AR-15 Rifle History and Facts

History and facts about the AR-10 and AR-15 Rifle

  • Eugene Stoner, Robert Fremont and L. James Sullican designed the AR-10 and AR-15 while working for Fairchild Industries, an aircraft parts manufacturer
  • Fairchild Industries used their knowledge and experience with aluminum to design and produce the AR's upper and lower receivers
  • AR stands for Armalite Rifle, NOT "Assault Rifle"
  • When Armalite first presented the AR-15 to the US Military, it was not accepted.
  • Colt bought the rights to the AR-10 and AR-15 in 1959
  • The Federation of Malaya was the first Military to purchase AR-15's
  • Colt presented the AR-15 to the US Military as the M-16, which was first adopted by the US Air Force in 1962
  • The US Army adopted the M-16 and began issuing them to solidiers in 1964
  • The Mil-Spec accuracy for the M-16 is 4 MOA
  • Early M-16's weighed under 6 lbs. Current versions weigh around 8 lbs.
  • Both the US Air Force and US Army have used .22LR versions for training purposes.
  • The M-16 has now been in use by the US Military for over 50 years!
  • AR-15's are the most popular semi-automatic rifle sold today.

Lots more great information on the history can be found here