• fubo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You write:

    Neither the Colt AR-15, nor the ArmaLite AR-15 have ever been used “on battlefields”.

    However, Wikipedia disagrees, citing use of the AR-15 by South Vietnam:

    In October 1961, William Godel, a senior man at the Advanced Research Projects Agency, sent 10 AR-15s to South Vietnam. The reception was enthusiastic, and in 1962, another 1,000 AR-15s were sent.

    • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      That is accurate, but it glosses over the designation change. It is noted in the same article:

      Colt continued to use the AR-15 trademark for its line of semi-automatic-only rifles marketed to civilian and law-enforcement customers, known as Colt AR-15. The Armalite AR-15 is the parent of a variety of Colt AR-15 and M16 rifle variants.

      The version of the AR-15 that was sent overseas in 1961 was fully automatic. The trademark was retained for semi-automatic rifles and there are functional differences in the rifles mentioned.

      Yes, it was titled as an AR-15, but it was not a civilian version. The difference is fully automatic vs. semi-automatic here, names aside.