History of the AR15
The AR15 is one of the most celebrated lightweight rifles in the history of firearms. The US military named it the M16 when it first adopted it shortly after its manufacturers, ArmaLite, developed it through their Fairchild Division in 1959. The original patents is accredited to their designer Eugene Stoner. It is a little known fact that the rifle’s name derives simply from the company ArmaLite’s name. There is a common misconception that it actually stands for ‘ArmaLite Rifle’.
The AR15 is an extremely wieldy, lightweight small caliber rifle that features a magazine and has auto-loading capabilities. One of its distinctive features is ‘barrel lapping’, which is a means of smoothing the bore of the rifle’s barrel and making its bore as consistently uniform as possible by means of extensive polishing. It comes in two basic models – the one for civilians comes in .223 Remington configuration (this is generally held to be the more accurate version). For NATO purposes, the 5.56 mm model is used. The AR15 operates on the principle of gas impingement, which means that the power of the expanding gas caused by firing a cartridge is optimized and channeled in such a way that the bullet attains maximum possible velocity. It features a highly adaptable design and is suitable for a number of add-on accessories. It is also extremely easy to disassemble for repair.
While it comes with attached front and rear sights, these can be supplemented by a variety of telescopic and night-sights to increase accuracy over longer ranges. The entire unit usually weighs only 3.4 kilograms and a standard magazine can hold either 20 or 30 rounds. However, there are magazines that can accommodate up to a 100 rounds. Purists argue that a lightweight rifle like the AR15 is not suited for extended fire and that larger-capacity magazines should be avoided. Apart from that, there are other points of controversy about this famous rifle, too.
The American Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 restricted its sale to and use by civilians for almost a decade in the early 1990s. This was in connection with the Assault Weapons Ban, which later lapsed, but California renewed the ban on this weapon a while ago. Needless to say, this caused renewed interest in the AR15. In fact, the latest figures indicate that something like 10,000 units are legally owned in the state today.
Despite its popularity and widespread use, the AR15 is subject to much debate on its safety and technological soundness. The main issue seems to be the potentially hazardous firing pin mechanism, which is said to be too light for military purposes and can cause what is known as the ‘slamfire’ effect while a round is being loaded. In simple terms, slamfiring is what happens when the firing pin jams on its way back into the bolt after the most recent pull of the trigger. When this occurs, there is an uncontrolled burst of fire that does not stop until the magazine is empty. Such a situation obviously raises issues of wastefulness as well as safety. The slamfire effect usually occurs in cases where the firing pin is not cleaned properly, has not been correctly integrated into the bolt mechanism, or has bent with repeated use.