My new old Armalite AR-180!

[Bullnettles]

Wow, you got pretty lucky no one heard you. I, for one, wouldn't turn you in for a chance to rattle some off . In all seriousness, I think you made a wise decision, even if Big Brother is wrong.

 

[Maverick223]

Perhaps it is a simple fix that the local smith could repair. I would give it a shot before waving goodbye, but barring that I believe you have made a good decision.

 

[nwilliams]

Before taking the gun into the shop I decided to break it all down and take a look at it. Everything seems to be functioning fine, the FCG seems to be in good working order and I couldn't find any broken or seemingly tampered with parts.

One thing I noticed when I took the gas piston assembly apart was that the hole where the gas comes out was absolutely caked over in carbon. I'm wondering if not enough gas pressure was coming through the gas port to cause the bolt to cycle back far enough for the hammer to lock back?

One thing I did notice on the range was that the shell casing were not landing very far away, most of them flew out about a foot or two. I'm really starting to wonder now if the issue could be resolved by some heavy cleaning of the gas port!

I really hate to give up on this rifle, if the problem is simply that gun needs a good heavy cleaning then maybe I don't need to get rid of it.

 

[Maverick223]

Definitely clean it first, that is a peculiar issue, but certainly worth a shot. Good luck...

 

[gunnie]

didja check to make sure the firing pin isn't stuck/sticking in a forward position with mung and spooh? a pin in the back of the bolt carrier pushes out to the side to remove the firing pin for cleaning.

gunnie

 

[nwilliams]

Well I took the gun out and put 200 round through it this afternoon. The first 80 rounds or so seem to work fine, it didn't have any issues. However as I started getting optimistic that the issue had been resolved the same problem started but more intermittently.

I took the gun back to the gun shop and the owner did a return sale on it for me. The gunsmith at the shop looked at it and believed that the problem was in the disconnector or one of the springs, he seemed to think it was the recoil of the rifle causing it to go off so it was more or less bump firing. When he described it as bump firing it dawned on me, that's exactly what it felt like! He said that he would work on it and see if he could figure it out.

The gun is no longer legally mine, the shop took it off my hands which is a relief. However the shop owner said that once they think they have it fixed and after they thoroughly test it out I was welcome to have it back. I'm not sure if I really want it back to be honest, even if they tell me that it's fixed I'll always be paranoid every time I pull the trigger at the range. I think I'm just use the money I have on account now towards something else.

 

[jhco]

I love my sterling

 

[Orlando]

I Have a Sterling and cant imagine how you could "accidently" bump fire it unless the rifle has other problems

 

[TonyRumore]

Orlando, is that an orginal Armalite scope on there?

I have had four different AR180's in the past. I only have one 1973 vintage one now.....scored for $600 bucks.

Original Armalite scopes are very hard to come by.

Tony

 

[Orlando]

Yes it is, came on the rifle. I bought the combo a few months back for $1000.00

 

[AmEngRifles]

nwillaims, I understand your predicament. The hard part about owning one of these rifles, is there is almost no supply line for spares. The good thing is most are very robust and don't break down often. I have a Costa Mesa only a few hundred behind yours and it works great. Just had it to the range a few weeks back and went through 100 rounds with no issues. Yours may have simply been a case of some weak springs, as the rifle is now over 40 years old! But I also understand, that like a cheating woman, once she has "two timed" on ya, it is hard to trust her again.

 

[gunnie]

i wouldda thought the same thing, but just did a google search, and:

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Products.aspx?catid=1210

they must have scored mega millsurps from one of the few countries that issued 18's. say this because they list AR 180 AND AR 18 on mfgrs page. wonder if fire control parts would still be servicable? anyone got info/feedback on their 180 parts quality?

dunno if they sell rock-n-roll parts, but be advised, ownership of a weapon they will fit into, and same parts at your house will getcha into deep do-do with the ATF.

~even uninstalled!~

gunnie

 

[Orlando]

They used to have alot of parts years ago.Might want to take a closer look. Just about everything is sold out

 

[gunnie]

^ you ordered? any sit-rep on parts quality? ^

gunnie

 

[Orlando]

I have ordered other parts from Numrich before, the company is good to go.
Nothing left on Armalite 180 parts but misc small parts.
Look at the site again, just about everything is marked sold out

 

[sigstroker]

<sniff> thread reminds me of my old AR-180 I bought new in the 70's, my first military pattern rifle.

 

[Trebor]

If any of you AR-180 owners are looking for an original mag, I have one that I've been meaning to put on GB. PM me.

 

[eatont9999]

Looks like a cool gun. Too bad you had problems with yours and that parts are scarce. It would be nice to have one in my collection some day.

 

[surfinUSA]

I always loved this rifle although I never had the oppertunity to own one.I actually did have the oppertunity to fire an AR18 in full auto in 1981 (I guess that made a big impression).

I was disappointed to see the armalite 180B (is this still in production) as it had no chrome line barrel and really did not do justice to the origial AR180 that was specifically designed to be easier and cheaper to manufacture than the AR15/M16.

 

[gunnie]

..."I was disappointed to see the armalite 180B (is this still in production) as it had no chrome line barrel and really did not do justice to the origial AR180 that was specifically designed to be easier and cheaper to manufacture than the AR15/M16."...

the new (2nd gen) armalite company had an open forum created at their website, asking about this rifle and what people thought would be good changes to make to the upcoming second production model. they offered no compensation for one's time/efforts in doing so.

EXCEPT the lawyers, who were no doubt paid generously for their input. i guess their opinions has trumped that of the donators, i very much doubt past owners would have felt a fixed stock version to be an improvement in the original design.

FWIW---the first gen model was mfgd of high grade tool steels. if memory serves me well 4140, 4340, and even 50 (5150?) series steels. regretting selling my 180 even before the fact, i was scheming on correcting the monetary induced comatose that allowed the first one to go.

i wrote to them after the release of the new model asking specifically if the same OEM specs were retained for construction metals, and got no reply. so in this respect, they made the new model with a polymer lower and likely lesser grades of steel even cheaper to mfgr than gen 1.

having no hands-on familiarity with the 180B, i wonder if the gas piston rods and the bolt are still chromed on it also. any owners with feedback?

so not only were my free gratis ideas about beefing up the reciever hinge pin bosses and folding stock lock pin bosses discarded, i feel relatively sure the blueprint materials list went down in the same "swirly" of the proverbial flushing toilet.

gunnie