AR-180B Return

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mcorbei3

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As some of you may know ArmaLite has recently been brought under new management, and may be considering revival of the AR-180B. If they were to bring it back would you get one? And how do you think it would be worth?
 
I would consider one if they came back, but not at the prices that we were being gouged by dealers for them here in Canada. It is sad that they were sub $1000 guns in the States and they were being flogged up here for almost twice that.
 
Sub $1000 would make it something I would consider. They're currently going for about $1600 used so it would be nice to see new production priced far lower.
 
Aluminum or steel lower.
Front sight that doesn't require twisting the gas block on the barrel for zeroing.
Proper rail on receiver.
The AR-18/180 was designed to be inexpensive. That isn't the same as cheap.
 
mcorbei3 said:
As some of you may know ArmaLite has recently been brought under new management, and may be considering revival of the AR-180B. If they were to bring it back would you get one? And how do you think it would be worth?
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I would if they ditch the ####ty plastic lower and replace it with aluminum.

I was looking at them recently until i realized that this POS had a plastic lower.
 
The original rifles used a pressed steel lower receiver. Either that or aluminum would be preferable to the plastic.

There was also the AR-16, which was a 7.62x51 prototype, predating the AR-18 in 5.56x45. I suspect that a version of the AR-16 would sell very well.
 
saskcop said:
I would consider one if they came back, but not at the prices that we were being gouged by dealers for them here in Canada. It is sad that they were sub $1000 guns in the States and they were being flogged up here for almost twice that.
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They were $999.99 CDN back in '07 were they not?
 
tiriaq said:
The original rifles used a pressed steel lower receiver. Either that or aluminum would be preferable to the plastic.

There was also the AR-16, which was a 7.62x51 prototype, predating the AR-18 in 5.56x45. I suspect that a version of the AR-16 would sell very well.
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Good to hear that its doable economically speaking.

A plastic lower is totally unacceptable.

00aught said:
Don't you have a t97? With a thin piece of plastic covering your face? :stirthepot2::D
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A T90 what ? maybe i dont own any firearms. Who knows.

Still on this particular model, according to the pictures i've seen, these are dust covers and hand guards. Nothing like the whole frame.
 
tiriaq said:
The original rifles used a pressed steel lower receiver. Either that or aluminum would be preferable to the plastic.

There was also the AR-16, which was a 7.62x51 prototype, predating the AR-18 in 5.56x45. I suspect that a version of the AR-16 would sell very well.
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^^^this^^^ with an 18.5" barrel for under $1000 and I would be in!
 
Rick911 said:
I would if they ditch the ####ty plastic lower and replace it with aluminum.

I was looking at them recently until i realized that this POS had a plastic lower.
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There's nothing actually wrong with the polymer lower. It was reinforced by steel plates, and the issues with it cracking at the front takedown pin were caused by a bad batch of polymer/mishandling.
 
Ar180shooter said:
There`s nothing actually wrong with the polymer lower. It was reinforced by steel plates, and the issues with it cracking at the front takedown pin were caused by a bad batch of polymer/mishandling.
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Ya sure.

Give me a metal lower and we wont have to speak about this anymore.

Anyways just saying that i won't be considering one if they produce them with polymer lowers.
 
Ar180shooter said:
There's nothing actually wrong with the polymer lower. It was reinforced by steel plates, and the issues with it cracking at the front takedown pin were caused by a bad batch of polymer/mishandling.
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Plastic certainly can be used for receivers. If properly designed. Obviously the design was flawed.
Cost effective design and production is one thing. Cheap is another.
 
tiriaq said:
Plastic certainly can be used for receivers. If properly designed. Obviously the design was flawed.
Cost effective design and production is one thing. Cheap is another.
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Look in to the issue more thoroughly. Reportedly, the broken lowers were from a bad batch of polymer, and ArmaLite claims that they had not seen receivers breaking outside of the admitted bad batch. I have not seen anyone able to contradict this claim with any evidence whatsoever, so I have no choice other than to accept ArmaLite at its word. I know when I had my 180b, I put it through some heavy use and had no issues. I know of many other members here who did the same, all without issue. Now disregarding instances of serious abuse, I find it unlikely that given a properly manufactured lower, there would be issues.

This isn't to say that there isn't room for improvement, because there is... and I would expect ArmaLite to at the minimum reinforce the front takedown pin area if they decide to re-boot the 180b with polymer lower... but to dismiss a polymer lower out of hand is an archaic view.
 
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Quality control, materials or design? If a person has a broken receiver, it doesn't make much difference. The 18s and 180s didn't have the problem.

There is certainly a market for these rifles. The new owners would be in a position to avoid problems like this.
 
Ar180shooter said:
That was the issue according to ArmaLite, unless you have some evidence otherwise...
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Can't prove by the negative, you'll (or Armalite) have to show evidence that what you are talking about is the cause.

All you provided is hearsay.

One thing is for sure, metal lower won't crack.
 
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