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Introduction
California Ar 15 Lower Receiver. is a select-fire, gas-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed rifle manufactured in the United States between 1959 and 1964. Designed by American gun manufacturer ArmaLite in 1956, it was based on its AR-10 rifle. The ArmaLite AR-15 was designed to be a lightweight rifle and to fire a new high-velocity, lightweight, small-caliber cartridge to allow infantrymen to carry more ammunition.
In 1959, ArmaLite sold its rights to the AR-15 to Colt due to financial difficulties and limitations in terms of manpower and production capacity. After modifications (most notably, the charging handle was re-located from under the carrying handle like AR-10 to the rear of the receiver), Colt rebranded it the Colt 601, however, it still carried the Armalite markings due to contractual obligations to Armalite/Fairchild Aircraft Co. Colt marketed the redesigned rifle to various military services around the world and was eventually adopted by the U.S. military in January 1962 and subsequently designated as M16 rifle in December 1963, which went into production and service in 1964.
Colt continued to use the AR-15 trademark for its line of semi-automatic-only rifles marketed to civilian and law-enforcement customers, known as Colt AR-15. The Armalite AR-15 is the parent of a variety of Colt AR-15 and M16 rifle variants.
After World War II, the United States military started looking for a single automatic rifle to replace the M1 Garand, M1/M2 Carbines, M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, M3 “Grease Gun” and Thompson submachine gun. However, early experiments with select-fire versions of the M1 Garand proved disappointing. During the Korean War, the select-fire M2 Carbine largely replaced the submachine gun in US service and became the most widely used Carbine variant. However, combat experience suggested that the .30 Carbine round was underpowered. American weapons designers concluded that an intermediate round was necessary, and recommended a small-caliber, high-velocity cartridge.
However, senior American commanders having faced fanatical enemies and experienced major logistical problems during WWII and the Korean War, insisted that a single powerful .30 caliber cartridge be developed, that could not only be used by the new automatic rifle but by the new general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) in concurrent development. This culminated in the development of the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge.
The United States Army then began testing several rifles to replace the obsolete M1 Garand. Springfield Armory’s T44E4 and heavier T44E5 were essentially updated versions of the Garand chambered for the new 7.62×51mm NATO round, while Fabrique Nationale submitted their FN FAL as the T48. ArmaLite entered the competition late, hurriedly submitting several AR-10 prototype rifles in the fall of 1956 to the United States Army’s Springfield Armory for testing.
The ArmaLite AR-10 featured an innovative combination of a straight-line barrel/stock design, a new patent-filed gas-operated bolt, forged aluminum alloy receivers, and phenolic composite stocks resulting in a small arm significantly easier to control in an automatic fire than other infantry rifles of the day. It had rugged elevated sights, an oversized aluminum flash suppressor and recoil compensator, and an adjustable gas system. The final prototype featured an upper and lower receiver with the now-familiar hinge and takedown pins, and the charging handle was on top of the receiver placed inside of the carry handle. For the 1950s 7.62×51mm NATO rifle, the AR-10 was incredibly lightweight at only 6.85 pounds (3.11 kilograms) empty. Initial comments by Springfield Armory test staff were favorable, and some testers commented that the AR-10 was the best lightweight automatic rifle ever tested by the Armory.
In the end, the United States Army chose the T44, which entered service as the M14 rifle, which was an improved M1 Garand with a 20-round magazine and automatic fire capability. The U.S. also adopted the M60 general-purpose machine gun (GPMG). Its NATO partners adopted the FN FAL and HK G3 rifles, and the FN MAG and Rheinmetall MG3 GPMGs.
The first confrontations between the AK-47 and the M14 came in the early part of the Vietnam War. Battlefield reports indicated that the M14 was uncontrollable in full-auto and that soldiers could not carry enough ammo to maintain fire superiority over the AK-47. While the M2 Carbine offered a high rate of fire, it was underpowered and ultimately outclassed by the AK-47. A replacement was needed: a medium between the traditional preference for high-powered rifles, such as the M14, and the lightweight firepower of the M2 Carbine.
As a result, the Army was forced to reconsider a 1957 request by General Willard G. Wyman, commander of the U.S. Continental Army Command (CONARC), to develop a .223 caliber (5.56 mm) select-fire rifle weighing 6 lb (2.7 kg) when loaded with a 20-round magazine. The 5.56mm round had to penetrate a standard U.S. M1 helmet at 500 yards (460 meters) and retain a velocity in excess of the speed of sound while matching or exceeding the wounding ability of the .30 Carbine cartridge. This request ultimately resulted in the development of a scaled-down version of the ArmaLite AR-10, called the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle.
Colt’s first two models produced after the acquisition of the rifle from ArmaLite were the 601 and 602, and these rifles were in many ways clones of the original ArmaLite rifle (in fact, these rifles were often found stamped Colt ArmaLite AR-15, Property of the U.S. Government caliber .223, with no reference to them being M16s).
The 601 and 602 are virtually identical to the later M16 rifle without the forward assist. Like the later M16 rifle, their charging handle was relocated from under the carrying handle like the AR-10 to the rear of the receiver. They were equipped with triangular fore-stocks and occasionally green or brown furniture. Their front sight had a more triangular shape. They had flat lower receivers without raised surfaces around the magazine well. Their bolt-hold-open device lacked a raised lower engagement surface and had a slanted and serrated surface that had to be engaged with a bare thumb, index finger, or thumbnail because of the lack of surface. Their fire-selector was also changed from upward = safe, backward = semi-auto, and forward = full-auto, to the now familiar forward = safe, upward = semi-auto, and backward = full-auto of the M16 rifle.
The only major difference between the 601 and 602 is the switch from the original four grooves, right-hand 1:14-inch (1:355.6 mm or 64 calibers) rifling twist rate to the more common four grooves, right-hand 1:12-inch (1:304.8 mm or 54.8 calibers) twist. This was done as the original 1:14-inch twist rate to just stabilize the 55-grain bullet used in the 5.56 Ball M193 cartridge under unfavorable conditions could induce too much yaw and due to the resulting excessive in-flight bullet destabilization become inaccurate. The one turn in 12 inches increased accuracy and was optimized to adequately stabilize the M193 ball and longer M196 tracer bullets.
In 1958, ArmaLite submitted ten AR-15s and one hundred 25-round magazines for CONARC testing. The tests found that a five to seven-man team armed with AR-15s had the same firepower as an 11-man team armed with M14s and soldiers armed with AR-15s could also carry three times more ammunition than those armed with M14s (649 rounds vs. 220 rounds). The AR-15 was found to be three times more reliable than the M14 rifle. However, General Maxwell Taylor, then Army Chief of Staff, “vetoed” the AR-15 in favor of the M14. In 1959, ArmaLite—now frustrated with the lack of results and suffering ongoing financial difficulties—sold its rights to the AR-10 and AR-15 to Colt.
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Early ArmaLite AR-15 without flash hider or magazine
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Early ArmaLite AR-15 without a magazine or flash hider
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ArmaLite AR-15 with 25-round magazine and flash hider
After acquiring the AR-15, Colt promptly redesigned the rifle to facilitate mass production. Based on the final ArmaLite design, most notably, the charging handle was relocated from under the carrying handle, like the earlier AR-10 to the rear of the receiver, like the later M16 rifle. Colt then renamed and rebranded the rifle “Colt ArmaLite AR-15 Model 01”. After a Far East t
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