The Armalite AR-10 (Vintage Promotional Video)

[Badger]

The following video(s) are excerpts which have been extracted from the "The Screening Room" (click here).

The Armalite AR-10 (Vintage Promotional Video)

This is a vintage promotional film for the Armalite AR-10. This is the rifle that eventually led to the M-16 currently used by U.S. forces. The video features field-stripping, the belt-fed version and even Eugene Stoner running onto a beach firing from the hip.

The AR-10 battle rifle was the 7.62mm NATO-chambered precursor to the scaled-down 5.56mm NATO-chambered M16/M4 family, the weapons that hold the distinction of being the longest-lived service rifles in US military history. This marketing film (featuring brilliant arms designer Eugene Stoner playing a most unconvincingly dumpy little AR-10-wielding soldier)was an ultimately futile attempt at selling the AR-10 in a post-WW2 small arms market that was both saturated with war surplus equipment and already well-served by the Belgian-designed FN-FAL and German H&K G3 battle rifles. The AR-10, a day late and a dollar short in marketing terms, was a non-starter, and only a few thousand were sold to nations such as Portugal, Sudan, and Cuba, where it generally gave very good service, despite its relative fragility and lack of engineering refinement and as a military weapon.

However, a market was identified in replacing smaller caliber weapons such as the US M1/M2 carbine, and so Stoner scaled the weapon down to fire a smaller-caliber, higher-velocity cartridge. The M16/M4 is of somewhat altered design from the AR-10, but it is essentially the same weapon. However, as any engineer will tell you, complex mechanical system rarely scale up or down without complications, leading to some of the problems encountered with the XM16E1 in Vietnam 1965-67.

To view any video, you must have Adobe Flash Player (click here) installed on your computer. Simply click on the film strip thumbnail pic and then on the PLAY button, or sometimes the center of the screen. Use the PAUSE and other buttons at the bottom of the video window to adjust your personal viewing preferences. Place your mouse over the video when it is playing, then "right click" for a "drop down box" to change other viewing preferences. Make sure you turn on your speakers and set the volume appropriately.

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NOTE: This particular video is captured from old 35mm film and there's a black screen leader at the beginning of the film. So, when you click on the PLAY button in the bottom left corner of the pop-up player, make sure you wait 5-7 seconds of black screen for the movie reel to start playing.


Mouse Click on the film strip thumbnail.


The Armalite AR-10 (Promotional Video)
Video length = 15 minutes

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Andouille]

Now that is neater than sliced bread. Very nicely done.

[John R.]

I watched AR-10 armed Portuguese Paras and a few Marines as well in Mocambique in action with these rifles.All of course were Dutch made by Artillerie Inrichtingen in S'Hertogenbosch,Netherlands.
I fired a few and liked them.When I came back to Canada in 1978 I bought TWO absolutely brand new Sudanese Contract AR-10's from Alan Lever who was on Dunsmuir in Vancouver across from H.A.Simons at that point.

One was a flat top carrying handle to mount a 'sniper' scope'(Hensoldt)with a bipod mount on the barrel(no legs however).I later managed to acquire a scope and the bipod legs through a high level contact in Holland.The second rifle was a stock example.BOTH were in as new if not actually"brand new" condition and worked flawlessly.I bought a carton of the aluminium "waffle mags" as well.
A few years later a few VERY well used Portuguese Contract AR-10's showed up but by then the novelty had worn off and I was more interested in Service Rifle shooting with my FN-FALS and C1A1's.My interest totally dropped off when the swine in Ottawa, who were being pandered to by mounties looking to make Corporal came up with this 'converted auto' BS . I sold ALL my FN's and AR-10's and M14's(except my one REAL M14NM of course) along with my DIEMACO barrelled C7A1(all COLT too)to a good friend in ITALY and have cursed the mountie swine ever since.Mind you I have been proven right as time progressed.Look at the 4 supertroopers murdering that poor demented Polish guy at Vancouver Airport."Murder" by the way, is the ONLY way any civilized human being can describe what happened.Poor guy was "ARMED" with a medium sized STAPLER(ACCO-Sweden and NO, it wasn't the belt fed version either) Factor in the other killings in BC and you can see that the British Columbia Police need to be resurrected.Hopefully we will see the Long Gun Registry buried shortly too along with all these mountie inspired "categories" of small arms.I was surprised to see one of the modern clones of the AR-10 with the barrel sawed off just ahead of the front sight base featued in a mountie 'dog and pony show' where they laid down a bunch of captured drug dealer small arms(ALL smuggled in from the US I might add) and THEN the liars knowing full well that the media are clueless ran a videoclip showing EVIL BODY ARMOUR PENETRATING ammo(read 5.56mm NATO BALL)that is being sold by the EVIL GUN SHOPS around the lower mainland of BC.The muzzle blast from that AR-10 must have been just hellacious.We experimented at Rhodesian Army Workshops with shortening the barrels on FN-FAL "Para" rifles and OY GEVALT such a muzzle blast we got already.That idea was really short lived I assure you but we used barrels that were ready to be boarded anyway so didn't lose much.
I think that I have a few photos of the"Pork and Cheeses" running about Villa Manica, Mocambique with their AR-10's and issuing BRAND NEW Mauser 98k's right out of the original Oberndorf crates off the back of a DAF 20 Ton military truck to what the Portuguese called "Flechas"(arrows) a local African militia.I still have the M941 Rifle that the Portuguese CO gave me and was surprised to see Alan Lever selling crates of them in late 1978.Halcion Days and hopefully we will see them back again IF Stephen Harper manages to kill the long gun registry as he reiterated on Friday.I see that Wendy the Cuckoo who waxed FATTER on the taxpayer's dole is already shooting her fat face off about how we NEED more Gun Control.What we DO NEED is complete disclosure of just how much TAXPAYER money she and her minions were fed by the LIEBERALS.That might help drive a few more spikes in Iggy's casket.
AR-10's ARE quite nice,the real ones at least.I have it on good authority that the ones that the CF have on trials in Afghanistan are "okay" but nothing truly exciting but at least the CF aren't as hidebound as a few other armies I can think of.Cheers,JR