I know that the AR in AR-15 stands for Armalite. But what does the C A R stand for?
[uzi]

The AR in AR-15 is for Armalite Rifle, not ARmalite.

[beer]

oh thanks for the correction. but does anyone know what C A R stands for? some have said
COLT Automatic rifle
COLAPSABLE Automatic Rifle

When the rifle was designated AR-15 by Gene Stoner the AR was Armalite Rifle. The Armalite of today is not the same Armalite that produced the original AR series guns. This is all based on everything I have read in 2002 Gun Digest and other sources.

[beer]

Depending who you ask...

AR stands for Armalite Rifle, as used by Armalite,

or

Automatic Rifle, as used by Colt.

The "C" in CAR stands for Carbine. So in Colt usage Carbine Automatic Rifle. Or in Armalite terms, Carbine Armalite Rifle.

I would have to read up on it again, but the original CAR was a XM177 variant but there were so many different variants the Military just called them CAR's and it stuck.   Colt had so many variants, I don't think even they could keep track of them all.  Get the AR15/M16 Source Book it is all in there.

    AR traditionally stood for Armalite. Years ago they made a 12 gauge shotgun as the AR-17, so it couldn't quite be Armalite Rifle.

[b]C[/b]olt [b]A[/b]utomatic [b]R[/b]ifle-15
[b]CAR[/b]bine-15

The list goes on.

I don't think the term CAR-15 was meant to be the model of just one rifle.  It was meant to encompass an enire family of carbines because Colt had so many models of carbines.

CAR stands for Colts'-ArmaLite Rifle.  (To the best of my knowledge.)

When Colts' cut the deal with ArmaLite for the AR-15 patents the "AR" designator was left in place as the military was going to designate the rifle as the M16 anyway.

My belief is that no one at Colts' ever envisioned the amount of civilian sales of the AR-15 and by the time someone figured things out the rifle was firmly established in minds of the buying public as the AR-15.

Colt's wanted the military to consider several other rifles and among those was the rifle that turned out to be the CAR-15 - and the only rifle of that group that stuck.

Colts' finally got a chance at getting their initial in a rifle - the Colts'-ARmalite AR-15.  CAR-15.

[b]AR[/b]malite. (period).

C is Carbine.

CAR=[b]C[/b]arbine [b]AR[/b]malite.

Everything else posted here is [b]BS[/b].

Armilite made an AR-17 Shotgun.  It's not a rifle.

Colt bought the license to build Armalite AR-15.  The never called it a Colt Armalite.  It's a Colt AR-15.  Not a CAR unless it's a carbine length rifle.

3rd beer editing in affect.

Would pictures from a May 1965 Colt Book with Car-15 Specs change yer mind?  Anyone willing to post some pics for me? [url][email protected][/url] email me to let me know as I dont check here often.  Thanks, JC

BTW, the XM177 was not the original CAR-15 either.

I believe you're right.

By 1962 Stoner had left Colts" and was at Cadillac Gauge where he designed the Stoner 62.

The CAR-15 family was introduced in 1965 (?) and I'm far less familiar with the 1962 and forward evolution of the Black Rifle.

Actually, the CAR-15 was a pilot's survival carbine.
It had a 10" barrel with a cone-type flash hider.  The pistol grip was cut in half, and the butt stock was a simple plate attached to the end of the short buffer tube. There was no adjustment for length.

The carbine, broken down in upper and lower parts, and 3 20 round magazines fit into the survival seat pack of an ejection seat.  Since it took up most of the room in the seat pack, most of the more necessary survival items couldn't be carried.  For this reason, it was never adopted.

When the military bought the Colt Commando carbine, for some reason people called it the CAR-15, even though it is plainly marked Commando on the lower.

Colt bought Armalite before any carbine versions were developed, so I'm not sure what CAR means, but it wouldn't have anything to do with the Armalite name.  Colt never used the Armalite name.

I agree - it depends on who you ask: ArmaLite or Colt.


Tyler

Man, this comes up so much it should be a FAQ.  Here's the deal:
When Colt bought the AR-15 rights, they developed a family of weapons to sell based on them.  They called it the CAR-15 family.  These inlcuded the rifle, carbine, SMG, pilot's survival, squad support, etc.  They were all CAR-15s, which stood for Colt's Automatic Rifle.  It's a marketing ploy to use the old "AR" (which was Armalite Rifle) brand with the Colt name.

The Army bought and tested the Sub-machine gun version of the CAR-15 as the XM-177 series of guns in various versions.  The CAR-15 trade name stuck with that weapon, though it was called various things by troops, like "shorty", "CAR-15", "Commando", etc.  

When various aftermarket companies came out with cvillian versions of the shorter version of the standard rifle (i.e. the CAR-15), it was referred to as the CAR-15 generically, the same way the standard rifle is an "AR".  Remember, back then there was a larger, younger, Vietnam veteran population in the gun buying public.

Oddly enough, Colt dropped the CAR designation for the family of weaopns and remaned them the M16 family, to build off the now famous "M16" moniker.  They included all sorts of different versions as well.  Some have sold (like the M4, and the 9mm SMG) and others have not.  

So the real answer is that historically, "CAR" stands for Colt Automatic Rifle.  CAR-15 also is a generic term for a carbine version of the AR/M16.

Ross

straight from Armalite.com FAQ:
WHAT DOES THE "AR" IN AR-15, AR-180, OR AR-10 STAND FOR?



There is a common misconception that AR stands for "ArmaLite Rifle."   This is untrue.  The AR-17, for instance, is a 12-gauge shotgun.  Early designations like ArmaLite 10 were shortened to simply AR-10.  The AR refers to ArmaLite.

The ArmaLite Division of Fairchild developed the AR-15 in 1959.  Fairchild licensed the rifle to the Colt's Patent Firearm Manufacturing Corporation, and Colt's assumed the AR-15 trademark.  Early Colt rifles were marked "Colt ArmaLite 15."  Even today, the designation to that Colt brand rifle refers, somewhat embarrassingly, to ArmaLite.

I thought that AR15 just meant Automatic Rifle 15.  Shows how fucking stupid I am.

C = carbine
AR15 = AR15
CAR-15 = Carbine AR15 (as in M4-gery or any other "tactical" type of AR15 people come up with).

Well, at least this is how I have observed it. I maybe right, I maybe wrong...

CAR-15:

[b]C[/b]alifornia
[b]A[/b]bolished
[b]R[/b]KBA
[b]15[/b]years ago.



...or was it 13 years ago? Close enough.

Cool Ass Rifle ?

Just a guess on my part.

I don't know what CAR-15 does stand for, but it does not stand for "Colt Automatic Rifle".

The "Colt Automatic Rifle" is a current project by Colt to replace the SAW. It is an updated version of the LMG.

Supposedly the US Marines don't like the SAW and want a non-belt-fed replacement so as to cut down in cross-training, logistics, ...

CAR as in BAR (get it).

I have also heard [b]C[/b]olt [b]A[/b]ccurized [b]R[/b]ifle.

This has come up a lot, and I still have no idea.  However, I do know this.  I call my AR a CAR-15.  16" barrel, collapsible stock, etc.  Is this a correct way to refer to it?  I don't know, but people know what I'm talking about when I call it that.

No, there was a infantry weapons officer AKA, Gunner at 29 Palms that advocated going with a H-Bar M16 as a SAW replacement, he got a few articles done on it and many now think we want to replace the SAW.  His views don't reflect the Marine Corps or most Marines.