Americas Rifle on the rise with “Baby Boomers?”
Over the past 2 years there has been a quiet market acquiring AR-15 rifles that has gone rather undiscussed and unrecognized amongst the firearms community. Older men and women over the age of 60 have started to take a liking to the platform for many good reasons.
If you spend enough time covering ground across this country you will find plenty of grandparents, and “baby boomers” that hunt, and have been doing so for as long as they can remember.
For many people of this generation the closest most would come to the AR-15 was via entertainment and media. With exception of the veteran community, a vast majority of people 60 and older have had little to no exposure to today’s modern rifles. Recently one of my neighbors aged 76 years old, acquired a new BCI Defense Professional rifle & asked me to help get it dialed in for hunting season. The closest this gentleman had ever come to a semi-auto rifle was a 30+ year old “hand me down” Remington Woodmaster, and the good old .22’s.
We began with the basics and overviewed the operational aspects, and of course how to properly & safely handle a modern-day gas gun. Finally, it was “go time”, we had the gun bore-sighted and the older gentlemen was comfortable on the gun & with the controls and ready to send one down range.
I readied the binoculars to call his shots as his vision has slightly deteriorated over the years. Bench rested with a solid cheek weld, he touched one off -direct hit 2” off center. Before I could even call the shot suddenly rounds were being sent down range until the trigger went “click”. Before his head left the stock, he was laughing like a little kid that just got their first ever BB gun. A couple of scope adjustments later we were shooting lights out and the laughing and smiling continued. From standing positions to seated positions he was in complete comfort and control the entire time.
“WOW There is NO BARREL rise, and my old shoulder isn’t killing me & I can even see what I hit because the muzzle wasn’t pointed 6” up in the air like my old guns!!!”
Shortly after his 3rd magazine a heavy rainstorm dropped in on us, and we were quickly packing up the truck. His wife is a 78 year old cancer survivor and still hunts as well, he stated he would be finding one for her this week so she doesn’t steal his after her first shots with it.
The AR-15 to most people is for tactical purposes and military/law enforcement, but a new wave is trending within the hunting community due to their versatility and performance, as well as a long list of other reasons. Factors such as being lightweight, caliber variety, aftermarket components to meet any need, ability to quick change optics for different needs, etc., and you get the idea by now -this list goes on for quite a while. From this new wave in the hunting world, some ripples have made it into the older generation of outdoorsmen and women, and what was once a painful or difficult event due to age and or injuries/disabilities has once again become a fun, pain-free, pastime which provides meat for their freezers as it has for so many years before.
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