AR-18 magazine ?

[RCS]

I believe this is an AR-18 magazine still in the original envelope from 1969.

Note the "arrow" stamp on the envelope - any help on the identification of this magazine would be appreciated.

Information

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[browningautorifle]

I believe that's correct. I had one in 1975 or so and that was the type of mag. The small slot for locking it into the rifle. It would also take the Colt mag of course.

[TonyG]

I tried to find more info, but came up with this ...

"Sterling of England produced AR-180/AR-15 20, 30, and 40 round magazines. Some were made in alloy, and some were steel. They have magazine catch notches on both sides, a small one for the AR-180, and a large one for the AR-15.
Sterling also produced considerable quantities of 20 and 30 round
magazines, some of which are only notched for AR-180s, but most are also
notched to also fit AR-15's." This leads me to believe that Only Sterling of the UK produced mags for the AR-18.
Sounds funny to me but I know there were a few different mag makers for the US Military during the Vietnam War. In your pic it looks like the mag is aluminum alloy and just has a large notch for the AR 15 (M-16) and it does have a US mil spec number on the envelope.
The only AR18 mag I have ever seen or held was at a gun show in York, PA and was a steel mag made by Sterling.
I really don't have much else to offer you. You have probably have already done this but, what info is on the base plate of the mag.
I'm really looking forward to seeing more info posted on this one ... thanks

[RCS]

Tony, The parkerized magazine in the photo is steel and the base is not marked. There is a small slot on the right side too. Also have seen an identical magazine - only black-blue in color and steel.. The crimp of the floorplate is jut like the Sterling 40 rd magazine except for the hole location.

The early US 30 rd magazines for the M16 had the same type of curve.

Once the magazine is removed from the envelope, it is difficult to identify the manufacture

[AmEngRifles]

I am no expert. But have been collecting and observing original Armalite AR-180 products for some time. Here is my interpretation.

I believe you have a Costa Mesa contracted magazine. I say "contracted", because I have NO idea if the Costa Mesa facility that produced the weapons ever made the magazines? The may have simply contracted them out with a supplier? Obviously the early date would indicate a mag made just prior to manufacturing going to Howa of Japan. I have NEVER seen one in a military grade VOC paper package. WOW! These early magazines have NO identifying marks, and I am not sure why they choose to not mark them? I am unclear about magazines produced for Howa made rifles. I have never run across a NIB Howa 180 with all the factory supplied accessories.

The later, Sterling produced, mags have a longer engagement slot. Sterling mags have base plates that I.D. them. Be aware though, base plates can be switched out, and that can lead to some erroneous mag I.D.s if you aren't careful. You may find (if you have other manufactured models to test against) that your mag will not fit a Howa or Sterling. I have found that the the various manufacturers have small difference in mag slot length and all mags will not fit all rifles.

A note about those mags that ONLY have the AR-18/0 slot. It is mostly the 20 round early ALUMINUM mags (I believe made by Costa Mesa Armalite). All steel mags of 20, 30 and 40 made by Sterling or Costa Mesa Armalite have BOTH slots. That is, they have the AR-180 slot and the AR-15 slot. Another exception to the rule is the Thermold mags out there that are made for the AR-180. They will not have an AR-15 mag slot. I am unclear why Thermold just didn't incorporate BOTH mag slots into the same mag?

The steel Armalite mags have a very good reputation for reliability. Up until H&K high reliability mags hit the market, the steel Armalite mags had a enthusiastic following. This includes the Sterling made steel mags of all capacities. All this get's quite confusing, because unless you have been playing in this arena for 40 plus years, the crap mags put out by USA, and other inferior manufacturers, get confused easily by newer collectors.

[RCS]

Thanks for your thoughts about the AR-18 magazines. Some years ago I found a Mitchell Arms 75 rd drum, new in the box . The gunshop was clearing out all their magazines and I
bought the Mitchell drum, back then we called it the Tayor drum ? This drum had been sent to Firepower Inc in Maine for a modification and returned to the gunshop. This Mitchell drum was manufactured at Mitchell Arms, 116 E. 16 th St, Costa Mesa, CA 92627. The top part of this Mitchell drum is just like the late STERLING magazine. The box states: Fits Colt AR-15 ARMALITE AR-180/AR-18. The box also has another address: Mitchell Arms Inc US Sales Agency, 114 So Geneva St, Ithaca NY.

[AmEngRifles]

Dear RCS,

I have never heard of the connection with Mitchell and Armalite before this, but sure enough, they had a common address! Actually Armalite shows their address to be 118 East 16th St., Costa Mesa. The later Timberline Hawk, who had John McGerty ( I hope that is right?) as the proprietor, shows their address as 116 E. 16th St., Costa Mesa. Timberline Hawk was the distributor for all Armalite parts after the main company seemed to stop doing business under the name. Surely during their height, Armalite probably had a number of buildings in the area and possibly operated these as support operations. I wonder if that means they were indeed manufacturing their own mags, later to become Mitchell? I do recall those drum 75 round drum mags, which featured the AR-180 slot.

I am unsure when the 40 round mags came out? I have always associated them with either Sterling, or Federal. Sterlings were parked and Federals were blued. Federals worked fine, but some of the later 40 round mags that USA made looked like Federals, but were junk most of the time. That is what makes the aftermarket 40s so difficult to surmise. You just have to buy cautiously and try them. If they work, great! Sterlings of course are a bit pricey! I wonder if I backtrack, will Federal also be a Mitchell associate? I seem to recall they were from California.

I have included a couple of images. One just showing addresses on correspondence I have from past years, and one with an Armalite marked, 20 round aluminum mag, the other is an unmarked, steel, 30 round mag. As you can see, this Armalite 20 round mag has no accommodation for the AR-15, while the 30 does. This may have been an early marketing ploy, as Colt was now manufacturing the (Armalite) M-16 and supplying the US Government with 20 round mags only. While our guys were in Viet Nam facing AKs with 30 rounders, or even 40s? Could be that Armalite saw a need, and decided to produce a 30 round mag that could readily be used in the AR-15/M-16 in hopes of gaining recouped government sales? I am doing a bit of fanciful speculation, but it was after all a money making venture, so you do what seems expedient and financially viable.

I wish someone could put the whole Armalite story together in a pub. Does one exist?

[RCS]

Found an old file photo of the Mitchell drum, these are the only photos that I have seen to date! Would like to see some photos of the markings/mag catch.

The green plastic is original but not to the Colt SP1 (four digit) semi auto sporter. The owner was attempting to make the SP1 look early.

Also noticed that the back of the drum has a clear plastic see-through backplate.Attachment 15231Attachment 15232

[smellie]

Pardon my total ignorance, but who or what is the Richmond Corp.? They are identified on the wrapper as the maker, yet nobody has mentioned them even once.

Why the Arrow? Is this a standard marking for US equipment?

Just in observation, but the earliest Enfield X-60 series bullpups were based rather heavily on the AR-18.

Is there any connection here?

Come on, somebody, stomp on me. I might even learn something.

Also, the only Sterling-marked mag I ever saw for the AR-18 was a pretty steel 40-rounder.

[RCS]

Do not know anything about Richmond Corp or the red arrow ? that why I posted the photos in an attempt to find additinal data. These magazines are sterile !

Sterling produced 20, 30 and 40 round magazines for the AR-18/0 some have the addional cut for the AR-15, some do not ? They are marked on the floorplate.

Mitchell made the first attempt to adopt the AR-18 and AR-15 to use a drum magazine (75 rds). These drum magazines were all recalled for a factory modification and returned.