When did 16" AR carbines become popular?

[Jimmybacon43]

I'm curious about when and why the 16" AR15 carbine with a telescoping stock became more popular than the longer barreled fixed stock versions.

Was it when the Army switched to the M4?

Or was it when the movie black hawk down came out?

I'm assuming that 16" carbines became popular to emulate the military and "special forces"

Don't get me wrong I appreciate the 16" carbines as great rifles and the ultimate in home defense firepower, just curious as to how they came about.

BONUS QUESTION: When did AR15's become popular? I know now that they are basically ubiquitous, everybody has at least one, most popular rifle in America.

Was it always this way? When civilian AR15's were first released were they as widely appreciated as they are now? Or was it something that only "weirdos" and "gun nuts" had?

[toddh]

I'm curious about when and why the 16" AR15 carbine with a telescoping stock became more popular than the longer barreled fixed stock versions.

Was it when the Army switched to the M4?

Or was it when the movie black hawk down came out?

I'm assuming that 16" carbines became popular to emulate the military and "special forces"

Don't get me wrong I appreciate the 16" carbines as great rifles and the ultimate in home defense firepower, just curious as to how they came about.

BONUS QUESTION: When did AR15's become popular? I know now that they are basically ubiquitous, everybody has at least one, most popular rifle in America.

Was it always this way? When civilian AR15's were first released were they as widely appreciated as they are now? Or was it something that only "weirdos" and "gun nuts" had?

What does wiki, google, bing, and yahoo say ??


.

[fighterpilot562]

What does wiki, google, bing, and yahoo say ??


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To ask OT.

[Jimmybacon43]

What does wiki, google, bing, and yahoo say ??


.

I tried entering it into google and this is the message I received

Go home Jimmybacon, you're drunk

It wasn't too helpful, so now I'm asking calguns.

[as_rocketman]

Ever heard of the Colt Commando?

Shorter and lighter is almost always a selling point. Few users notice any benefit from barrels longer than 16", and fewer still once optics come into the picture and eliminate one of the three advantages (sight radius).

As for emulating special forces or whatnot, I don't think that enters into the picture, possibly excepting the "M4 cut" you see on a lot of 16" barrels. That's just silly.

[elsolo]

They were using cold commandos in the late 60's and they have shorter barrels than m4's

[bohoki]

i noticed a changeover around 1993 i personally blame olympic arms they seemed to make loads of carbines
eagle arms and bushmaster was seemed to be making around 60/40 a2 to carbine a slang term for them was (commando)or they called them a car (nobody called them m4 yet)

the ar-15 was just one of many spiffy assaultish looking guns today it seems at least 80% of the market
its funny i have a hypothesis that the 1991 non-sporting import ban pretty much assured that the ar-15 design would rise to the top

[ar15robert]

I bought my armalite in 98 even around then the shortys where often on the shelfs too.I could have bought one but chose the 20 inch version.Seems like to me around then i began seeing more appearing at the ranges as well.

Im still old style as i prefer my non collapsable stock and round handguards on my 20 inch version over the newer tacticoool stuff.But atleast mine does not require them bullet buttons

[NIB]

I bought my 16" AR with collapsible stock in 1993 and I use to see them during the 80s at gunshops. For the most part you could only get ARs in two barrel lengths through out much of it's existence to civilians, 20" and 16". Only in the past 10 years or so after the AWB sunset have people really started into shorter barrels for AR pistols and SBRs.

I will say that the movie Black Hawk Down did give a little more credence to the tacticoolness accessories craze. Aimpoints and weapon lights were not as popular I think mostly because they were so expensive in those days. Post Black Hawk Down movie and 9/11, people started to really get into red dot sights and weapon lights mostly due to the people getting into the preparedness mindset.

In a way the movie did add to the popularity of the 16" collapsable stock AR just as much as it did to the scoped M1-A1 and the 1911s carried by Shughart and Gordon in the movie.

[k1dude]

I think they exploded onto the scene when 14.5" were required to be pinned and welded. 16" met the requirement without pinning and welding.

[russ69]

I don't know the actual date, sometime in the mid seventies, I think. The Wiki page is incomplete. I know because I bought the first one I saw (AR15 SP1 Carbine) and the first one the gun shop had ever seen. Back then AR15s were not very popular probably because of the flimsy triangular handguard and light weight barrel. I don't think Colt sold many civilian AR15s until the mid seventies. I think the list price for a standard Colt AR15 was under 300 dollars (my 1966 Gun Digest shows the list price of 189.50, by 1977 the price was 297.50). Only military buffs were interested and they were not yet used by civilians for highpower shooting. Some Colt expert can come along and give the details I have forgotten.
The main attraction for the carbine was the compact size, the new round handguard, and the lightweight 16 inch barrel. Colt slowly improved the AR15 rifle over the years and by the time the AR15A2 came out, the popularity of military styled rifles was in full swing.

[carrywisely_ca]

I have seen information that suggests the AR was designed for a 20" bbl & that the 18" dissipator rifles we a bit problematic because the full-length gas system malfunctioned more when the barrel length was reduced. Mid length 16" rifles offered a decent sight radius, lighter weapons, while minimizing the loss of range & velocities and improving reliability over 18" dissipator configurations.
As someone (K1Dude) noted, federal laws on 16" barrels contributed to the popularity.

to add to this wonderful discussion...What is the advantage and disadvantage of the 10" barrel compared to a 16".

[russ69]

I have seen information that suggests the AR was designed for a 20" bbl & that the 18" dissipator rifles we a bit problematic because the full-length gas system malfunctioned more when the barrel length was reduced. Mid length 16" rifles offered a decent sight radius, lighter weapons, while minimizing the loss of range & velocities and improving reliability over 18" dissipator configurations....

16 inch carbines were out in the public's hands long before anybody was making 18 inch guns. The Colts were 100% reliable and the issue magazines ran flawlessly.

[FourT6and2]

Military uses 14.5" barrels. But those don't meet the legal minimum length requirement for civilian use. So that's why 16" barrels are popular. Unless you want to permanently pin/weld a muzzle device onto a shorter barrel. That's really the only reason.

[syntaxerror]

The media, really. You can blame it on T.V., movies, and video games.