I don't shoot a lot of rifles, I tend towards handguns more. Namely, large bore revolvers. But that is not the subject of this post.

Last weekend I went out shooting with some of my best friends. It was some casual plinking and I had my AR(Modern Sporting Rifle) out on the range for only the second time. It is not my favorite rifle, and one of my friends couldn't believe I even purchased an AR, but hey, a good deal is hard to pass up. It was a lower-end model, but it functioned perfectly. It just has an absolute garbage trigger. Although, it may be average for the breed, I expect better. It sports a 1-4x scope with backup irons. I switched back and forth between the two to check the zero and it shot great all afternoon.

My question for you folks is, what is the worldly opinion of the modern semi-auto rifle? It's the most popular rifle in the US by a wide margin, but it has short-comings. I don't love mine, but with a trigger upgrade, it could be a very useful rifle. What does the rest of the world think of these things? Ugly plastic garbage? A crime in the game field? A soul-less bullet throwing machine? As time-less as a cell phone?

(I searched back several pages and didn't see a discussion on this, nor any warning that discussing these ugly rifles would result in instant banning)