https://gunlab.net/sunday-answer-4-5-15/ Adventures in gun building! Sat, 11 Apr 2026 23:49:22 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.41 https://gunlab.net/sunday-answer-4-5-15/#comment-9810 Mon, 06 Apr 2015 02:39:40 +0000 http://gunlab.net/?p=3174#comment-9810 The AR18 was one of Eugene Stoner’s better designs. It was designed to be less labor intensive then the M16 and set up for a much more rapid fabrication process. The major components of the receiver as well as the hammer, trigger and disconnectors were all designed to be stamped out on high speed sheet metal dies. The piston gas system is much more reliable then the M16’s and can be fired much longer between cleanings. In my opinion the two worse feature of the rife were lack of a STANAG magazine [it uses a proprietary magazine release] and the fact that it’s folding stock is flimsy [really a joke!]. Stoner would have better served his customers to have the stock [either wood or polymer] bolted solidly into a nut welded on the rear of the lower receiver. Also there are alternative folding stocks such as on the Galil, the AK47, the Daewoo K2 that are much more robust then the AR18. The lack of a STANAG magazine was the main reasons for this rifle’s commercial failure in my opinion.

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