ford vs chevy
pepsi vs coke
some things are just eternal rivals
this is the ar15
over the past 65 years it has become possibly the most perfected assault rifle in the world
an american can hardly swing a commie around by the neck without bumping against an ar
how did it get so dang popular
cool dissolve effect here
so towards the end of wwii germany pretty much figured out that assault rifle thing
and right after that that the soviets adopted the ak
but the western didnt do it
the fal was originally chambered in lighter intermediate rounds when under development
but you may remember what happened
uk said guys lets standardize our guns for this new nato thing
us said ok but you gotta keep our new full power .308
uk was like ug fine
but the us was like actually your gun sucks were keeping the m14 hahaha
and so the us laughed all the way to vietnam with what was basically an m1 garand modified for detachable magazines and full auto fire
kickass
wait no this is bad
we cant control the full auto fire
all this ammo is really heavy
we blow through it on full auto
wait
but the commies did not wait
they used the sks and ak and had like two or three times as many rounds because intermediate cartridges are lighter
daaaaaaaang
so its the mid 1950s and thats how the vietnam war is starting out
meanwhile there was this company called armalite
theyreca spinoff of fairchild aircraft
and their chief designer was a guy named eugene stoner
stoner installed machineguns on aircraft earlier in his life
all this aviation background gave them some unorthodox ideas on gun design
started with ultralight breakdown survival rifles for aircrews
they made an ar5 bolt action in .22 hornet
a semi auto ar7 that floats
pretty good designs
passed military trials
nice
so when armalite heard about the competition for a new nato rifle in .308 they had gotten to work on a bigger gun
they called it the ar10
this bad boy was similar to the m14
7.62 nato
full auto
but it used the jet age materials that fairchild put aircraft
like an aluminum receiver and synthetic composite furniture
this made it lighter than the m14
and it took design cues from the sturmgewehr
like having the recoil go right into the shooters shoulder
so more controllable on full auto
it was better than the m14
but armalite was late to the party
several rounds of testing had already been done
and the military just wanted their m1 garand derivative
so armalite lost and they were kinda bummed
but now the military was seeing the advantage of lighter rounds
specifically the three times as much ammo part
tthree times as many bangs in your bang bang
even army guys can count that high
so the army started playing with this new .223 remington round
armalite had a couple designers named jim sullivan and bob fremont redesign the ar10 to be even smaller and lighter
they called it the armalite ar15
same fancy materials
same straight back recoil
armalite gave some to the army and they did better in testing than either the m14 or the ak
but there was bullshit politics involving generals so nothing came of it
and armalite had basically had it with the armys shit
so they sold the rights to the ar15 to colt and fucked off
colt took the ar15 and did more tweaking
made it easier to manufacture
then took the new model and gave it to special forces in vietnam
and harassed more generals
like air force general curtis lemay
he was so impressed by its ability to shoot watermelons at a 4th of july bbq that he ordered 8500 on the spot
guys this actually happened lol
of course now we have two guns and ammo types and the bean counters hate it
so there was more infighting among different services
but the army was forced to admit it was having problems manufacturing and in combat with the m14
so the m14 lost
and the ar won
and got adopted as the m16 across the military
debuting in the middle of the vietnam war
yay
wait no everything is terrible lol
ok but listen
the ak by this point was fully 20 years into its service life
all of the bugs worked out
the ar was brand spankin new
so there were some problems
mostly caused by fucking bean counters
one problem was the gunpowder
stoner and colt told the army to use this new powder
but the army was all like
fffffffffuck that
we got silos full of this old shit
and dupont is taking too long
lets just use this old shit with no testing whatsoever
because were cheap pieces of shit
guys you cant just switch powders like that
the older powder ended up giving a sharper pressure curve
too high a pressure too early makes the gun go too fast
which made it yank the spent cartridge too hard
meanwhile the higher pressure held the case in the chamber with more force
problems x2
another problem was the lack of rust preventing chrome plating
if you get a corroded chamber the pits in the metal hold the cases in really good
problems x3
but doing it right is expensive
and did i mention i hate letting you spend money
so end result the bolt tore the rims off a lot of cases and jammed the gun all the friggin time
better get your cleaning rod to ram it out in the middle of battle
oh wait did i mention were not giving you any cleaning kits
hahahahaha
army didnt like being forced to take the m16 so they were like whatever this is just temporary
why waste money on the m16
it cleans itself bro
but remember how the ar beat the m14 and ak in testing
congress did
so congress was like wtf
and made the army cut it out
chrome lining
cleaning kits
maybe stop using the wrong fucking powder
the gun became the m16a1 and its horrible problems disappeared after they stopped being such fucking cheapskates
but legends never die
anyway the gun ended up doing well
in fact the special forces guys found its round often did mega damage
the tiny bullet was somehow making mince meat of guys organs
the pictures were so horrific they were classified for decades
fuck
dont tell the hague lol
turns out the round would flip sideways then literally explode inside you like a tiny grenade sending shrapnel in all directions
figuring this out was tricky
the military has spent decades perfecting this
so we have heavier and longer bullets
super accurate ones
they also made more modifications
different features and barrel lengths
aside from modern incarnations of the original rifle like the m16a4
there are short carbines
marksman rifles
most new handguards have no contact with the barrel for accuracy
further derivatives made by other companies
so many people looking at this from so many angles for so long we have got this shit down
the ar has been adopted by a fair number of countries too
ok so lets see how this all works
the ar15 is gas operated with a rotating bolt
unlike the ak theres no gas piston
it uses direct impingement
it bleeds gas from a gas port in the barrel down a tube
its channeled into a little tube on the bolt carrier called the gas key
directing the gas to push forward on the bolt
this keeps it locked and simultaneously pushes backward on the bolt carrier to slowly unlock the bolt at the appropriate time
the result is far less mass moving back and forth than a piston design
heres the stuff that moves in an ar vs the stuff that moves in an ak
that ak bolt carrier is solid but the ar bolt carrier is a hollow tube
less mass helps with accuracy from less jostling
and it saves weight
the weapon also breaks into two pieces
upper and lower receiver
so cleaning is super easy
pop out one pin
pull everything out the back
boom
pop the second pin and you can put an entirely different upper on in seconds
useful for military and civilians alike
grips and stocks are swappable
the top rail can have anything
more accessories than anything ever
it invented modularity in the modern rifle
the only limit is your imagination
you want to buy one
go for it
there was a beto special for 350 lol
or spend thousands
buy a whole rifle
or customize part one at a time
even machine a blank mailed to your house
guys ill wrap this up by giving you clammys advice on keeping your ar running
first
lube her up
you have now completed clammys extensive maintenance program lol
be sure to follow it or your ar will jam like crazy
pew pew
#click here for previous articles
view the rest of the comments →
ExpertShitposter ago
Woha! This rifle fires even the spent casing at the enemy!
clamhurt_legbeard ago
twice the pew per round
name literally any other gun that can do that