When did civilian AR15s get popular?

[joshrunkle35]

I bought my first one in 2002. I was 18 and had just finished high school. They were very common at every shop I went to in Ohio. They were kinda rare at Walmart. Today, even my local Walmart regularly has Colt 6920s, Sig M400s, and M&Ps.

[Pilot1]

It seems to me their popularity first jumped just AFTER the 1994 AWB. I bought an Olympic Arms (hey I lived in Olympia) in about 1991 (?). After the ban I sold it for a small profit as I wasn't into the AR so much then and bought my second Garand. But the AWB definitely increased its popularity. Sort of a thumb our nose at the attempted ban.

I think the second big jump was after the 2004 sunset of the ban and many more young men had military exposure to the M16/M4 and prices for near mil spec came way down.

The above has been my experience also. I remember when I started getting into shooting regularly in 1991, the only AR that gun shops would carry was a Colt Sporter, or Match Target HBAR. Usually, they'd only have one in stock. I remember looking at one, and thinking, "what am I going to do with this?" Then the 1994 AWB hit, and the visibility of the black rifle skyrocketed. Many wanted them, including myself, and ended up buying the neutered ones withOUT bayonet lug, flash hider, and telescopic stock.

After 2004 when the AWB sunseted, (yay!) people wanted "pre-ban" AR's, and bought more. Then Obama got elected, and black rifle sales surged again......twice!

[jaygee]

My interest in the AR began with the A2 rifle, as the details became known, in the mid '80s. Got the Colt Gov't Model 6550 when they hit in late '89. Hated the A1 slickside lower, and replaced with A2 lower from Eagle a year later. Added a 11.5" shorty about the same time from Bushie. Two was enough until 2005, when SARP began to firm up. AR went viral after '07 !

[g5m]

They were not at all popular in the 60's. A gun writer reviewed the Colt AR and really knocked it. He wrote that his karate chop separated and knocked off the handguard. Okay.
I wasn't too sure that that was a big deal and bought one anyway. About 1966-67. It was very light and an absolute pleasure to shoot. The AR was essentially a semi M-16, Triangular handguard, open ended flash hider, smooth sided upper etc. No storage in the buttstock. It was kind of like an M1 carbine to shoot.

The AR's evolution has been interesting to say the least.

[Iraqgunz]

Kind of understandable since they weren't really introduced for sale until about 1963-64, the Vietnam War was beginning (guys were being shipped off) and there was still the mentality of polished steel and wood.

It's kind of like asking how popular the Glock pistol was in the early 80's.

They were not at all popular in the 60's. A gun writer reviewed the Colt AR and really knocked it. He wrote that his karate chop separated and knocked off the handguard. Okay.
I wasn't too sure that that was a big deal and bought one anyway. About 1966-67. It was very light and an absolute pleasure to shoot. The AR was essentially a semi M-16, Triangular handguard, open ended flash hider, smooth sided upper etc. No storage in the buttstock. It was kind of like an M1 carbine to shoot.

The AR's evolution has been interesting to say the least.

[ClassIIIGunsmith]

Just look at the manufactured numbers they increase rapidly in the early 80's cause of the surplus of full auto parts. I got mine in 1977 and it was built in '76.

[Barnacle Bill]

Several guys I knew on board the boat (sub) I served on 1980-82 had black rifles of one sort or another, but only one was an AR - a Colt SP1 IIRC. .308 battle rifles were more popular with the guys, and both HK & FN were in the market at the time (and M1A's of course).

Shortly after that (c. 1982), I was sent to a 6 month service school in between boats, and during that period my barracks roommate bought a Colt carbine. Maybe I'm getting senile, but I could have sworn it had some kind of extra-long flash suppressor for a pseudo-XM177 look, but it was definitely bought NIB and I can't find any record online of Colt ever marketing such a variant. It was fun to shoot, but I remember thinking the stock was too short even fully extended.

Another thing that was popular in the early 80's was legal conversion of black rifles & submachinegun-derived pistol caliber carbines to select fire, and of course this included AR's. It seems like every other gun shop was a Class III dealer in those days, and people licensed to do the conversions were common as well. Congress closed the door on that in '86, though.

During my second sea tour the Chinese AK's got popular, as they were way cheaper than an AR. The Bush (41) ban after the 1989 Stockton school shooting took the wind out of their sails (IIRC, the notion that you could swap enough parts to make it "American" didn't come out until sometime after Clinton banned Chinese firearms imports altogether as a "trade sanction").

I didn't get an AR until c. '89, when I built an A1 clone. By that time complete rifles and/or stripped receivers were available from a large number of vendors, and there were a lot of surplus GI A1 parts available because the military was still converting to the A2. About then is what I'd call the first wave of real AR popularity, which I'd attribute to the convergence of ready availability combined with the Bush ban taking out the import competition for a few years (by which time the Clinton AWB put the crimp on AR's somewhat as well). Even then, though, it was nothing like today where you can buy 'em at Walmart.

[Renegade04]

I had my first experience with the platform back in 1978 with a M16A1. I was also introduced to the M16A2 and CAR 15 several years later. My interest in a personal AR did not become a reality until 2004. Since then, I have owned over three dozen ARs in various configurations. I built many of them. After many years of acquiring them and selling them for one reason or another, I had dwindled down to less than twenty of them. In the last few years, I have been able to get back up to twenty-seven. My personal ownership of an AR was prompted by one of my fellow Marines who had a Colt SP1 carbine of his own. This was in the late '70s. I really did not see a boom in AR ownership until the mid to late '80s. Then it seems like the market exploded about fifteen years ago and has kept growing. It has gotten so popular, I think it should be added to our flag. Well, maybe not. I think that any American who can legally own a firearm should have an AR.

[Uni-Vibe]

I got into it around '98 or 99. They were becoming more common, but you'd still show up at the range and be alone, or almost alone.

Now you go to the range and anything but an AR or similar is unusual.

[g5m]

I came across a used SP1 about 1967 or so. Light, handy, accurate and a 20 round magazine! The 30 round mags became available in Viet Nam late 1968-69. Anyway that SP1 was a neat rifle. The AR's were around, rarely, back then but most production apparently went to government contracts, as it was reported, and they were rarely seen in stores. Like really rarely. In the late 1970's interest started to pick up and builds were starting to be done as some lower receivers started to become available. SGW (Scheutzen Gun Works) sp? which maybe was associated with or morphed or whatever into Olympic Arms was one of the first if not the first making lowers. They apparently sold them to other entities- like Palmetto-(Not the current Palmetto as far as I know).

Back then it was interesting to say the least in trying to find or make tools and find parts. Barrels were often of mediocre quality-- scored chambers, out of round, etc. but that is what was available.