
The drawbacks are the fact you have to use a pistol brace, not a stock, and you won’t be hitting 12-inch groupings beyond 100 yardsĥ.56 NATO's biggest advantage is its velocity, but short barrels can reduce velocity and compromise on terminal ballistics. They can fit in your backpack, they're lightweight, are very durable And it will still be accurate at 100 yards. This way, you can have all the features of an AR 15 AND a barrel as short as 4 inches. These can be chambered in 9mm, 40, or 45. For home defense, you may have your best luck with an AR 9 Pistol (PCC). Some applications favor a shorter barrel size for your AR, like home defense rifles. So… Want to get your hands on one of your own? The fact that the platform had a MIL SPEC designation meant all companies had to do to ensure their parts could all be interchangeable was follow the specifications set forth by the military. The real magic for the civilian markets began when Colt’s patent on the design expired in the 1970s, opening the door for other manufacturers to begin creating AR-15 pattern rifles, parts, and accessories.

When he finished, the patent for the AR-15 design was sold to Colt, who sold the rifle under the co-branded name Colt ArmaLite AR-15 Model 01 and would market it to military services around the world. Stoner went back to the drawing board, scaling down his AR-10 design. Wyman saw an opportunity to outfit soldiers with an even lighter weight rifle, using a smaller caliber of ammunition. It was not long until battlefield requirements in Vietnam called for more innovation. That decrease in weight came at the expense of the rifle’s ability to stand up to the demands of the tests, bursting both the barrel and any hopes the AR-10 had of winning the hearts and dollars of the U.S.

Stoner’s prototype AR-10 was up for consideration to replace the old, heavy, and capacity-deficient M1 Garand as the military’s rifle of choice.Īgainst the will of Eugene Stoner, ArmaLite presented the military with a version of the AR-10 that had an aluminum and steel composite barrel, intended to impress the testers with its light weight. The US Military was on the hunt for a new, semi-automatic battle rifle that would bring our Army out of WWII. In the mid-1950s, Stoner worked as the chief design engineer for ArmaLite to create the "Armalite Rifle" - AR-15. What may be most exciting of all is the story behind what AR-15 stands for.Įugene Stoner is the mind behind the genius mechanical creation we enjoy today. But, the AR 15 has become almost as synonymous with America as all of those culturally iconic things are. Buying an AR-15 is like riding on the back of a bald eagle, waving the stars and stripes, and landing on Mount Rushmore as fireworks explode behind you.
