#Ar18

We are all familiar with the AR15 and M16 and you’re almost certainly familiar with the man behind the design, Eugene Morrison Stoner. Well,  The Institute of Military Technology has put together a fascinating documentary telling the story of the man and the guns he designed. IMT are in the unique position of having many of Stoner’s prototypes in their collection as well as archival photographs and many of his original design papers and drawings.

Photo by @jim_guns.

This AR-180B originally had a polymer lower receiver. However it has been updated with a NoDak SPUD AR-180 billet lower receiver. The polymer lowers can break from hard use so a metal replacement is a much needed upgrade. The receiver is threaded for AR buffer tubes however the LOP is still rather long even when the stock is fully collapsed. The AR180B can take any AR-15 style magazines so it is sporting a SureFire 100rd magazine. Ontop of the upper receiver is a QD scope mount with a Nikon P223 scope. The only thing it needs now is removal of the flash hider and threaded for suppressor.

The Armalite AR18 and its civilian counterpart (the AR180) were marketed as affordable alternatives to more expensive designs of the period. While the rifle failed to take off or find a lucrative military contract, the gas system (or elements of it) has been used in many different designs.
In this video we do some shooting with the rifle and take a look at what it made its gas system so enviable.

The Armalite AR180 is the civilian version of the select-fire AR18 rifle. Chambered in 5.56, they were intended to allow nations with limited machining capabilities the ability to manufacture modern military rifles in the spiffy new 5.56×45 cartridge. While the rifle did not enjoy much success or proliferation, its gas system serves as the basis for more modern designs.

Some guns just get way too much attention. In this list, we highlight 5 firearms that get unfairly placed on a pedestal for a multitude of reasons that we lay out for you to consider. You may disagree, and that’s just fine. Also the list is about overrated guns, not necessarily bad ones.

[ Steve Says: This guest article was written by Phil Hirsh, the author of  The Guns We Left Behind “a book of humorous and poignant short stories about the golden age of guns in America.”. We will be reviewing Phil’s book in the near future. ]