ArmaLite

Uncommon card · No. 140575

ArmaLite, or Armalite, was an American small arms engineering company, formed in the early 1950s in Hollywood, California. It ceased doing business in the 1980s, though the brand was revived in 1996, by Mark Westrom. Many of Armalite's products, as conceived by chief designer Eugene Stoner, relied on unique foam-filled fiberglass butt/stock furniture and a composite barrel using a steel liner inside an aluminum sleeve, including the iconic AR-15/M16 family. Originating as the light firearms division of Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation, ArmaLite was formally incorporated in 1954. Stoner's first design, the AR-1 Parasniper (dating from 1952), was relatively unsuccessful. However, in 1956, when ArmaLite competed in a contest for an aircrew survival rifle, its AR-5 and AR-7 designs were put into production and adopted by elements of the US military. In 1957, ArmaLite also competed for the contract for a new main US combat rifle, in the NATO standard 7.62×51mm NATO caliber, with its...

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