Quick Gunnie Question

I can call my S&W1911 a “1911” even tho it isn’t a Colt, and Tanfoglio is well known for making “Cz-75 Clones”, People call every 5-shot small-frame revolvers “J-Frames”, and all these .223/6.8/.300 Blackout rifles are “AR-15s” or “M4-style” guns.

But you can’t say “AR-10” because that’s a term reserved by Armalite, even tho everybody these days is making a long-action AR-rifle.

Why is that? Did Stoner just decide that THAT copyright name was worth holding on to?

This entry was posted in Guns. Bookmark the permalink.

0 Responses to Quick Gunnie Question

  1. bluesun says:

    As far as I can tell from my research when I was buying a (to use the correct term, as far as I can tell) “AR-10 Style” rifle, the answer to your question is… “yes.” And boy, do the people on the 308 AR forum get worked up about it, too.

  2. I may be speaking out my ass (hey it happens), but I think there is a much larger difference in the opporation of the origional AR-10 and the current crop of “AR-10 Style” rifles than there is between the origional AR-15/M-16 and the current glut of copycats. The AR-10 didn’t have the AR-15 style charging handle like the current “AR-10 Style” rifles do for instance. The current “AR-10 Style” rifles are more like big AR-15s than they are AR-10s.

    Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s all mental masturbation and people should get over it. If you and I had a conversation about an “AR-10 Style” rifle, I’m sure one of us would eventually get annoyed at all the air quotes and sooner or later, someone would get punched in the nose (or maybe it’s just me that gets annoyed by that). So for both our noses sake, calling them all AR-10s is fine with me.

    s

  3. John Bernard Books says:

    Heh! Even though everybody else calls them 1911s, Colt doesn’t call their pistols that.

  4. John Bernard Books says:

    Other than the Commemorative model…..

  5. Knitebane says:

    I just call ’em poodle shooters or Stonerware.

  6. MattW says:

    It looks like AR-15 is trademarked by Colt Defense, first use in 1964 and renewed in 2010.

    AR-10 is trademarked by Arma-Lite in 1996

    • MattW says:

      And to finish my train of thought, Colt obviously isnt as hung up on enforcing their trademark as long as another company doesnt use it to market a firearm.

      I learned that ArmaLite had financial problems after developing the AR-15, which is why they sold it to Colt. Never knew that!

  7. McThag says:

    Armalite is who cared about it and demanded everyone else come up with their own name for essentially identical rifles.

    Colt is allowing AR-15 to become the generic term, like Murphy Bed.

    There really isn’t anything in common between the original AR-10 and anything made today, except most of them will take the original magazine. Rock River and Armalite don’t.

    In most cases if you search for a given maker and “AR-10” google takes you right to them.

  8. Wally says:

    1) Because the Armalite AR-10 has many parts that do not interchange with the other 308 AR type rifles on the market.
    2) Because Armalite didn’t want their products slighted when someone cussed at their poor performing 308-AR type rifle.
    And for the contrary,
    3) Armalite today isn’t Armalite of old. There is also a ton of incompatability with original AR-10 rifles, and even through current-type AR10 production there have been a few hard part changeovers that again have compatability issues.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *