New AR-24 owner here

Hey guys,

I'm new to the board. Decided to sign up for the site since I got myself one of these fine pistols and this seems to be the best place on the Internet to discuss it.

I've had it about two weeks now and still haven't had a chance to shoot it yet! Between temporary range closures, the rain (I'm in Oregon) and other things I just haven't made it out yet. That'll change.

Overall I'm very impressed with the pistol. I was going to get a CZ but decided I liked several aspects of the AR better, and that Armalite was a strong enough company to solidly back a new firearm product. I got the full size model with fixed sights and a rubber grip. It's built very solidly, has great fit and finish, and is everything I expected it to be at this point. My gun is just as free of tool marks, just as clean, etc, as others have experienced.

I do wish they'd done something a little different for disassembly. I much prefer a take down lever to messing around with the slide stop, trying to find a notch, and generally having to fiddle around with it to get it apart. If nothing else, I like the solution on the Hi-Power, with a disassembly stop the slide can be locked into, so at least you're not working against the pressure of the spring.

I was also surprised to see a single recoil spring in this gun. Most of the reviews I've read have mentioned the nested dual spring, but then again, those reviews have mostly been about the "K" (compact) model. I assume the full size is supposed to have a single spring, yes?

FWIW, the laser etching of the logo has been cleaned up quite a bit. No more "dot matrix" look, though I honestly don't understand why this was such a big deal to some people. I'll see about posting some pics.

Just so folks know, I no newbie who just ran out blindly and tried a new, relatively cheap 9mm. I've got over two dozen guns and have sold/traded off quite a few more than that. I've owned a Baby Eagle before, so am familiar with CZ-style products. I prefer several points on the AR, including the shape of the slide, and the overall style of the handgun, which reminds me of my BHP. I was in the market for a new gun and this one looked real interesting. I'm hoping it fulfills its potential.

-- Sam

Thanks for the good words Sam.

Yes, the full sized pistol is supposed to have a single spring.

And the dot matrix lettering was used only on the first 500 pistols. It's the finest such markings we've ever seen but Mark Westrom prefers roll stamping. Only the logo and the intricate logo are matrix now.

We're glad you like the machine work.

Well, I managed to sneak off a little early the other day and got 50 rounds down the pipe. Would've liked to do a real test, but you take what you can get.

No failures of any type. Very accurate. Very controllable in rapid fire and double taps, which is what I got it for. I had a friend fire off a mag and he had no troubles either.

I find the double action trigger pull a little heavy, but then, this is my first DA/SA in a while (though I do have a bunch of DA revos). The single action pull has just a little stacking, but it's not intrusive. It's a very light pull with a short takeup, which is nice.

Love the safety on the gun. I don't know why, but I really like the option of hammer down, safety on. I won't carry it that way, but I like the option. Once I prove the reliability of this particular gun I will likely carry it C&L.

Now if I could just convince Galco to produce a FLETCH type holster for the AR-24. C'mon, Armalite, sell a few hundred thousand of these things so the aftermarket picks up! :)

Speaking of which: Are you (Armalite) going to making extra mags available soon? I just want to pick up a couple of extras. Feel free to email/PM me if you'd like.

Thanks for making a great gun. So far I'm very impressed, and very happy I decided to try something "new" as opposed to just picking up a generic CZ.

-- Sam

P.S. I didn't mention it originally, but another reason I decided to jump in on "version one" of a new handgun platform, which is something I normally would not do, was a very positive communication with Armalite support via email. I asked them some specific questions about the AR-24, and got a polite, thorough response within hours. With any luck I won't need their excellent Support services, but I feel confident that if I do, at least someone is there to help me out.

Hi Sam.

Thanks for the note.

And we do have spare mags in stock.

Originally Posted By ArmaLite: Hi Sam. Thanks for the note. And we do have spare mags in stock.

Do CZ-75 mags work in the AR-24?

15 shot CZmags are just a tad too short for the large frame, but we don't know about other brands. And we don't know if their short mags fit the AR-24k. Forgot to check.

Anybody out there know?

CZ mags hold 16 rounds. The earlier CZ magazines held 15 rounds, but the follower was redesigned and the current magazines hold 16 with no change in the length of the magazine body.

Are you saying the 15 round magazines from the full size AR-24 are actually longer than the 16 round CZ magazines?

As far as the AR-24k goes, as I mentioned earlier, the 13 round AR-24 magazines have a shorter magazine body than the 14 round compact CZ magazines. This means the CZ magazines fit, but they stick out about 0.2", which is quite a bit. As far as functionality, all the CZ/Tanfoglio/Mecgar/AR-24 magazines have the same body dimensions and feed angle so if the magazine is long enough to fit into the gun, it will be compatable feeding wise.

It would be VERY nice if the AR-24 adopted the same magazine lengths that CZ and tanfoglio have made standard so the mags will truly be interchangable without sticking out of the gun.

Originally Posted By ArmaLite: 15 shot CZmags are just a tad too short for the large frame, but we don't know about other brands. And we don't know if their short mags fit the AR-24k. Forgot to check. Anybody out there know?

I tried my CZ mags in my AR-24, like mentioned just barely off. Beretta mags are a lot further off. The rubber bumper pads I have for my CZ mags work fine without modification.
Mark

Originally Posted By SpacemanSpiff: Are you saying the 15 round magazines from the full size AR-24 are actually longer than the 16 round CZ magazines? ... As far as functionality, all the CZ/Tanfoglio/Mecgar/AR-24 magazines have the same body dimensions and feed angle so if the magazine is long enough to fit into the gun, it will be compatable feeding wise. It would be VERY nice if the AR-24 adopted the same magazine lengths that CZ and tanfoglio have made standard so the mags will truly be interchangable without sticking out of the gun.

It's very odd that they didn't make the mags interchangeable, especially since they share dimensions. They can change capacity with a different follower, but when the sheet metal is the same and they don't fit, hmm... However, whatever they did made the overall height of the AR slightly less than the corresponding CZ, and lower height means better concealability.

FWIW, I got email back from Armalite Sales saying to "call in" with a mag order at $30/ea.

I got out for another short run to my favorite hole in the woods where I blew off another 50 trouble-free rounds from my AR. Very cool, not a hiccup. Super comfortable, super accurate, no recoil to speak of. Trigger reset is really easy to learn. So far I've been using WWB; I'm going to run a few boxes of Hydroshoks through it to prove it with that ammo, and if it continues to be trouble free it's going into my holster.

I really like this gun.

-- Sam

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