Here is my dilemma guys, and I respect everyone's opinions on here to actually post this for some thoughtful answers. I recently came into a little bit of money and want to acquire a semi-auto .308 to round out my collection. Unfortunately, my collection is totally utilitarian, I don't have the income or desire to acquire guns simply to have them anymore. As such, this rifle would used for primarily three things, target shooting, self defense and possibly hunting (assuming I was lucky enough to draw). To add a little bit of a twist to this discussion, I am extremely recoil sensitive. I have a defect in my right shoulder that basically allows it to slip out of socket if I relax my shoulder muscles or if it is jarred. As a little bit of background, I used to own a FAL, and while I love the way the gun looks, it was very uncomfortable for me to shoot. I also respect the fact that on his website, Larry Vickers says it is his favorite .308 battle rifle. Also knowing what I know about that platform, it was originally designed for a much smaller, much weaker cartridge, and shooting a .308 or 7.61x51 cartridge out of it is marginal. I would prefer a platform that utilizes easy to acquire parts and magazines, and I am really trying not to break the bank.
The platforms I have considered are:
FN Scar 17
FN AR
Colt LE-901
Sigarms 716
DSA Arms Fal
Bushmaster\DPMS\Remington Flavor AR10 Variant
CMMG's new .308
Anyone with experience with any of these platforms please chime in and let me know what you think about them.
codisimo