AR-15
The AR-15 is without a doubt one of the most popular rifles in modern history. It is a lightweight, direct gas impingement rifle shooting an intermediate rifle cartridge. It was initially designed as a fully automatic weapon system, the M-16 and was later converted to a semi-automatic version for civilian use. The AR-15 has been used as the mainstay of the US Army, for target shooting and hunting.
History
The AR-15 is based off of the AR-10 design created by Eugene Stoner, Robert Fremont and L. James Sullivan of the Fairchild Armalite Corporation. (1) Armalite sold its rights to the AR-10 and AR-15 to colt in 1959. Although the rifle mains mostly untouched since then it has had many minor modifications to increase reliability since then. The rifle received mixed reviews in The Vietnam War later the ammo was found to be to blame for many of the issues experienced. Since then it has been beside The United States Military’s troops in every conflict.
Modularity
One of the most cited reasons of its popularity would be the modularity of the rifle. The AR-15 rifle was designed in such a way that it makes it easy to produce aftermarket parts to improve the quality, reliability and performance of the rifle. It has an upper and a lower receiver allowing for new upper receiver groups to be fitted onto the lower receiver in seconds allowing a rifle to potentially go from a close-quarters combat rifle to a precision rifle.
Further Reading
- AR Parts Identification
- AR-15 Maintenance
- Trouble Shooting AR-15 Rifles
- DI vs Piston
- AR-15 Gas Port Sizes