'Tis the season - "EBR" or "EWR" - which and why?

by Paul , Tuesday, February 07, 2012, 06:04 (4674 days ago)

'Tis that time of the political scene in which people start getting nervacious about the possibility of "The U.S. as we have known it" sinking into that bottomless abyss of history into which past civilizations have sunk due to the idiocy of their constituents. (Now that I re-read that line, especially the part about idiocy of constituents, my calm feels a slight breeze of uncertainty itself! It's pretty bad when the writer of the story has to look under the bed before putting out the light...)

Anyway, I know it's the consensus of many on this board that the EBR in the form of an AR15 style/type/model/clone is the Non Plus Ultra of "battle rifle evolution". And there are always proponents of the U.S.S.R.'s "always go bang even when full of reinforced concrete" AK family. But Byron's use of the first mentioned family upon unsuspecting members of the family Cervidae notwithstanding, there are those of us that prefer a more substantial round than the ubiquitous 5.56X45 NATO/223 Remington. As the wag said, "Double taps are for sissy rounds". And of course there's the small matter of glorified plastic and ultra-thick cast aluminum foil construction. It may be durable, but it sure does little or nothing for the soul. Blued steel and walnut or other non-laminated wood simply say "Here is a work of art that can also provide defense and sustenance gathering capabilities." And parkerizing is only a slight step down from there.

So, if one were to desire an EBR or EWR (evil walnut rifle) that is not of the AR15 or AK47 families nor is of the 5.56X45 or 7.62X39 calibers, what options are there, and what would YOU choose? Why?