Few things in our world have been around for 70 years but the AR15 is one of them. In this video Basecamp takes a look at exactly why the AR15 has stood the test of time and why it hasn’t been able to be replaced.
This video is for historical and educational purposes. No gun sales.
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SOOOO many reasons the AR15, rather 5.56/.223 IS DYING! Thank God. Its overrated, and doesnt hold up to modern threats like China. I will argue anyone with facts and watch you melt like a freaking liberal and resort to name calling. Watch me be right.. twice.
The AR15 has been around for so long because there is not really anything, mechanically, that makes it obsolete. Sure, different rifles are around, but they're not a radical enough improvement to justify the cost of switching over, and the current models can be improved for a lower cost.
You got a new subscriber ❤
Best of all it makes liberals feel inferior
Folding stocks 🫤 can’t hammer someone head in with a folding stock
Ar15 is the best it’s like a Lego set plug and play any barrel match with a proper mag and run any ammunition
The Germans still use the mg42 and the us with the MaDuce
4:08 there’s actually some absolutely insane politicking involved with the military service rifles and just Springfield Armory (the original government owned company) being a massive obstacle for anyone other than themselves.
Wendigoon has a great video about the attempted sabotage of the AR platform during Vietnam.
"if you believe in that" yes I believe the moon landing happened. If there's a type of a person who thinks it didn't happen….then they shouldn't own an AR, a car, heck they should stay away from alcohol. And seek therapy. But yes the AR rifle is probably the best weapon ever made by humans. One of the reasons it is around for so long is because it actually isn't the same. The AR that your father or grand father had that in Vietnam isn't the same rifle that you used in Iraq. It has mutated so much. And it has that natural ability to do so. Why because its a centerline rifle. I.e everything is designed from the top of the rifle to the bottom it's symmetric. That gives it flexibility to adapt.
You talk about this in your video (briefly) the training aspect of the AR platform is absolutely the largest single factor in its longevity.
We’ve used it for a generation, the manual of arms is second nature.
I personally believe there are a ton of pros for a bullpup redesign, I think the biggest reason we won’t build a new better rifle is because the importance of our infantry rifles is diminishing.
It was critically important in GWOT and in Low Intensity Conflicts generally because we were handcuffing our military and forcing small units to fight one on one with a similarly outfitted enemy.
In peer to peer conflict the quality of the individual infantryman’s rifle is much less important (allowing it’s good enough to be lethal). For example the Germans possessed by order of magnitude better small arms weapons in WWII, but what won that war for the allies was industrial capacity, and logistical superiority. Not as sexy as a new rifle but if I’m the one allocating funds to modernize a military (US or otherwise) a new service weapon is extremely low on my list.
The M2 50 cal 1918 -now
As a fellow noticer. I have subscribed.
It's slowly reaching a point where firearm design is basically bumping up against the limitations of physics, honestly. I'm no engineer but I rolled a few design tweaks around my head for a while, and eventually had to admit defeat; unless you are willing to accept a heavier front end, stronger recoil impulses or both, there's really just not a lot that can be done to meaningfully improve the AR platform until we achieve infantry level energy weapons. Which kinda leaves us with improvements of ammo as you said, and chemistry was one of my worst subjects in school.
Funny thing a lot of Arabs that used to be armed with AK47’s are now running around with AR15’s
How about the M-1911, and the M-2?
The AR is almost perfect, that is why it can’t be replaced, it can just be fine tuned. The 5.56 can penetrate most body armour, if it can’t that is what the AR10 is for.
Same reason the door knob hasn’t changed
I was just getting ready to subscribe but you're hating on Israel 🇮🇱
The longevity of the AR platform is due to its inherently modular design. When it was designed all other designs where not modular and required machine work to modify them. With the AR design you can easily swap parts.
And because of this modularity we have the AR15 and AR10 variants and within each of these variants we have…..50 different cartridges that the platform can handle. We have DI guns, short stroke piston, long stroke piston and even CMMGs radial delayed blowback and their compact action which uses DI but without a buffer tube.
In the end it's a choose your own adventure platform where you can pick the action type, pick the cartridge and mount whatever optics and accessories you want all while keeping the same manual of arms.
The ultimate general combat AR will likely be a short stroke piston, for reliability with a supressor, despite the negative tradeoffs in weight and recoil. Sized between an AR15 and AR10. And chambered in a mid-sized cartridge in 6 to 6.5 mm using a high pressure hybrid cartridge. Something akin to a 6mm ARC at 80k psi but with a bolt head larger than that of a standard AR15 so you have more bolthead around the base of the cartridge than you currently have with the 6 ARC.
M2 Browning HMG want to speak to you about longevity. I will fly one over on a B-52 to show you.
Would cost too much to design a new rifle and train our troops on it, considering we’ve been using the AR-15 platform for way too long