NooYawkuh said (3 pages ago): "Maybe I just want a nice, lightweight, reliable, compact carbine without all kinds of things sticking out in all directions."
That would be me. I'm sure all the military/leo paraphernalia is great if you're military/leo, but I'm not. Sure.. you can get your AR with the Pickatinny Rail System and hang an amazing amount of stuff off it... like this one:
http://www.uws.com/PICATINNY/HomePage.html
but what on earth am I gonna do with it?
Nah... I think I'm going with the Mini14 in the Ranch Rifle configuration. I still like guns with wood stocks and blued steel, and that's all the rifle I have any conceivable need for.