Right or wrong I separate gun owners into five categories:
LEVEL ONE = people who own a gun. It doesn't matter why they have it - it doesn't how they acquired it. They have a gun but that's the extent of it.
LEVEL TWO = commoners. These are the people that bought a gun because they thought they needed one (for hunting, self defense, whatever). They use whatever they bought and are satisfied.
LEVEL THREE = hobbyist. This is lowest level of "gun personhood". These are the people are truly interested in guns, talk about them, own and use them. They are also satisfied with "good enough". This means their Rock River AR15 is "good enough" and the extra attention, quality control, and manufacturing processes and materials of a Colt AR15 are just hype - just a marketing tool to rob dumb people of extra money.
LEVEL FOUR = semi-pros. This is where people who actually push their gear end up. These aren't the "it looks like the real thing so it has to be good enough" crowd. They've seen LEVEL THREE people's gear fail - repeatedly.
LEVEL FIVE = pros. This is the elite group of users, builders, etc that are at the apex of the gun culture.
I place myself at LEVEL FOUR.
Not to sound offened but man you didn't make us "level three" folks sound all that good. I know I'm not an "operator" to any degree but keep in mind most folks lifestyles simply don't support a level four or five mindset. Not just money and time but location and surroundings.
In most cases with us consumers the "quality" of most products is perceived and then realized. That's why they spend so much on the fancy packaging we toss in the landfills. It would be nice to know what a farmer knows when you shop for vegetables just like it would nice to be a mechanic when you buy a car. But other than to become a farmer and a mechanic I have to "Google" some stuff and take my chances with the lemons.
I may only put a few hundred rounds through a firearm but do I need to break it to trust it? If I shoot a firearm for 10K rounds and it breaks is it any better than if I only shot it for 250 rounds? 100 rounds? I admit I'm not that level of an operator or a competition shooter or whatever gets me there so my settings don't support a significant investment in high round counts. So a "good enough" evaluation makes a bit more sense for me. True my firearm my not get me through a shootout with a drug cartel and it may not work covered in mud after I drag it behind my car. I'll probably just stay out of the drug game and if I can I'll avoid the mud and just not drag any guns behind my car.
And... I know some people don't care for the zombie stuff and I get that. But tell them you don't care for folks "prepping" to shoot hoardes of their evil "lib" neighbors down in the streets like packs of rabid dogs due to some "impending" collapse of the governement and now we can argue why having a black rifle makes more sense than having a neon green one. Oakie Doakie... I just enjoy having these things myself but if your "survival" hinges on them. Cool...
I'm a "whatever tickles your woolies" kind of guy and I do like hearing about people burning through $$$$ in ammo in one afternoon. I can't justify doing it for myself though. If I did it would simply be for fun and I can't say it would've been for any sort of tactical advantage other than saying a gun can do it. I know that knowledge and experience makes a huge difference but there is also overkill. With my little collection as a "level three" guy I guess I'm stuck "good enough" which to almost everybody else is actally overkill. But as I tell them "Wait until the zombies start eating folks brains".
Again I hope I didn't sound offended. I just wanted to discuss my perspective a bit.
