AR 10 in the Dominican.

[RCS]

Often overlooked but may have been just as good if not better than the AR-15 series was the AR -180. Simple to use plus the folding stock. Even more forgotten was the big brother in 7,62 NATO cal, the AR-16, these were weapons at the wrong time and place in history. The AR-180 is (my opinion) the major influence resulting in the SA 80 but without the problems.

There was even a slight interest by US Ordnance concerning the Stoner rifle, even manuals were printed with instructions for training and close order drill.

[browningautorifle]

Often overlooked but may have been just as good if not better than the AR-15 series was the AR -180.

I had a Costa Mesa AR-180 rifle back in about '75 and it had been partly converted to semi only, not very well. If you turned the selector part way it still ran. They had also cut off the hook of the bolt hold open on empty mag. It was a neat little rifle and may have been OK for military use. The butt was a bit flimsy for hard use though.

[MGMike]

... I always felt the AR10 seemed to be right at the top edge of the time/pressure curve when firing. It seemed to be about to come apart. This was after years of carrying and shooting the FN....

I'm not smart enough to calculate time/pressure curves, but I have to agree that the original AR10 had an inherently violent recoil. Around 40 years ago I had access to some factory original AR10s. These included one side-tubed Armalite Costa Mesa prototype with the fiberglas furniture and lawn-mower muffler-style titanium muzzle brake, and several Dutch AI-made guns in different configurations. I did a fair bit of range shooting with these guns, and with many years of experience with FALs and the HK91, I had a sound basis for comparison. I was particularly interested in the prototype because it was so light; the Dutch guns were much heftier; they had flash hiders, not muzzle brakes. The Armalite shot quite comfortably by comparison, so I tried an experiment: I removed the muzzle brake and tried it again. Wow, what a difference! It pounded me so badly that I quit after a few shots and screwed the brake back on. Without the brake it was just too lightly constructed for that cartridge.

The brake was a beautiful piece of engineering, but it had its own problems. Of course it precluded using rifle grenades; I later learned that it also tended to gather unburned powder inside the canister. Every so often a shot would ignite the accumulation and produce a fireball, which both temporarily blinded the shooter and left a brilliant signature disclosing his position.

M

[browningautorifle]

lawn-mower muffler-style titanium muzzle brake

I never shot one of those, scarce around here. The rest is all stories I'm familiar with, sounds familiar.