are they pre ban?

Well, there are three manufacturers of AR-180's, and they are all pre-ban by a long shot.  Having said that, Armalite (the new company, not the original) is bringing out he AR-180B, which is superficially an AR-180, but not quite.


The original Armalite AR-180's were produced in Costa Mesa California, and are all parkerized/phosphate finished.  these are the most desireable, and are brinig about $1,200.00-$1,400.00, depending on location and condition.

The second series of AR-180's were manufactured in Japan by HOWA, and these are also very desireable.  I believe these rifles had a black enamel finish.  These generally bring about $200.00 or so less than the Costa Mesa rifles.

The third, most common AR-180 are the ones made by Sterling in England.  These are the least desireable, most affordable.  They have a black enamel finish, and are generally well made, but suffer from some parts breakage problems, like the hammer and stock latch assembly.  The Sterling rifles can still be found running under $1K, sometimes in the $800.00's.

These are great rifles, and some very knowlegeable people still prefer them to the AR-15 (ok...Nomex suit on).

Mags can be had, but many people take M16 mags and cut the extra hole in them for lock up.

Weakest part on the AR-180 is the stock locking system.  The stock folds to the left, and is very handy, but they tend to get loose as time goes by.  My Sterling actually broke the latch, but it is repairable.

Hope that helps.  If you buy one, post a report.

I o

Blue Book of Gun Values lists all three with the Howas booking at the highest value. Howas were made in 72-73 while costa mesas were made prior to that. Sterlings were produced through I believe 86.  Sterlings were of the poorest quality.  Two different charging handles were produced. Gun parts corp has many replacement parts including Full Auto Parts.  The originals used the Colt "Model 1" flash hider which is nearly impoosible to find.  B-sqaure makes a scope mount for $150 msrp.   Any other ?s just post.

BTT

While Fjestads Blue Book is a great resource when dealing with sporting arms and hanguns, they can't be used as a reliable source for semi-auto military style rifles.  The markets change so quickly on these things, and the blue Book is assembled months in advance and is supposed to last a whole year.  

This doesn't work with our favorite style rifles....

The best way to gauge pricing on these things is to do exactly waht stg just did, ask around on the boards, and cruiessome of the auction sites and see what things are bringing.

www.subguns.com and www.sturmgewehr.com are also two great dites with many RKO's who can answer questions regarding pricing, specific and general info.

Blue Book is a great source to use when purchasing SUR's because the values contained therein are generally lower than prices advertised online and in gun list.  If you try to sell one of these rifles this is the source a dealer is going to use to purchase.  My Howa cost me $600 shipped because of BB value.  I also got my Pre Ban 6551 the same way for $775.