February 25, 2019|RIFLES, PREPPING
When I was a young child I was a huge Bruce Willis fan although I remember pridefully knowing that my Dad was tougher than Bruce. In the movie Die Hard, Bruce Willis plays John McClane, a NY City Police Officer traveling to Los Angeles to spend Christmas with his children as well as check in on his estranged wife, Holly. Holly works at Nakatomi Plaza where John shows up and things get interesting. Hans Gruber, the leader of a terrorist group attempts to hold Nakatomi Plaza hostage while stealing $640M in negotiable bearer bonds. Spoiler alert, they don’t get the money.
In the movie one of the terrorists, Karl, was hunting John with what appeared to be the strangest looking gun. I assumed it wasn’t a “real” gun, I figured it was a Hollywood faux. It wasn’t until I watched a few other action flicks such as Commando, RoboCop and even Predator 2 that I realized this was a real gun, and it was UGLY. I was actually not a fan of seeing the rifle on screen.
Years went by and I see The Governor on The Walking Deadrunning around with an AUG. Seeing this sparked an idea; I should buy one to see what this thing is all about. I hopped on GunBroker.com and found the best example of a pre-ban Steyr AUG A1 and placed my bid. And then I won. I had just purchased a gun that I thought was absolutely hideous and that I had no real desire to be seen with. My mind has since been changed.
The Steyr AUG is actually one of the nicest, and most accurate, bull-pup rifles out there. The balance of the rifle can only be described as natural, although when not shouldered or held properly it feels a bit awkward to me. The weapon is small, very small and compact with a quick-fold vertical fore grip which would make it a competitive backpack or bugout option. The optic on the rifle is proprietary and features the now infamous “Donut of Death” reticle.
The AUG A1 was made in Austria and sports a 20″ barrel chambered in 5.56 Nato. The rifle weighs in at just under 8 pounds and measures slightly over 31″ total. Impressive to think that the barrel is only 11″ shorter than the entire gun. The rifle has been used by Austrian, Australian, Irish and New Zealand militaries. This rifle may have come into my life because of Die Hard but the reality is that this rifle really does die hard, it’s been around since 1978 and is still being produced today.
If you have never had the opportunity to hold a Steyr AUG, or even fire one, let the Prescott Caliber Club take you out for a shoot.