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

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