It’s funny how inanimate objects can spawn a certain sense of nostalgia. I’ve learned over the years that it’s not even necessarily the quality of the things that really endears one to them, but the experiences that one has, good or bad. That old car that you took on 20 different road trips (and maybe you even had to crawl under it on the side of the road once or twice), that cheap, beat-up watch that has been on your wrist telling time day in and day out for the past 15 years, or that well-worn knife that’s always clipped to your pocket when you need it. Stuff like that.

That’s how I feel about this rifle. It’s nothing fancy…just an 11 year-old PSA build from back in the early days. It has a fixed FSB, is mostly basic mil-spec (except for the MBT-2 trigger) with some Magpul parts, a used Aimpoint PRO that I bought from a vendor here on the forum, and a cobbled together flashlight mount. By today’s standards it’s pretty clunky, but it’s entirely functional, and was what I could afford at the time. I bought it right after I got hired as a reserve, and then after I went full-time and they started letting us have patrol rifles if we provided them ourselves, it made its way into the rack in my patrol car.

That gun has taken some verbal abuse from guys from other agencies, but I’ve been to plenty of trainings with those guys and seen their “better”rifles go down while that cheap PSA just kept running. It’s never once missed a beat, is very smooth shooting, and is plenty accurate for its intended purpose.

Here in small-town America, we thankfully don’t get too many situations where it has to come out of the rack, but the few we have aren’t ones you’d quickly forget. Thankfully I’ve never had to pull the trigger in any of them, but there’s never been an iota of doubt in my mind that it would get the job done if I needed to…and that’s pretty comforting when you’re dealing with some of the more terrifying stuff that life brings your way.

The department decided earlier this year that for various reasons (which I agree with) we need to get away from having guys using personally owned rifles, and go to department-provided weapons. Our new Sig M400s got issued this week, and with their arrival, the old girl is coming home. I’m sure I can still find some use for it, and it’ll get its share of range time, but its working days are over.

The new M400s are definitely nice, and by all accounts a significant upgrade, but there’s something about replacing a proven piece of equipment that’s just a little sad. I felt like it deserved a commemorative post, so here you have it. If you’ve got a similar gun story, feel free to share!

Thanks for this,92fstech, the autumn leaves are perfect.

Ah, love it!

Simple ARs are the best.

that's a nice setup. simple and clean.

Excellent tribute and great picture.

She's a beauty.