#Armalite

Continuing to build on their legacy of fantastic national match rifles, Armalite has re-released their National Match rifles, now including a .308 version of their AR-10 platform. The rifles are built on an exclusive triple-lapped 416-R stainless barrel in 1/10 twist (idea for 150-175 grain loads). Further equipped with a matching A2-style flash suppressor, the rifle also includes a two-stage trigger (1st- 2.5 lbs, 2nd – 4.5 – 5 lbs).

I certainly won’t pass up a chance to post about the AR-18; the rifle has a uniquely 1960s-chic about it that I can’t resist. The marriage of unadorned stamped steel and black polymers makes for a rifle that looks like it’s ready to be carried by a special operations trooper in some desolate and ungodly hot backwater, in the seemingly unending struggle against Communism.

[ 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. ]

For our February Blog Of The Month, we take a trip back to the early 1960s, after Armalite had sold the rights to its highly desirable AR-15 to Colt’s, and were searching for a competitor to their own design. The rifle designed by Art Miller to fill this void, itself an evolution of Stoner’s work on the 7.62mm AR-16, was the AR-18, the civilian model of which was called the AR-180. Dedicated to this fairly unsuccessful but highly influential weapon is AR180s.com, a website that in its own words seeks to become “the central depository for AR-180 information.”

Armalite has significantly re-worked its M-15 and AR-10 product line. Still offered are Armalite’s more trademarked “A4” style AR-10s, but now Armalite is offering railed, braked guns intended for 3-gun competition, as well as brace-equipped M-15 and AR-10 pistols.

Guns and Holsters shares a little more detail about Armalite’s new M-15 line. We had mentioned Armalite’s new AR-10 pistol. As well as the Luth-AR stock partnership.

ArmaLite was showing a whole new line of pistols along with a complete make-over of the AR-10 and M-15 lines of rifles at the 2014 NASGW Expo last week. One of those new guns is a AR-style pistol chambered for the .308 Win cartridge.

ArmaLite is now offering three rifles in a new line called Defensive Sporting Rifles. Two guns are chambered in 5.56 NATO, while the third is chambered for the 7.62 NATO cartridge.  All of the rifles are aggressively priced, and likely to appeal to many budget-conscious shooters.

Jerry Miculek gets to play with all the cool toys. He goes to  the Institute of Military Technology in Florida. Reed Knight brings out a rare Armalite AR-10 made in 1957. It only weighs about 6 lbs and the rate of fire is really impressive.

The Italian Media are upset that Armalite used a photo of Michelangelo’s David in an advertisement for their AR-50A1 .50 BMG rifle. The UK Guardian newspaper, with all the hyperbole they could muster, likened this a worse affront that when the statue was vandalized with a hammer. The city of Florence has told the company to remove the advertisement because it is in violation of an Italian law.

At their SHOT Show booth Knight’s Armament Company (KAC) had an early model Armalite AR-10 with a post-WWII night vision system on display. I do not know which night vision system this is or even if it was a production system. The scope looked similar to the M2 Infrared Sniper Scope Gen 0 and the lamp looked similar to the Active Infrared Gen 0 “20,000v” system (if it helps, the lamp is labeled MODEL X-26A). What is really interesting is that the IR lamp switch is integrated into the rifle pistol grip. To turn it on all the operator needed to do was squeeze his middle finger, not unlike the Crimson Trace laser grips today.

One of ArmaLite’s new offerings for 2014 is the M-15 18″ Tactical.  This rifle is chambered for the 5.56 NATO cartridge and uses an 18″ AISI 416R stainless steel heavy barrel with a 1:8″ twist.

Strategic Armory Corps (SAC) have purchased ArmaLite, makers of the AR-10 semi-automatic rifle and .50 cal. AR-50 bolt action, from Mark Westrom. Strategic Armory Corps are better known by thier brand name Surgeon Rifles and AWC Silencers. Mark Westrom will remain an investor in SAC and will serve on its board.

Ronaldo came across a negative of a photo of an AR-18 he photographed at the Brazilian Army’s Fábrica de Itajubá back in October 1982. The gun is unusual for having a rifle-length handguard, carbine-length barrel and rifle-style flash suppressor. It also features a fore grip that matches the pistol grip’s design but it is not a repurposed pistol grip (it has no trigger guard cut out).