Image credit
- Title
- AR-15 Type Rifle in Wall Mount
- Author
- Noah Wulf(attribution required)
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AR-15_Type_Rifle_in_Wall_Mount.jpg
How Muzzle energy is calculated
E = ½ · m · v²
Not calculated: v has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Muzzle velocity is calculated
no sourced velocity for this load
Not calculated: muzzle velocity has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
How Loaded mass is calculated
m_loaded = m_empty + m_magazine + n · m_cartridge
Not calculated: m_empty has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- One magazine, filled to the stated capacity. Spare magazines, optics, slings and lights are the owner’s, not the arm’s.
2 of 4 inputs link to their source.
How Free recoil is calculated
E_recoil = ½ · m_firearm · v_recoil²
Not calculated: m_firearm has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Propellant gas momentum is excluded: ARMAG does not record charge weights (SPEC.md §14). This is therefore a lower bound on the real free recoil, consistent between entries but smaller than a figure that includes the gas term.
- Free recoil: the arm is unrestrained. Stock design, muzzle devices, stance and shooter mass are not modelled, because none of them is a property of the arm.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
How Capacity is calculated
as published for the primary chambering
Inputs
- capacity30verifiedsourceThe STANAG 4179 magazine the platform was standardised around.
1 of 1 inputs link to their source.
Derived figures
Computed from the sourced values above. Open ƒ on any figure for the formula, its inputs, and the assumptions it makes.
How Momentum is calculated
p = m · v
Not calculated: v has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sectional density is calculated
SD = mass(gr) / (7000 · diameter(in)²)
Inputs
- mass4.018 g62.01 grverifiedsource62 gr as published, converted to grams.
- diameter5.7 mm0.2244 inestimatedsourceNo free NATO dimensional standard is published. The C.I.P. datasheet for the .223 Remington, which shares this bullet, gives a cartridge-maximum bullet diameter of 5.70 mm.
Assumptions
- Reported in the conventional lb/in² so it is directly comparable with published figures.
2 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Power factor is calculated
PF = mass(gr) · velocity(fps) / 1000
Not calculated: velocity has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- A competition classification defined by the IPSC and USPSA rulebooks, stated in their units. It describes a scoring category, not an effect.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Magazine dump is calculated
t = (n − 1) / (rpm / 60)
Not calculated: rpm has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Cyclic rate held for the whole magazine, no stoppages, trigger held down. A theoretical figure for comparing mechanisms, not a measured one.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sight error at 1 mm is calculated
θ = atan(misalignment / sight radius)
Not calculated: sight radius has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Shows what a stated aiming error costs. The misalignment is the reader’s figure; the site does not claim how well anyone aims.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
Specifications
Every row here is generated from the schema, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table — and the same rows, read the same way, are what the comparison shows.
Identity
- Type
- not recorded
- Action
- not recorded
- Fire modes
- not recorded
- Operating system
- not recorded
- Roles
- not recorded
- Designed in
- United States
- Produced in
- Introduced
- 1963
- Production
- not recorded
Dimensions and mass
- Mass, empty
- not recorded
- Magazine, empty
- not recorded
- Length
- not recorded
- Length, folded
- not recorded
- Width
- not recorded
- Height
- not recorded
- Barrel length
- not recorded
Sights and rifling
- Sight radius
- not recorded
- Sight height over bore
- not recorded
- Rifling twist
- not recorded
- Twist direction
- not recorded
- Grooves
- not recorded
- Sight graduation
- not recorded
Operation
- Cyclic rate
- not recorded
- Trigger pull
- not recorded
- Effective range
- not recorded
- Units produced
- not recorded
- Launch price
- not recorded
Chamberings
- 5.56x45mm NATOprimary30 rounds
- .223 Remington30 rounds
Scale
A to-scale outline against family siblings. The dimensions are sourced; the shape is a representative outline for the type, and says so.
- Colt M4 Carbine838.2 mm33.00 inheight not recorded
- Heckler & Koch HK4161,030 mm40.55 inheight not recorded
- La France M16K673.1 mm26.50 inheight not recorded
Representative outline — the dimensions are sourced, the shape is not. Overall length, and barrel length where recorded, are drawn from this entry's own figures; the profile is a generic one for the firearm type and says nothing about this arm's actual contours. Colt M4 Carbine, Heckler & Koch HK416, La France M16K record no height, so their outline is drawn at the type's proportion — that height is part of the shape, not a measurement.
Not drawn: AR-15 platform (no sourced overall length).
Lineage
What came from it
- Derivatives AR-57
- Derivatives Heckler & Koch HK416
Gallery
Image credit
- Title
- Mitch Barrie - flickr - AR-15 stripped lower receivers
- Author
- Mitch Barrie(attribution required)
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 2.0
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mitch_Barrie_-_flickr_-_AR-15_stripped_lower_receivers.jpg
Image credit
- Title
- AR-15 Bolt Carrier Group (BCG)
- Author
- Tony Webster(attribution required)
- Licence
- CC BY 2.0
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AR-15_Bolt_Carrier_Group_(BCG).jpg
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Detail
This is a platform page, not a product page. Nobody manufactures an AR-15 platform; hundreds of companies manufacture rifles that conform to it, and the reason the conformity holds is that the interfaces were fixed by a military specification and then never protected. Eugene Stoner’s design passed from ArmaLite to Colt in 1959 and Colt’s patents ran out; the magazine well, the barrel extension, the buffer tube thread and the receiver pin spacing became a de facto open standard that any machine shop could work to.
The consequence is a market shaped like no other in small arms. An upper receiver from one company sits on a lower from another, both feed from a magazine specified by a NATO agreement, and the serialised part in United States law is the lower receiver, which contains no barrel and fires nothing on its own.
The entries grouped here are computed from the family reference on each one. Nothing on this page owns them: Colt’s M4 carbine and Smith & Wesson’s M&P15 are separate arms from separate makers, and this page records only what they have in common.
References
This entry's own bibliography. Every citation key on this page resolves into this list.
- AR-15 style rifle · 1370121593 · read 2026-08-27 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Last verified 2026-08-27 · review status: spot-checked