AR, the gun family created by the American firearms designer Eugene M. Stoner, from the very beginning AR-1 to AR-180 today, the AR gun family has developed Multiple branches such as rifles, submachine guns, light machine guns, sniper rifles, etc. form a huge system. Among them, AR-15 is undoubtedly the most famous one. The M16 rifle and M4 carbine derived from it are all standard weapons appointed by the US military. It can be said that the AR system can have today's status, and the AR-15 is the most important.
Today is not AR-15, but another hidden power in the AR gun family-AR-18. Most people may have heard of this weapon, but the understanding of it may be far less than AR-15, because it is so rare, you can not even find the news that the regular army of several countries is equipped with AR-18. However, in terms of performance, AR-18 is very good, but why did it fail to shoot the front wave of AR-15?
If you want to tell the story of AR-18, you have to push the time forward, starting from the story of AR-10/15 and AR-16.
Between 1955 and 1956, Stoner developed two rifles, AR-10 and AR-15, both of which use the air-blowing automatic principle. The difference is that the caliber is different. The former fires 7.62×51mm ammunition and the latter. Fires 5.56×45mm rounds. Because Stoner was working for Amalet at the time, the copyright of AR-10/15 was naturally in the hands of Amalet, but the company was too small and had no military outlets, which made the weapons impossible to sell. Get out.
Seeing that the previously spent R&D resources could not be recycled, Amalite made a decision that they regretted for a lifetime and sold the copyright of AR-10/15 to Colt. Colt is an American firearms giant. It takes minutes to get on the line with the US military. It's not like Amalet and there are no other ways. So AR-10/15 quickly got the attention of the US military.
After the outbreak of the Vietnam War, the U.S. military was extremely disappointed with the performance of the M14 rifle, so they gave up the medium-caliber 7.62mm ammunition and switched to the small-caliber 5.56mm ammunition, so the next R&D center focused on AR-15. Eventually derived the M16, and became the second-generation automatic rifle of the US military.
Colt lay in the pile of money and counted the banknotes, Amalet was unbalanced. After all, AR-10/15 should belong to them, but now the copyright has been held by Colt Here, Amalite can’t continue to use the principle of air-blown air guiding, so Amalite decided to build a new gun that does not lose the AR-15. Still led by Stoner, he eventually developed the AR-16 rifle and fired it. 7.62×51mm bullet, the core is short piston air guiding principle.
AR-15 is aerospace-grade aluminum casting mold, and AR-16 is changed to stamping technology. Stonener still has a lot of ideas. AR-15 has already established a firm foothold in the US military at this time. It is not easy to cut a piece, so he starts with the cost. It is a pity that the low price did not impress the U.S. Army, and Colt was not a foodie. While Amalet was researching AR-16, Colt also developed M16 to M16A1. The performance was very satisfactory to the U.S. Army, so the AR-16 failed. Obtained US military orders.
Later, Amalright was on the verge of bankruptcy and was acquired by Golden Boy. The new owner was a layoff. Although Stoner's ability to design weapons is obvious to all, it did not bring much economy to the company. Income, also left Amarlet at that time.
After the reorganization, in view of the current status of small-caliber rifles, Amalite decided to lead the team by designer Arthur Miller to develop the 5.56mm version of AR-16, which is the AR-18 rifle (AR-17 is a A civilian shotgun, also not well known).
The relationship between AR-18 and AR-16 is actually the same as AR-15 and AR-10, their structure is exactly the same, the difference is only the caliber, so AR-18 also has a price Low cost and short-term jobThe principle of plug air conduction produces less gunpowder and gas residues, and does not require frequent maintenance like the air blowing principle, with low failure rate and higher reliability.
Of course, the short piston air guiding principle also has disadvantages. Its structure is more complicated than the air blowing principle, and its recoil is greater.
At that time, the US military was pursuing the precision of its weapons, so it was natural to look down on the AR-18, which has a large recoil. On the other hand, the size of the manufacturer Amarite is too small, and it is unable to meet the military's orders within the specified time. Therefore, AR-18, like AR-16, has hit a wall in the military market one after another, let alone shot AR. -15, there is no chance to compete head-on with AR-15.
is not good for military use, so it can only be transferred to civilian use. It is worth mentioning that AR-18 was very famous in the 1980s, but its reputation was negative because it was heavily equipped by the Irish Republican Army and often appeared on the headlines of major newspapers. Imagine that a rifle becomes a representative weapon of a terrorist organization, and the criticism it brings can be imagined. Amarlet is also considered to be a blood mold.
Generally speaking, AR-18 is a weapon with excellent performance, but unfortunately I didn't meet the stage that made it shine, and it was forgotten by people. However, the AR-18 was not a complete failure. The short-piston air-conducting principle still provided a reference for many latecomers. The British L85 rifle, the German G36 rifle, the Japanese 89 rifle, the Taiwan T65 rifle, etc. Developed on its basis, it still has a profound impact on the development of firearms.
It can only be said that AR-18 is a bit untimely, but it happened to run into Amarlet, which is not available in any way. It is the AR-15 mountain in front of it, which is opposite to the Irish Republican Army. With eyes on it, it is difficult to rise.
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