Costa Mesa – Page 13

August 9, 2015

A New One Joins the Heard: ArmaLite AR-7

Just picked this little ArmaLite AR-7 up yesterday and like everything I buy, I have to immediately learn everything about it.

Just like when I got my first AR-180, I find there is not much info to be had. That’s exactly what led me to start this sight. To put all the info in one place.

I took a few pictures and I am reaching out to you, my readers to help me fill in the blanks. I’m trying to find out when it was made and there is no database of serial numbers like others may have. The closest I have been able to come is the parts list indicates that California residents have to pay 4% sales tax. A little research reveals that only was true from 1962 to 1967. How cool would it be if this thing was made in my birth year, 1965.

What I know so far;

ArmaLite made these from 1959 to 1973.

The first models had brown stocks and butt pads.

The earliest models had serial numbers that were covered up when the stock was installed.

The second versions had swirled, multi colored stocks like mine.

I’m not sure if ArmaLite made the stocks in black before selling to Charter Arms in 1973.

Some stuff I ran across on the net (unverified);

Brown stock models started with serial 50,000

Swirled stock models started with serial 70,000

I don’t see any reason that we can’t put together our own database of serial numbers with the features they include.

I would want to include things such as serial number and location, stock type, roll mark on receiver and the roll mark on the barrel.

If you have any information to contribute, I would appreciate it as well as the rest of my readership.

I found this awesome early model in a forum post here

August 3, 2015

A Visit to the GunLab – AR-180 Parts

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to visit Chuck at GunLab.net and it was an awesome and overwhelming experience. I wished I had taken the time to take more pictures but I think I was a little in shock at all the cool guns, parts, and equipment. By far the best part of the trip was the company, Chuck and Shirley are two of the nicest folks you could ever have the pleasure of meeting.

We chatted at length about his work on the AR-180 parts he is building. The lower parts that he is making to fit your AR-180B and Nodak NDS-18S lowers were at heat treating and should be back this week. Parkerization and final inspection along with one final operation on the springs will finish this phase. They should be ready to ship very soon.

Next up he is working on uppers. We are hoping to have them available in several configurations from flats to complete uppers with trunnions and rails. He sent me some pictures of his solid model of the stamping die he is building.

Trunnions have also been modeled and those should be coming shortly after the upper sheet metal.

I also gave him one of my original prototype AR-180C railed front sight bases and I am hoping that we can get a few of those made.

The AR-180C flat top might become a reality after all!

Finally yours truly with the only picture from my visit, holding an MP-44 for the very first time. I find it astonishing that they were able to crank these out in the numbers they did, with allied bombs dropping all around them, and that the complexity of manufacture I see in this gun was actually a time saver compared to older weapons.

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July 12, 2015

Reader Letter: New Bolt Hold Open for Original AR-180’s

Reader Eric just sent me a message via the contact page and I have to say, it is something I have never considered before. I think it is a great idea. Here is the message he sent me;

From: Eric XXXX
Subject: Can we do a poll?

Message Body:
Hey guys, I was wondering if it was possible to put a poll up on the blog? Reason being, I’ve been communicating with Chuck at Gun Lab about making a bolt catch for original AR18/180’s modified to use mags with standard STANAG followers. I believe this will be a great opportunity for him plus provide us Armalite owners with a much-needed and way-overdue mod for our rifles. Simply put, no more “STANAG or Armalite” mags, just put a slit in a standard STANAG, PMAG or any of the dozens of other mags and it’ll function in the Armalite AND M16/M4/STANAG platform with a simple slit cut in the right-side mag body.
The poll would be simple…
“YES, I would buy this and maybe prepay”
“Yes, I like the idea but want to wait to see how it turns out (price, availability, quality)”
“No, I like being limited to overpriced, rare mags or modifying others to where they can’t be used in any other rifle”
Chuck might be on to one of the best mods to happen to the AR18/180 since it went to market. If we can put up a poll so he can see the interest, I’m sure he’ll move this up his “to do” list.
Thanks and thanks for the site and reviving the AR18/180 legacy!
~Eric, proud owner of a 1982 “widow-maker”

Please comment and let me know what you think of the idea.

July 8, 2015

Full Auto AR-180 Conversion on Gunbroker

I was alerted to this interesting full auto AR-180 conversion by a reader and I contacted the seller to get more information. I had assumed that all conversions used the same system as the AR-18 but my research shows that there are many different ways to get the job done.

Gunbroker

This particular gun also brings to light the crazy gun laws that we have to deal with and in particular those surrounding full auto guns in Connecticut.

First lets see how an AR-18 worked.

You can see in this picture that the upper receiver has two tabs that retain the auto sear. A link is attached to the sear that rides along the bottom of the upper and is tripped by the bolt carrier. The sear acts upon the rear of the hammer. The hammer is different than the one used on an AR-180 as is the disconnector, bolt carrier, and firing pin.

This conversion goes about it in a completely different way.

This conversion is on a Howa AR-180 and it has a sear that acts on the front of the hammer. It appears to have a pivot added to the front of the fire control box and you can just make out the pin location in the picture above. The sear has a tail that is tripped by a piece that was welded on to the bolt carrier. It uses all the original 180 fire control parts with the exception of the disconnector and the safety. The 180 firing pin is also retained.

I wonder if this is how the Widowmaker conversions were done?

Now for the Connecticut twist on this story. It appears that those who drafted their assault weapons ban tried to get machine guns classified as assault weapons and in doing so, left the door open for guns that are full auto only. You can’t own a registered select fire weapon (one that fires Safe/Semi/Full) but you can have a papaered Full auto machine gun (Safe/Full). This gun is one such animal. For those that live in other states, it can be converted back to a select fire configuration.

Please feel free to comment about any conversions you have come across. I think this is a very cool part of the history of the AR-180.

June 30, 2015

Armalite AR-180 Serial and Production Numbers

I feel a bit remis that I have not covered some of the more basic information for collectors on the Armalite AR-180 serial and production numbers.

I have been trying to verify this information through other sources but so far I have come up empty handed, so here is what I have been able to find.

Production began in July 1969 in Costa Mesa CA and continued till 1972. Howa production was from 1970-1974. Sterling production was from 1979-1985.
Costa Mesa rifles
S0001-S0012 July 1969 12 rifles
S0014-S0050 no date 37 rifles
S0030 no date 1 rifle
S0077 no date 1 rifle
S0101-S4067 no date 3967 rifle
TOTAL 4018 rifles

Howa rifles
X000001-X000012 Oct 1970 12 rifles
S000001-S001000 no date 1000 rifles
S10001-S12915 Feb 1974 2915 rifles
TOTAL 3927 rifles

Sterling rifles
S15001-S27363 1979-1985 12,362 rifles

The first 1000 Howa rifles had the serial number on the upper and the flash hiders have matching serial numbers on them.

Total production was 20,307 not all of which were imported to the US. Some were also exported to Ireland and there has been some attrition as well. I estimate something like 15,000 to 17,000 left in the US.

Quite rare when you compare them to even Colt SP1 numbers which approach 225,000 not to mention the number of M16’s made.