TECHNICAL NOTE 101: VISUAL DIFFERENCES AMONG
M15, AR-10A, AND AR-10B COMPONENTS
Armalite AR-10A versus AR-10B
The AR-10A family of
ArmaLite® firearms is functionally identical to our AR-10B family. Operation, controls, and maintenance are the same. However, the AR-10A family is designed to accept early ArmaLite AR-10 “Waffle” magazines and good quality magazines copied from them, instead of ArmaLite’s proprietary aluminum magazines that are used in our AR-10B family. Neither family of firearms will function correctly with the other family’s magazines.
The AR-10B magazine is based on the magazine of the famed M-14 rifle. This magazine was adopted during the period of the “Assault Weapons Ban”, during which new Waffle magazines couldn’t be legally produced. The AR-10B magazine has proven to be as supremely successful in the AR-10B as its predecessor was in the M-14, and ArmaLite will continue to offer it.
We have tested, we recommend, and we ship polymer Magpul PMAG® 20LR magazines with our AR-10As. Other similar derivative magazines such as the KAC, M110, and DPMS / Remington 19 round magazines may fit and may function, but we have not tested them so we can’t assess their reliability. You can purchase extra PMAG®s from our website.