With all the recent hoopla around the resurrection / reinterpretation of retro rifles, we thought it would be fun to have a look at what LAV thought of one of the most successful failures in military small-arms history, the ArmaLite AR-18…

The AR-180 was definitely a rifle that I was very interested in back in my younger days, but the rather rough-looking finish, the non-standard magazines, and the strangely twisted charging handle put me off. The modernized and improved BRN-180 upper and lower receivers from Brownells seem to have fixed most of those issues though.

If you want to know more, you will find full info on Brownells website. I do wish that they offered an alternative to the wonky-looking charging handle, as well as a traditional style front handguard (or at least one that combines a smooth polymer hand-grip with an M-lok section).