After Colt's patents expired in 1977, an active marketplace emerged for other manufacturers to produce and sell their own semi-automatic AR-15 style rifles. In 1964, Colt began selling its own version with an improved semi-automatic design known as the Colt AR-15. Due to financial problems and limitations in terms of manpower and production capacity, ArmaLite sold the design and the AR-15 trademark along with the ArmaLite AR-10 to Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1959. In 1956, ArmaLite designed a lightweight selective fire rifle for military use and designated it the ArmaLite model 15, or AR-15. Members of New Black Panthers with AR-15 style rifles The term "AR-15" is now most-commonly used to refer only to the civilian variants of the rifle which lack the fully automatic function. The Colt AR-15 is closely related to the military M16 and M4 Carbine rifles, which all share the same core design, first patented for use in the AR-10, featuring a gas-operated, rotating bolt (combined with an integral piston) instead of conventional direct impingement, operating system patented under U.S. The "AR" in AR-15 stands for "ArmaLite Rifle". 2.5 Compliance with state or local restrictionsĪ common misconception is that "AR" is an acronym for "assault rifle", perhaps because of the weapon's inclusion in the Federal Assault Weapons Ban in 1994 or because the ArmaLite AR-15 was designed by infantry rifle designer Eugene Stoner to replace the M14 rifle in the Vietnam War.Promoted as "America's rifle" by the National Rifle Association, AR-15-style rifles' popularity is partially attributable to active restrictions, or proposals to ban or restrict them. The rifles are controversial in part due to their use in high-profile mass shootings. In the 2010s, AR-15-style rifles became one of the "most beloved and most vilified rifles" in the United States, according to The New York Times. After the term modern sporting rifles was coined in 2009 by the US National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms trade association, it was quickly adopted by much of the industry. The Federal Assault Weapons Ban restricted the sale of the Colt AR-15 and some derivatives in the United States from 1994 to 2004, although it did not affect rifles with fewer listed features. The "AR" in Colt AR-15 stands for "ArmaLite Rifle", not " assault rifle". While the patents are expired, Colt retained the trademark of the AR-15 and is the sole manufacturer able to label their firearms as AR-15. After most of Colt's patents for the Colt AR-15 expired in 1977, many firearm manufacturers began to produce copies of the Colt AR-15 under various names. The then Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation division ArmaLite sold the patent and trademarks to Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1959. The original ArmaLite AR-15 is a scaled-down derivative of Eugene Stoner's ArmaLite AR-10 design. The part shown bottom center is the lower receiver without the receiver extension, rear takedown pin, and buttstock.Īn AR-15-style rifle is any lightweight semi-automatic rifle based on the Colt AR-15 design. AR-15-style rifles come in many sizes and have many options, depending on the manufacturer.
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