Mark C., AR10 results

bigdaddyjunior

Thought you might be interested to know that after running a thin wire through the gas tube ever-so-gently and adjusting the regulator the old AR is functioning superbly. The adjustment is now set at 3/4 bleed off. The trigger resets and the bolt locks back on empty. I bet I can get one more open click out of it. I totally dis-assembled the lower, bolt assem. etc. and thoroughly cleaned and lightly lubed everything.The previous owner missed a lot of cosmo, but I don't think he ever shot it. The springs etc.. all look new. I found the reason for the small crack near the takedown pin. It is a oneway pin that has a groove that rides on a spring loaded detent. He put it in backwards and forced it through without lining up the groove and detent thus adding a 1/16" to the diameter of the pin and forcing the aluminum apart. I had to remove the stock to relieve spring pressure on the detent before I could budge the pin. All cool beans now.[:)]
I am at a loss as to why every army in the western world did not jump all over this gun. What a leap in technology for the fifties era fighting gun. It may be rare and collectable ,but I see no reason why I shouldn't be shooting it as much as any other gun in my collection.It sure is fun !!!

Big Daddy my heros have always been cowboys,they still are it seems

mark christian

I am very happy that the old Armalite is back in action Bigdaddy. The rifle is very lucky to have found a good home with a concerned owner and I am pleased that I can offer you some assistance every once and a while. The AR-10 desereved better than it got but its arrival on the scene could not have been more poorly timed. The FAL was already an established rifle and FN was fully tooled up and could fill any order large or small within the NATO alliance and world wide. The U.S. Military was already commited to the Springfield T44 Rifle (later designated M14) and was not going to budge on this no matter how many "trials" were held. The Germans were also in the process of producing their own G-3 rifle and gave the AR-10 little more than a glance.

With the major players commited to other designs the AR-10 had to look elsewhere for sales but the licensed manufacturer, the Dutch firm of Artillerie-Inrichtingen, was so slow in tooling up for production that even the Dutch government (who had controling interest in A-I) ran out of patience and purchased FAL's! The end results were about 350 AR-10's sold to Guatemala, 1750 to Sudan, a couple of thousand to Portugal, and a hundred or so to Burma. There were other scattered tiny sales to places like Cuba and Nicaragua but most experts doubt that total production of AR-10's ever topped 5,000. The AR-10 rates a full chapter in my "someday" book (even though it was never a U.S. Service Rifle) but the full details on that rifle may never be known since most of the parties involved with its developement and marketing have passed on to their reward.

Mark T. Christian

bigdaddyjunior

I guess timing is everything in gun development for the military.It is like the gun that never was. It had to have spawned the current crop of M16's, AR15's etc..They are way too similar for coincedence.

If you need the loan of one for pics to illustrate the book I'd be more than willing to oblige.You should probably shoot it too to inspire your writing on it. Have to meet at the border though. Can you give me any specs on the colors that the lowers were originally? As you may remember mine is polished aluminum. While I find it extremely attractive I don't think a reflective gun would do for military applications.

Big Daddy my heros have always been cowboys,they still are it seems