AMERICA’S SWEETHEART
New shooters and gun buyers can be forgiven for thinking the AR-15 has always been the way it is. Nope. It’s had more than a half-century of growth, modification and upgrades.
The history of the platform is long and storied. Buckle up.
TRIPPING OUT OF THE GATE
In the beginning, there was the Colt SP1. This was a rifle with a fixed stock, a triangular handguard around a 20-inch barrel, a carry handle and sights that needed a tool to adjust them. The barrel was skinny, and the twist it had was one turn in 12 inches—suitable only for 55-grain FMJ bullets.
The time? 1967. And the Colt had an MSRP of $195. (In 2022 bucks, that comes to $1,650.) The shooting public wasn’t impressed. The world, hunting and tactical, was still dominated by .30-caliber rifles, such as the M14 or FAL, and hunting done with Winchester (a Model 94 ran $85, a Model 70 cost $150) or Remington (M700, $130) bolt guns in .30-06. The few varmint shooters that existed weren’t at
