← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Faust
Thread ID: 18619 | Posts: 4 | Started: 2005-06-11
2005-06-11 01:32 | User Profile
AR-18
Anyone see or shoot an AR-18? I do kind of wish the new guns had a steel lower receiver. Too bad they do not seen to sell the AR-180 as a upper receiver group I am sure the lower receiver would be pretty easy to make.
ArmaLite, Inc. :: AR-180B [url]http://www.armalite.com/sales/catalog/rifles/ar180b.htm[/url]
Modern Firearms - Armalite AR-18 assault rifle [url]http://world.guns.ru/assault/as36-e.htm[/url]
ArmaLite AR-180B [url]http://www.gunblast.com/AR-180B.htm[/url]
2005-06-11 09:35 | User Profile
I've never fired an AR-180B, but I handled one in a gun store several months ago and was impressed by its apparent quality. It struck me as being a bit like an AR-AK hybrid -- very rugged. I wouldn't worry about the lower receiver being polymer instead of steel; the polymer can't rust, dent, or have its finish rub off, and it's probably quite impossible to break it. Glass-reinforced polymers can be incredibly strong.
One change I would definitely make to the 180B is replace the muzzle break with a flash suppressor.
2005-06-11 17:50 | User Profile
Angler,
Yes a flash suppressor would be good, also there is no reason why it should not have a folding stock like the old one. As I said too bad they do not sell the gun as an upper, The lower frame would easir to build than an AR or AK.
I do think it takes much from the AK it might be better to think of it as a AR/FN-FAL hybrid. The British SA80, Singapore's SAR-80, and the Heckler & Koch G-36 are based on it.
2005-06-12 16:23 | User Profile
The AR-18 was conceived as a cheaper substitute for the AR15/M-16 family of weapons, since it was easier to manufacture in a less-industrialized country. Never really found any takers, since it was often cheaper to just buy M-16s than set up manufacturing the AR-18. That doesn't mean it's any less quality of weapon, though. IIRC, somone in England bought the rights (Sterling, maybe?) to make it once Armalite lost interest, but not much ever came of it.