Please identify this rifle

[John Barleycorn, SASS #76982]

Photo circa 1974

[Rip Snorter]

AR 180

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

10 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

AR 180

THIS

[J-BAR #18287]

I'm ignorant about ARs. How did you identify it?

[Rip Snorter]

Just a question of having been a firearms enthusiast for a long time, and still having regrets because I passed on one at a great price many years ago.  Search and you will find photos.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

 

14 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

Just a question of having been a firearms enthusiast for a long time, and still having regrets because I passed on one at a great price many years ago.  Search and you will find photos.

 

Same here. I think, and have always thought, that the AR 180 would've been a better choice that the M16. It uses a short stroke gas piston that does not require a buffer assembly in the butt stock. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArmaLite_AR-18

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

 

 

 

 

 ........ looks like a black rifle to me ....  

[J-BAR #18287]

11 minutes ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

 

 

 

 

 ........ looks like a black rifle to me ....  

 

Yep, you seen one you seen 'em all!!

[Rip Snorter]

Whoa Nellie!  

[watab kid]

i rather like the look of that , 

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

the folding stock was a failure , flopped around , like a Walmart bag in a tornado 

 

 been a long time since I had one in hand , was not impressed with it then or now 

 

Chickasaw 

[Sundog]

On 2/27/2024 at 6:25 AM, Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 said:

the folding stock was a failure , flopped around , like a Walmart bag in a tornado 

 

 been a long time since I had one in hand , was not impressed with it then or now 

 

Chickasaw 

 

Eugene Stoner, who also developed the M16, thought differently.  He designed the AR18 to replace the M16.  After the thread about the Springfield '03, I have been researching rifle designers.  Stoner ranks right on up there.

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

Stoner was one heck of a designer , I felt and still do the AR180 was a failure as it was built 

 

 lots of cool bits , that are better than the AR10/15/M16 series , 

 

 look at the Stoner 69 , that is very impressive unit 

 

  CB 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

17 minutes ago, Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 said:

Stoner was one heck of a designer , I felt and still do the AR180 was a failure as it was built 

 CB 

The M16 was a failure as it was built. It's taken 60 years of further development to get it where it is today. 

[Sundog]

22 hours ago, Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 said:

Stoner was one heck of a designer , I felt and still do the AR180 was a failure as it was built 

 

 lots of cool bits , that are better than the AR10/15/M16 series , 

 

 look at the Stoner 69 , that is very impressive unit 

 

  CB 

 

 

I saw an AR180 at a gun show one time.  Looked closely to see if it was "gold-plated" because of the price-tag.  About the M16, I read an article on it that referred to its introduction in Vietnam was initially referred as the "woodchuck wars", mainly because of the much smaller round than the Garand.

 

Stoner may have been good, but in my research there are much better designers over the years:

 

• Yisrael Galili – designer of the IMI Galil and the Uzi SMG.

•  Victor Mikhailovich Kalashnikov – Designer of the AK47 & AK74.

• But after ALL of my studies, the greatest of all time:  John Moses Browning who surpasses them all.  His brilliant designs are too numerous to clutter up this fine thread.

 

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

a lot of the issues with the 16 , were due to changes made by the WIZ Kids 

 

  powder change , not chroming the chamber and barrel , to cut cost and increase range 

 

  CB 

  

  pretty well all designs are built off what has come before 

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

It's a Ugly Black One !

[Pat Riot]

On 2/26/2024 at 9:59 PM, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

 

 

 

 

 ........ looks like a black rifle to me ....  

 

On 2/26/2024 at 10:11 PM, J-BAR #18287 said:

 

Yep, you seen one you seen 'em all!!

I am kind of the same way on these rifles. If I were walking past a gun display of ARs and M16s and there was an AR 180 mixed in I probably wouldn’t notice. Now, if I stopped and looked I might notice the differences, but to be honest, I am just not an AR enthusiast. 
I have owned 5 AR 15s. Sold them all except for one I gave to my son-in-law. I now own an SFAR by Ruger. I am warming up to it but I don’t love it. Yet. It’s growing on me. 
 

It’s like SASS folks that love their vintage style arms. If you stuck a bunch of Cowboy Action long guns on a table and a bunch of AR, AK, FN, Galil guys walked past they would see a bunch of lever guns. 
 

It’s all about desire and familiarity. If you have the desire you can become familiar to a type of gun more easily. 
 

My SFAR in it’s current condition. 

[Sedalia Dave]

One thing few people realize is that the design of the buffer tube being incorporated into AR-15 was a direct result of the Army not wanting the 7.62X39 round. To get the AR-15 design into production a cheaply as possible it was carried over to the AR-15.

 

Had Stoner started out designing the rifle for the small 5.56 cartridge the buffer tube would not have been part of the design.

 

Stoner was against the inclusion of a forward assist. But Big Green insisted. The forward assist has caused more rifles to be put out of commission than it has ever kept in action. Forcing a round into the chamber almost always results in that round failing to extract when fired.