by Tronster on Mon Feb 25, 2013 7:25 pm
If only the average person would realize that most gun designs today started life as a military weapon or served as such in security forces.
From muzzle loaders (Revolutionary War) to lever actions (Henrys used in Civil War) to single shot (springfield trap door) to bolt actions (name any WWI rifle) to modern self loading rifles (Garand, M14, M16, latest greatest wunder gun). Even your modern bolt action hunting rifle probably has Mauser type action. A side by side upland game gun? With the barrels sawed down it protected money wagons out west. Modern pump action shotty? Used in WWI as trench clearing gun and today as breaching gun.
If an AR15 had a nice wood stock and polished blued metal they'd only get a fraction of the publicity, even if it shot the same.