The Imperial War museum in London has a SP1 for N.Ireland on display, with its serial number gouged out.

Great collection.  I recall hearing the very early 80's that they would hold fund raisers on the east coast for the IRA,
and then buy the guns and have them on boats to be smuggled to Ireland within days.

The AR18 and AR180 were well-liked by the IRA as well. I forgot where they got them, but they ended up with quite a few apparently.

I've been to Ireland a few times to visit extended family in the old country when I was a teen. My father and two of his brothers went along and were into guns at the time, I seem to recall there being a lot of hostility in the area due to the IRA's conflict with the British occupying forces. I don't remember any gunshops or anything but I do remember the locals calling the AR-15 or M16 "The Armalites", I don't know if that's what the majority of the commercial AR15's were back then (1990-1991) or that's just what the locals called every black rifle. It wasn't contained to just the small town we were from either, everyone called black rifles Armalites over there.

The AR-18 was pretty common over there too.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7xtltFBAMw[/youtube]

 

Isn't there that song?

Me Little Armalite

See they even made a song about "The Armalites", that's exactly what everyone called AR's over there, it could be an early Colt M16A1 and to them it was "An Armalite". I distinctively remember talking to an older gentleman and he said things were starting to turn now that they IRA had Armalites. Now knowing obviously now, years later, there were areas where you could be killed if you were a British sympathiser

Nice 6 hole Carbine Hand Gaurds on that Colt err I mean "bloody Armalite"

cool pics!

 

Those are interesting pics, most of which I had never seen. But I am glad that period is history and hope it remains so.

Apparently the Irish don't use slings.

Second pic down...that guy has a sling

Another song from the UK with an "Armalite" reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJB4QK9-Fyc

I figured it was about the AR18/180's...  I didn't know until now that there were so many AR15's over there, but those would've been marked Colt, wouldn't they?

I read a British Army report on confiscated weapons after the "Troubles" officially ended and there was a disarmament. IIRC, AR15s outnumbered AR180s by a significant margin. Huge numbers of AK47s and AKMs were also confiscated, due to the Libyan connection of the IRA.  A deputy I worked with had been a "Boy Soldier" with the British Army (went in at 16).  He did a long hitch over there, and said AR15s still gave him the creeps..  He married an American gal, and became a US citizen after he got out of the Army.  Then he became a deputy in California.

I grew up an Irish Catholic in Chicago in the 50s and 60s.  IRA sympathies were the norm in the Irish American community, and Irish priests would rail on the "godless English occupiers."  I knew even as a teen and young adult around 1968-72 that guns were being bought all over the midwest and east coast to be smuggled to Northern Ireland.  Even in the early 70s, I heard that "Armalites" were very desirable, and hard to find in sporting goods stores there.

Politics of the of past aside, unfortunately the IRA became an army without a war, and a large number turned to organized crime and drug trafficking, according to my cousins (also Catholics) over there.  They no longer enjoy the unconditional acceptance of fellow Irish Catholics, who have begun to like "the peace," and realize that they morphed into terrorist and gangsters.  They are still afraid of them, though.

I know the media likes to play it up, but US Gunshops were/are one of the many sources of modern small arms/pistols/Sniper rifles for groups like the PIRA, the KLA/UCK, and others. The European civy market tightened down quite a bit, as they used to be as well.

I highly recommend Andy McNab's books. He was an SAS trooper who spent time in Northern Ireland, among other myriad places. The most realistic thrillers I've ever read. He really influenced my style. His protagonist is thinly veiled, and refers to 'Armalites' quite often. In one book his character (first person) describes defusing an IRA car bomb quite matter of factly. That's what makes his writing so chilling. He is the real deal, and you guys should check him out if you are interested in the SAS viewpoint.

If Posse comitatus is ever null and void here, and martial law takes over, you'll see the same thing here. Two sides to the same, terrible story. I also highly recommend Leon Uris' "Trinity" for historical buffs who really want to know the history behind the troubles. It's big, but well-written.

An Irish neighbor of mine watched her teenage boyfriend get killed by the IRA. She absolutely hates all guns and they are all considered “Bloody Armalites” in her mind...rifle/pistol/shotguns

Her American husband inherited a bunch of rifles/shotguns and he had to store them at my house till he got a safe in his office. (BTW – this is the same family that gave me my 1946 Willys used in many of my background shots)

Me too, kinda. I read Leon Uris's Trinity and went to pubs and sang "Four Green Fields" etc. I met an Irish girl (not from the North) at a Mexican restaurant one night. She told me she wished it all would end, was pretty disdainful. Changed my mind.

The 1981 song "Invisible Sun" by The Police also gives them mention in the lyric "I don't wanna spend the rest of my life, looking at the barrel of an Armalite".
The video featured less-than-charming footage of gritty Northern Ireland and was banned by the BBC

Stiff Little Fingers (legendary early 80s band from Belfast) had a load of songs about growing up amid The Troubles and did a little word play with the lyric "you set my arm alight"

While a favorite of the Provos (and given the moniker "Widow-Maker") they were also frequently used by the SAS and the Paras in the countryside instead of the hefty L1A1s

Yep, they called all black rifles Bloody Armalites and civilians hated them as they usually were on the wrong end of stray rounds coming through the fronts of their houses.