For decades shooters and gun enthusiasts Han enthusiasts have been tossing around the term millspe As the II expect that a civilian gun can be. All it is true that especially most AR15S are made to move spec that does not Mean it is the best or the only specification out there. What is a Mills back AR15? What does mil spec encompass for an AR15.
Anything that is not spec is required to be set to specific standards made of certain materials and tolerances that pass military inspections and testing. It must also be done by male specs certified Engineers. In order for something to be truly millspeck it must be certified to meet the military standard. How does mil spec translate into a civilian market? The specification for AR15 must be done in meticulous detail to retain compatibility within the parts of the same compatibility.
History of the Mil Spec AR-15
Armalite first developed the AR-15 in the 1950s pursuing a military contract for the new standard issue of the US armed forces, however, failed in the pursuit. Its creator, Eugene Stoner, along with Armalite sold the rights to the model to Colt in 1959 from which point, Colt seized the opportunity to tweak the design in order to receive that contract. And in 1963, Colt won the contract to produce the new standard issue rifle for the armed forces. This implement was known as the Colt M-16 automatic rifle.
Shortly after the military contract success, Colt ramped up production on law enforcement models in the first iterations of the Colt LE models, as well as the Colt SP(Sporter) series for the civilian market. These were made semi-automatic however, while the military variant remained fully automatic.
The history of the AR-15 after the 1970s was still a bit rocky as the Raegan ban in 1984 saw the first major push back by the US government against the AR-15. The civilian market was barren on these rifles, however, the law enforcement models were still in use, and therefore have garnered a large community with demand only for these specific models.
The Clinton Ban in 1994 saw another push back by the US government as well. And in 2004, at the end of the ban, the platform came back to the civilian market. Demand for the AR-15 skyrocketed overnight into what many thought would be a complete overhaul of the civilian gun market. And in many ways it was. However, the ATF came out with many letters over the course of the next two decades to limit the sale and modification of the AR-15.
In the 1970s, Colt’s patent on the M16/AR-15 expired, pushing many manufacturers, like DPMS, to create their own versions, whether in mil spec or out of mil spec, of the acclaimed civilian rifle. Thus, the modern AR-15 was born. Even Armalite took to recreating the AR-15, albeit to a different specification than the military spec,however without Stoner’s input on the model. The AR-15 as Stoner envisioned it would never really gain popularity until the late 2010s.
What is Mil Spec?
Mil spec is short for military specification. It is the specification to which an item of the military has been made. As the AR-15 was devised to be a military service rifle, most AR-15s throughout history have been made to this spec. As it is the longest standing specification for the AR-15, that also means that it’s the specification with the most amount of modifications.
In order for an AR-15 to be Mil-spec, it must be made a certain way, with certain materials that the government deems fit for the military standard. That being said, Nothing outside of the military is actually mil spec, but everything outside of the military can be made to the same specifications. Not that it is a fabrication to say that it is not, but technically the military is the only one capable of actually producing mil-spec AR platform firearms. The civilian market can merely copy the spec, not that it would do any worse than that.
Is Mil spec the best?
Mil spec is tried and true. For AR-15s which have been in production since the 60s essentially, the specification has remained pretty much the same with slight deviations due to advancements in metallurgy and polymer technology. So mil spec goes with the times essentially, as we know from the AR-15s robust history. However. Armalite has made their new spec AR-15 with slightly different features.
While they perform almost identically, there are slight differences in the way the platform specs look. The Armalite AR lower is not curved at the end, which for a long time was better, because pressure cracks would form less often than the traditional lowers. The civilian market had been host to a series of different trials of materials, even polymer, that led to different problems for engineers in the market to fix.
The AR-15 platform is a great platform because of its modular design, which has nothing to do with the specifications or the tolerances. That being said, the platform can be modified, changing the spec, but retaining the things about it that make it great. Using stronger aluminum, Engineers were able to create the AR10, a beast of a rifle made to the same design as an AR-15, but chambered in the .308 Winchester cartridge as standard. This made it great for hunting, as well as longer distance shooting as it could facilitate the increase in ballistics of these larger calibers compared to the AR-15.
The AR-9 is also an example of an AR style rifle that is not mil spec, but also changes the design of the AR-15 slightly as the AR9 does not have a gas system, but is a blowback operated system like many handguns are. It is made for pistol cartridges and uses the functions of handguns in order to produce devastatingly accurate results with the AR platform.
The mil spec AR-15 is the most commonly seen AR-15 on the market. It utilizes the T6 7075 aircraft grade forged aluminum in its construction which has long been the standard for AR-15s made in the military and in the civilian market. However, there are different materials you can use as a civilian, like billet aluminum and even polymer, which has garnered a larger following recently for its inexpensive nature and ease of production.
Whether you want to dabble in the mil spec is up to you, however it is good to know what else is out there, as you may end up liking something else. The Mil spec is still the most consistent and solid specification out there because it is designed to be reliable enough for the military.
Also Read: Are AR-15 Pistols Legal in Texas?