AR-5 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The AR-5 was the basis of the MA-1 aircrew survival rifle, adopted by the USAF in 1956, as a replacement for the M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon

M6 Aircrew Survival Weapon

The M6 Air Crew Survival Weapon was a specially made firearm issued to the United States Air Force aircraft crews to help forage for food in the event of a plane crash....

. The M6 is a superposed ("over-under") combination weapon with a .22 Hornet

.22 Hornet

The .22 Hornet is a low-end vermin, small-game and predator centerfire rifle cartridge. It is considerably more powerful than the .22 WMR and the .17 HMR, achieving higher velocity with a bullet twice the weight. The Hornet also differs very significantly from these in that it is not a rimfire...

rifle

Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

barrel over a .410 shotgun

Shotgun

A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...

barrel. While there is an advantage to such a combination, the AR-5 has the advantage of rapid fire, using the same .22 Hornet cartridge as the M6's rifle barrel. The AR-5 was developed by ArmaLite

ArmaLite

ArmaLite is the name of a small arms engineering facility founded in the early 1950s, and once associated with the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation. ArmaLite was formally incorporated as a subdivision of Fairchild on October 1, 1954...

, a division of Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation. The AR-5 was submitted in response to an Air Force request shortly after the division was established on October 1, 1954.

The MA-1 is a four-shot, bolt-action rifle, chambered for the .22 Hornet

.22 Hornet

cartridge, a round somewhat heavier than the common .22 Long Rifle

.22 Long Rifle

The .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge is a long established variety of ammunition, and in terms of units sold is still by far the most common in the world today. The cartridge is often referred to simply as .22 LR and various rifles, pistols, revolvers, and even some smoothbore shotguns have...

cartridge, with a higher velocity and range, yet with a light, controllable recoil

Recoil

Recoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...

.

Designed to be stowed in cramped aircraft cockpits, the rifle was made from lightweight plastics and aluminum alloys. The MA-1 was unique for being able to be disassembled with all working parts stored within the stock. When stowed in this manner, the rifle was able to float. The MA-1 established ArmaLite as a recognized firearms company, leading to several other rifles of varying success. However, the USAF never received funding to buy more than the original 12 test models due in part to the number of M4 and M6 survival weapons already in USAF inventory.

Armalite used the research and tooling for the AR-5/MA-1 to develop the AR-7

AR-7

The ArmaLite AR-7 Explorer, designed by M-16 inventor Eugene Stoner, is a semi-automatic .22 Long Rifle rifle developed from the AR-5 adopted by the U.S. Air Force as a pilot and aircrew survival weapon. Its intended markets today are backpackers and other recreational users as a take-down utility...

, an eight-shot semi-automatic rifle chambered for the .22 Long Rifle cartridge. Released in 1959 as a civilian survival weapon, the AR-7 is related to the AR-5 in terms of its overall layout, and retains the same modular takedown, storage in stock, and the ability to float.

See also