What is the reason for the high popularity of the AR-15?
The AR-15 rifle was developed and released in the United States back in the late 1950s. There are 580 thousand barrels of M4 carbines alone in the US Armed Forces alone. In addition to the M4, the US military has many other AR weapons. In addition to the military, the United States also has a population and a huge civilian arms market, which also has an incredible number of barrels of the AR-15 system, which is in great demand among the population. Moreover, the US population in most states is not limited in the choice of carbines, but most often chooses the AR-15. In addition to the United States, there are also many other countries where the AR-15 is also in service in the army and in law enforcement agencies, and is also in the hands of the population. Both in the USA and in other countries, many special forces, having a large selection of weapons, prefer AR. There are many factories and manufacturing companies around the world that produce both the AR-15 rifle itself and all kinds of accessories for it. The popularity of ARs around the world is very high; in total, more than 8 million AR-15 rifles have been produced. But at the beginning of the appearance of the AR-15, no one, including the developer Eugene Stoner himself, imagined how popular the AR-15 would gain 60 years after its introduction.
Weapon reliability
One of the main indicators of any weapon is its reliability and reliability. A weapon that does not work properly or is out of order will deprive the hunter of the prey that he has been tracking for a long time; the athlete will be deprived of his results in a match for which he has been preparing for a long time; and the law enforcement officer or military personnel will be rendered unable to continue the task, possibly even putting their life at risk. Therefore, everyone who purchases a weapon tries first to look for a reliable weapon. In the case of AR, its reliability was not immediately obvious. The AR rifle was launched into mass production for the needs of the American army, and for advertising purposes it greatly exaggerated the quality of the rifles in its statements. The new AR rifle was truly reliable; it was superior in reliability to the M14 rifle, which was then in service with the American army. But as a result of the advertising campaign, the army developed fantastic ideas about the rifle: supposedly the AR rifle does not need cleaning. One can imagine how powerful the Colt advertising campaign was if it overcame all the experience of the military people of the American army (including the generals), whose activities are closely related to weapons, convincing the army of the impossible properties of firearms. American soldiers in Vietnam, believing in these properties, stopped cleaning their AR rifles. As a result of this treatment, AR rifles began to exhibit delays after some time, the situation was aggravated by very low-quality cartridges that were supplied to the army. As a result, the initial opinion about the reliability of the new AR rifles was negative. However, these misunderstandings were soon corrected, and the rifle showed its reliability. The military began to prefer the AR-15, and they still do today, even with a wide variety of weapons to choose from. There have been many tests done on the AR-15, and the rifle passed them all. Over the past decades, the design of the AR-15 has improved, and the rifle continues to be tested today, both by the manufacturers themselves and by the departments that purchase the rifles. Moreover, curious American citizens, who have no difficulty in purchasing a new weapon, and do not mind parting with the old one, deliberately give AR-15 rifles real crash tests. Just to see what the rifle is capable of and what the limits of its strength and reliability are, and at the same time to shoot an interesting video and post it on YouTube. And the AR-15 performs excellently, continuing to perform after the most severe abuse.
The reliability of the AR-15 has been tested and proven many times, and is beyond doubt among those in the know. Modern samples demonstrate very high reliability and fault tolerance. Simplicity of the Weapon
Another significant factor is the simplicity of the weapon. The AR-15 is very simple in design and is easy to disassemble and assemble. Partial disassembly is carried out without any tools. As a result, the rifle is easy to maintain. It is also easy to use, which also contributes to its popularity.
Ergonomics
The AR-15 rifle was and remains one of the most ergonomic weapons. The layout of the weapon is selected to ensure the greatest convenience, the “turning point” disassembly scheme, the location of the controls - all this together makes the AR-15 a very convenient and ergonomic system. The butt and barrel are located in such a way that the recoil vector comes directly in the direction of the butt, due to this, the tossing of the barrel during shooting and the removal from the line of sight of the AR-15 are minimal. Thanks to the spring buffer, the recoil of the rifle is very comfortable. The length of the stock is very easy to adjust, choosing it to suit your characteristics and current tasks.
Appearance
Look at the appearance of the rifle. Americans give it loud nicknames like “black rifle” or “evil rifle”. The appearance of the AR-15 rifle is aggressive, brutal and unique! This is what attracts many people. And liberal anti-gun forces in the states are literally haunted by the AR-15 rifle, causing horror and indignation. But the AR-15 doesn't have to be mean and aggressive. This rifle and its parts are available in a huge variety of colors and designs, and anyone can purchase an AR-15 to their liking, or select the appropriate parts. If you wish, you can even build yourself a glamorous pink AR-15 with decorative elements!
Modularity
Perhaps also one of the reasons for its high popularity. The AR-15 rifle is no longer just a specific, strictly defined weapon model. Now this is a kind of constructor. The parts in the AR-15 are very consistent, and the rifle can literally be assembled like a kit. Parts for the AR-15 are currently produced by a huge number of weapons companies. Buttstocks, handles, forends, receivers, barrels, triggers, absolutely any parts are produced in huge quantities of a wide variety of colors and designs, as well as workmanship and prices. Anyone can easily assemble a suitable weapon to suit their requirements. Structurally, the rifle receiver consists of two halves - the lower is called “lower”, the upper is called “upper”. Uppers are the upper part of the receiver with the barrel and bolt, and they are available in different calibers. The design is universal in that by changing the uppers you can easily change calibers. It's simple - the upper is disconnected from the rifle, an upper of a different desired caliber is put in its place, and the magazine is changed if necessary. And now you have a rifle of a different caliber. The rifle barrels are equipped with threads for installing various muzzle devices - flash suppressors, compensators, muzzle brakes, sound moderators, etc. The use of Picattini rails also significantly expands the capabilities of the weapon. Thanks to the straps, any existing devices can be installed on the weapon. Be it collimator or optical, or night, or any other sights, laser pointers, flashlights, bipods, swivels, additional handles - anything can be easily installed on the AR-15 in any combination, which makes this rifle a truly universal system in a practical sense. Everything that will be invented for weapons in the future can also be easily installed on the AR-15. Thanks to this, the rifle can literally be assembled for any task.
No other rifle in the world has modularity brought to this level. In 1994, liberal parties gained strength in the United States, and bans on the so-called. “assault weapons”, the AR-15 rifle was primarily included in these bans. In 2004, the ban was lifted, and less than a dozen years later, the rifle gained unprecedented popularity and demand in the US arms market, despite the fact that Americans were not very limited in the choice and quantity of weapons before. Its popularity continues to grow to this day. During this time, there were several more attempts at new bans in the United States, but all of them led to the population literally sweeping away all commercially available weapons from gun stores, and the AR-15 rifle was in greatest demand. Even those who initially did not approve of its distribution among the civilian population, and even those who were initially not interested in weapons at all, began to buy the rifle! We bought it just in case, there is no ban yet. And after shooting we realized what its charm was.
In addition to the AR-15 itself, there are many modifications and weapon models based on the AR-15 design. There are also samples for high-precision shooting. There are samples of smoothbore weapons. The AR-15 is one of the best weapons, thanks to its modularity, versatility and multi-caliber capabilities, allowing it to be used not only in war, but also in hunting and sports. Apparently, the AR-15 rifle will remain popular for a long time, and will go down in the history of weapons as one of the best weapons.
Attack of the Clones
It should be noted that the AR-15 rifle shares a common fate with the Kalashnikov assault rifle. Many countries around the world produce weapons based on the operating principle invented by Eugene Stoner:
- It produces a model called G5 in Georgia;
- Israel produces Gilboa 14.5 semi-automatic rifles (Silver Shadow company);
- a branch in Canada produces a pistonless version called Diemaco C7/C8 - apparently they love the classics or have found a way to deal with the fumes from used gunpowder;
- The Chinese corporation Norinco followed the same path with the Norinco CQ 5.56 model;
- The United Arab Emirates produces a weapon that has been given the name of a wild cat - Caracal CAR 816;
- even the Korean company Daewoo, a famous car manufacturer, has a sample of the Daewoo K2 in its assortment;
- in Russia, in addition to the Orsis and Vepr, there is also the Skat GM-15;
- designers from Taiwan completely christened their creation T65/T86/T91 - it’s not clear whether it’s a gun, a tank, or an airplane;
- Ukraine - a product called Zbroyar Z-15;
- but in the Philippines there are two designers and, accordingly, two samples - UDMC F5-PVAR and Ferfrans SOAR P;
- Montenegro - Tara TM4;
- Czech Republic - LUVO LA-16 from LUVO Arms;
- and Switzerland completes the list with their Astra StG4.
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Light machine gun
The American arms company Ares Defense Systems developed in 1998 a family of light machine guns based on the AR-15 called Ares-16 in variants with combined, belt and magazine ammunition chambered for the standard 5.56x45 mm NATO cartridge. It was created as an attempt to create a conversion kit for converting standard M16 assault rifles into a belt-fed light machine gun version (platoon support weapon, Squad Automatic Weapon
in the American classification). The upper receiver of the machine gun is compatible with the lower receivers of the AR-15 family of assault rifles. The weapon weighs 3.4 kg, which is half the weight of the similar FN Minimi.
The barrel bore is locked by a rotary bolt with 6 radial lugs, which have a more robust design compared to the standard bolts of AR-15 assault rifles. The gas outlet and piston are located to the left of the barrel, and when the barrel is separated, they are disconnected along with it. The barrels are quick-change, air-cooled.
The central element of the Ares-16 system is the receiver developed by Ares Defense Systems with a new bolt group and gas release mechanism. The weapon mechanisms are driven by gas-operated automatics with a short piston stroke. In the basic version, all weapons in the Ares-16 line fire from a closed bolt, with automatic fire and single shots, but it is possible to convert it to fire from an open bolt by installing an appropriate set of replacement parts for the trigger mechanism.[54][55]
