. Modularity

Gun guys are often tinkerers and customizers. Few things bring more satisfaction than setting up a rifle exactly the way we want. Due to its design, the AR-15 is the most modular rifle/carbine available. With a few tools, shooters can install upgraded components such as triggers, safeties, buffer assemblies, stocks, handguards, and even barrels. Accurizing an AR-15 is a relatively easy task, requiring only a bit of knowledge and time. 

It’s possible to order every individual part of an AR-15 — picking exactly the components you want — and assemble the entire thing in your garage on a weekend afternoon. What other type of rifle can you say that about? 

8. Plinking

My beautiful wife is from England. She never held — let alone fired — a gun until we began dating a couple decades ago. From the start, she liked aesthetic, wood-stocked rifles and shotguns, which enabled her to smash things flying through the sky. 

However, she considered AR-type firearms ugly and unappealing. Until, that is, I put one in her hands with a full magazine and told her to empty it as fast as she could into the downrange berm. 

Brass rained from the rifle. Dust erupted from the dirt berm like a small volcano. Smoke curled from the rifle’s ejection port. And my sophisticated English gal cackled with delight. She became a convert that day. 

ARs don’t have to be justified by being task-
specific. They’re just plain fun to shoot. An 
afternoon plinking with one is rewarding, therapeutic, and good for engraining safe handling techniques. 

9. Training

Handling a fighting tool with discipline and effectiveness requires practice. Just like hand-to-hand combat training, which we hope we’ll never need, training with an AR-15 hones our focus, polishes our gun handling, refines our shooting techniques, and instills muscle memory function that will serve us well should we ever need to protect ourselves or our homes. 

Any activity that instills discipline and requires work to master is good for the human mind and body. Training with your AR-15 is fun and beneficial. Take a class, polish your skills, become an ambassador for the shooting sports … all these things will make you a better American. 

10. Defending the Homeland

Our ancestors successfully fought off the world’s (then) most powerful army — the British — because they had cutting-edge shooting tools, and they knew how to use them. At the time, the longrifles of the colonials were actually superior to the smoothbore muskets the regulars used in all aspects except rate of fire. In our day, the AR-15 is the flintlock longrifle. 

The Founding Fathers recognized the importance of the populace owning superior fighting firearms in gaining and holding our freedom and wrote the right to own fighting firearms into the Constitution. 

It’s not just a privilege, and it’s more than a simple right. In my mind, standing prepared to protect is a responsibility. Every able-bodied American with a clear mind and a clean soul has the God-given right to liberty and to own the tools necessary to preserve liberty and country, and our ancestors paid in blood to guarantee it. Isn’t it our duty to honor that? 

11. Big-Game Hunting 

Although on the light side for deer, the 5.56 NATO (aka .223 Remington) cartridge is successfully used on thousands every hunting season. It doesn’t kick much, so it’s ideal for kids and recoil-sensitive shooters. 

Better yet, take an AR-15 in 6.5 Grendel, 6mm ARC, .300 Blackout, or one of the many other more powerful AR-appropriate centerfire cartridges afield. There are plenty to pick from, and although they’re not fire-breathing magnums, they work just fine if you get close and are a bit selective with your shots. 

12. Hog Hunting with Thermals

Hunting feral hogs at night with thermal optics is an effective — and fun — way to whittle down the numbers of invasive crop-damaging wild pigs. For the most part, night hunters opt to put their thermal optics atop suppressed AR-15s. 

Some predator hunters in open country choose a bolt-action, but .300 Blackout and .308 Win. ARs seem to be the favorite. Lest you suggest that .308s are AR-10s, not AR-15s, allow me to recommend a look at Ruger’s innovative SFAR (small frame AR) chambered in .308. I can’t think of a better night-time hog thumper. 

13. Helicopter Hog Shooting/Damage Control

Crack chopper pilot Kyle Lange and his dad shoot literal pallets of 5.56 ammo each year at feral hogs from their helicopter. Yes, that’s the coolest job in the world. 

I had the opportunity to go out with Lange for a couple of days of control work. He told me they rarely use shotguns anymore. “Too much kick and too expensive to shoot!” Lange said. Instead, he uses short-barreled AR-15s with suppressors. 

Why? They give him more range, a lot more firepower, and ammo is cheap. I shot 44 hogs out of the chopper, and no, my kill-per-round count was not nearly as good as Lange’s average. But it didn’t matter; I was shooting my own tricked-out AR-15, and I had plenty of ammo. 

14. Zombie Fighting

Not a thing? Au contraire! Try telling that to the hosts of shooters that show up every year for the “Zombies in the Heartland” match that Hornady puts on. You’ll see outlandish and awesome shotguns and sidearms, but the primary zombie-
exploding tool every shooter has is an AR-15. 

Sure, it’s all in fun. That’s the point! And of course, let’s not forget that the whole trendy zombie movement is just a metaphor for a society gone wrong … and the Boy Scout within each of us can’t help being prepared. 

15. Semiauto Precision

AR-type rifles have more accuracy potential than any other semiautomatic design thanks to one simple fact: AR barrels can be free-floated. 

Unlike the piston-driven designs of, well, everything else, AR barrels don’t have a bunch of moving parts hung on them. Put a premium barrel into a nice, snug receiver, tune the gas tube to be contact-free through the receiver keyhole, and install a free-floating handguard. Voila! You should have an accurate AR.

How accurate? Good ones shoot sub-MOA five-shot groups. Great ones shoot half-MOA groups. Yes, I’ve got a couple great ones. I love me some World War II M1 Garand action, and I sure like breaking out a National Match M1A for a Service Rifle match. However, the only semiauto I can shoot a near-perfect 600-yard score with or perforate a coyote from 400 yards is my AR. 

Long live the AR-15! 

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