So I was going through my gats and decided to snap a photo or two of my first AR. I bought it immediately following SH and paid something I won't disclose. I had started a new career and family and it was just the right call at the time.

Life gave me some fun speedbumps shortly before this that required me to start my own gun collection and it began with this and a cheap 9mm handgun.

Hopefully I'll eventually see all the guns I grew up with again but it's nice recalling, even as recent as it was, the freedom that this purchase provided me. Growing up, we never even really discussed the idea of owning an AR because they were so 'unnecessary' for our needs. I never had the desire to own one or even a semi auto handgun because we were only hunters and never did anything requiring sidearms...or, at least, I was taught to believe.

Range trips happened once annually in August to make sure everything was still on target. I generally shot a couple of groups and became bored with the whole affair pretty quickly. As I got older, I became more interested in the heritage of some of the guns but never enough to really bother more than rudimentary searching.

It's interesting how the most vilified firearm of recent times has both spawned a fresh take at an old familiarity and exponentially increased my appreciation for some of the classic guns I grew up with.