After reviewing press coverage for Springfield Armory’s new
product, their Saint
AR-15 platform, I am thoroughly unimpressed with the product and the
reviews. Granted, I prefer the venerable M1 Garand and shoot my own mixmaster
AR-15 (I’m currently in the market for an M1A Scout Squad). Still, the rifle is
nothing to write home about.
It’s basically a upper-shelf AR-15 featuring Bravo Company
furniture. It looks clean and I’m sure it functions great. Now, I haven’t shot
it so I can’t give you a run-down on the gun, but the hype leading up to its
debut was just that; hype. Pretty much every major company has its own AR-15
variant, like the expansion of 1911s years back. This is just Springfield’s “Look,
I can make an AR-15 too!” Lest I be misunderstood, I’d jump at the chance to own
one.
For those of you who saw the Facebook posts, the blog
articles, and the website teasing their new platform, you can probably
understand why I take issue with the buildup and some reactions are what bothers me. I think that Daniel Terrill
from guns.com poked a little fun at the ads:
“In commercials the rifles are accented by beautiful shooters, who clearly love working out, with sweat glistening on their bodies, covered by tight Under Armour clothing, and ominous electronic music. Standing in deserts and mountaintops, they aim by leveling the fore-end with a fully extended arm — like a pro — before opening fire at an unknown enemy.”
Patrick R. over at The Firearm Blog, a pretty good joint,
seemed more impressed with the awesome shooting experience Springfield setup in
the Nevada desert than the rifle, posting a three-part article on it. He was
clearly enthralled with our lovely city’s amusements, the helicopter ride, the
shooting, and the evening zombie-exploding car events. He had every gun owner’s
dream Vegas experience and I don’t begrudge him his experience one bit. TTAG’s
article was a bit similar and is all on one page.
On the other hand (pay attention Springfield), are you
selling a rifle or a freakin’ Vegas fun package? Press events for guns, cars,
and all kinds of stuff tend to be big deals like this, with all kinds of wining
and dining in various forms, for whatever you can imagine. But seriously, what
the hell? Looks like Springfield was late to the game with ARs (reasons exist)
and tried to wow the gun bloggers with an over-the-top event to cover up the
fact their new gun has already been done many, many times before. And the
bloggers took the bait with their new guns and vacations.
Ruger, probably the closest analogue to Springfield, has its
SR-series piston AR platform and even a take-down model. That’s innovation.
Slapping BCM parts on an AR-15 doesn’t make an
innovative product. Even the charging handle and the bolt catch are
standard; an ambidextrous charging handle and an enhanced bolt catch (with the
paddle to lock the bolt back) seem like obvious additions. Coating the trigger
part with nickel-boron and reducing the play between the receivers is
something, but again, this is just another mid-level quality rifle, not anything
super special.
Frankly, it seems like all the praising reviews are from
guys that got free rifles or were invited on the Vegas trip. The bloggers were
so “wowed” with their free shit that they forgot to tell us that this gun is nothing
special and a late addition to the already crowded AR-15 market. I guess all
the suspense that lead the gun-owning hoi
pilloi to think Springfield was introducing a gun-centric Crossfit-style
exercise program was mainly just to stoke the interest of the privileged few
gun bloggers. Springfield succeeded there.
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