[nvrquit]

Has anyone on this board actually purchasd AND fired an Armalite AR180B?

I got to handle one at a show a few months back, but didn't buy it, as the funds were/are limited and other items are further up on the "wants" list.

Thanks for any feedback!

[Badger Arms]

Do a search on www.thefiringline.com and you'll find a few people with the guns. I haven't seen them on the auction boards in a while.

[Oleg Volk]

At $675, they cost too close to an AR15 for me to get into yet another manual of arms...

Pluses: handle well, light, sling swivel on the pistol grip.

Minuses: no heat shields in the handguard, though that might not matter much; crude-looking rear sight detent spring, round front sight, no manual bolt lock-back unless you want to poke inside the receiver with your fingers, muzzle brake.

[Dave Markowitz]

I shot one belonging to a friend last year. It was love at first shot, so to speak. I liked it much better than the AR-15 type rifles. I'm gonna get one, Real Soon Now.

[BucksDC]

I had one of the first to roll off the lines. Nice shooter. Very light. Super quick and easy to clean!! Looked good. But, my front sight was canted enough to where I could just bairly zero in the rifle with rear windage cranked all way over. My upper and lower had sloppy play and the cheesy plastic stock and forend and grip looked cheap.
I sold it for 200 more than I paid for it. But, it is a rifle that I miss on more than one occasion. My RRA AR is much nicer, but for a beater rifle with good accuracy and ease of maintainence, The 180B can't be beat. I WILL get another one day.
If you have fun money, get it. If it's a choice between this rifle and an AR 15, go for the AR15.
Good Luck let us know and show Pics. Maybe I will have to buy anothersooner than expected.

[Kor]

I own an AR180B, and I am quite fond of it.

Pro: Very light, excellent reliability over about 500rds so far, field-strips easily, receiver stays VERY clean due to gas piston instead of direct-gas operation, takes several AR parts(I installed Trijicon AR15 night sights on mine), handles nicely.

Cons:
- After long strings of rapid fire, smoke from the gas system billows up and obscures the front sight(may need to try different ammo)
- HARD trigger out of the box(I've stoned my hammer/trigger, which helps, and will eventually install match-type AR trigger parts)
- The bolt carrier on my rifle would shave metal from the feed lips of certain magazines until I stoned down the offending edges
- The feed ramps still bore sharp edges from the manufacturing process which scratched the bullets on live rounds that I hand-cycled through the action
- Mediocre accuracy(which may be due to the heavy trigger, or the bullet-scratching from the feed-ramps)
- My rifle zeros with the rear aperture ALMOST all the way over to the right, but the front sight base can be rotated to the left to remediate that - just loosen the two allen-bolts on the base slightly, rotate, re-tighten, and sight-in again.

Although my AR180B isn't a "one-hole wonder," I can ring an 8" gong from 100yds with every shot in the magazine, and that's just fine with me.

[bad_dad_brad]

They don't exist. My Armalite dealer could not get one - still can't.

I wanted one to replace my Mini-14. Got impatient.

Now the proud owner of a solid Bushy AR15 Shorty 16" A2.

Glad I was impatient. Ecstatic even.

$825 for the AR15 - $675 for the AR180B - only $150 bucks - a no brainer.