Well balanced, light weight, fully adjustable and with great pulling power, it is a military issue weapon, adopted by numerous security forces, a favorite of collectors and sports shooters.
The AR-15 assault rifle, originally invented by ArmaLite and later sold its patent to Colt’s Manufacturing Company, is a semi-automatic weapon that, due to its size and versatility, has become a part of numerous armies and security forces. With a semi-automatic mechanism, canceled according to the legislation so that it can only fire ‘shot by shot’, it is also one of the weapons preferred by collectors and sports shooting fans. However, it has also become the sad protagonist of the latest massacres perpetrated against civilians in the United States and other countries in the world. The last one occurred this Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde (Texas), where 19 children from Robb Elementary School and two teachers were killed by Salvador Ramos, who bought weapons the day before on his 18th birthday.
The AR-15 is not that it is new. Born in 1959 and manufactured by Colt since 1964, it made its debut in combat during the Vietnam War, where it soon gained prominence against the ubiquitous M-16. At first the ArmaLite AR-15 and the Colt AR-15 looked very similar, but over time the rifle changed appreciably.
The current model is manufactured with three barrel lengths -between 406 and 991 mm.-, always ammunition with 223 Remington cartridges (in its version for sport shooting) or 5.56 mm x 45 NATO (for military use) -the same of the HK G-36 used by the Spanish Army. It is also sold with different barrel lengths from 410 mm to 610 mm. His weight is three kilos.
It can mount magazines of 5, 10, 20 or 30 cartridges and has a fire capacity of 750 shots per minute and a range of 550 meters. The rate of fire is 975 meters per second. Its flash hider muzzle stands out -installed at the tip of the barrel- which, in addition to reducing the flash of the shot that dazzles the shooter and reveals his position, reduces the sound of the detonation. You can also mount ‘picattiny’ rails, to install accessories such as flashlights, laser pointers or a grenade launcher.
AR-15 design rifles. /
With these dimensions, this assault rifle is a slightly larger weapon than the old Z-70b submachine gun, with the stock deployed, which was manufactured by Star and used by the Spanish armed and security forces. Therein lies its success, since the soldier can pass with this weapon through narrow places and use it in self-defense in relatively short distances, where a pistol would be more effective. Another of its advantages is the nock that is extendable to suit the shooter.
Given Colt’s success with this weapon, as with the 1911 pistol before it, other manufacturers market replicas of the AR-15. In the United States, it is the rifle/carbine most purchased by citizens for self-defense, as allowed by the second amendment to the country’s Constitution.
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