A rifle with an identity crisis

I saw this rifle at the range Saturday morning, and I felt so sorry for it.

I had to go over and look at it to see if it was real. And then I had to go all the way back to my car to get my phone to take pictures, because no one would believe it.

And the owner: Dead serious about how great it was...and getting set to put another one together just like it for his girlfriend.

Yep. the rifle has two scopes--once with a "rangefinder good out to a thousand yards" (per the owner*). The upper scope is a red dot "for close-in tactical work".

The big thing on the side of the large scope is a light, with a red lens attached with electrical tape. The "lens" has tee word "LEE" on it, indicating that it began life as the cap to a Lee powder measure. But it does have a really nice Globe and Anchor on the mag well. The owner says that he's a former Marine. He also says that he built this rifle based on his experiences in the Marines. I didn't even go down that rabbit hole with him.

The other side: Just a bit busy and cluttered.

Note the cord from his red light on the right side that goes down to the left side of the pistol grip. Yeah, that'll never be in the way or get snagged on anything...

And it's "blessed" with both a bipod AND a Gripod, because you can never be too steady. And yep, that's a second light on the forward end of the handguard. This one's white though.

Out front, it's got this muzzle brake that's "precision tuned to dampen the recoil down to where you never even feel it". (As if adding thirteen pounds of junk to the rifle isn't gonna do that already.) And it's got prongs on the forward edge "because it's a bayonet, too. Razor sharp. Drive that right through somebody." Yeah, maybe if the bipod doesn't get 'em first, I guess.

This rifle is such a hot mess that it hurt my feelings.

The only thing missing is a sling, to actually help carry it.

View from the rear.

It wasn't a hoax prop. He was really shooting it and proud of it. With 40-round magazines, of course, "because the thirty-rounders run empty too fast in a real fight."

Like I said, I felt sorry for the rifle. It wasn't the rifle's fault that the owner let a Cheaper Than Dirt catalog throw up on it. I'm sure that underneath all that crap, there's a decent rifle in there somewhere.

Call me old-fashioned, but I keep my rifles trim and lean and tailor them to a specific task or role. If I want a rifle to do two different jobs, I get two different rifles and set one up right to do each job. I have distance rifles and I have close-in rifles. I don't try to play golf with one club and I don't try to handle every course of fire with just one rifle. I love my Savage 110 Tactical .308 but I wouldn't try to clear a house with that. I have an Uzi and a suppressed AR in .300 Blackout with a 9" barrel for that sort of thing. I wouldn't shoot any of those in a High-Power match or go hiking in the desert with them. Different weapons for different tasks.

Unless you'r a "former Marine". Then I guess that you do this:

*All statements in quotes were actually said by the owner. I shit you not.