An Armalite rifle (AR) is one of a series of rifles the
ArmaLite
ArmaLite, or Armalite, is an American small arms engineering company, formed in the early 1950s in Hollywood, California. Many of its products, as conceived by chief designer Eugene Stoner, relied on unique foam-filled fiberglass butt/stock fur ...
company made or, more generally, a rifle based on one of its designs, such as the
ArmaLite AR-15
The ArmaLite AR-15 is a gas-operated assault rifle manufactured in the United States between 1959 and 1964. Designed by American gun manufacturer ArmaLite in 1956, it was based on its AR-10 rifle. The ArmaLite AR-15 was designed to be a lightw ...
rifle.
Eugene Stoner
Eugene Morrison Stoner (November 22, 1922 – April 24, 1997) was an American machinist and firearms designer who is most associated with the development of the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle that was redesigned and modified by Colt's Manufacturing Compan ...
, Jacques Michault,
Melvin Johnson, Robert Fremont, and
Jim Sullivan are some of the designers credited with their development. In the United States, these rifles are generally known by their model numbers. The AR before the model number stands for "ArmaLite Rifle".
References
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Rifles by manufacturer
Assault rifles