Artist's commentary
The Original AR
2H pencil, Pen, and Crayola colored pencil
Years before the Vietnam War, Eugene Stoner developed the basic design that would later develop into the AR-15 and M-16/M4 we know today. This is the AR-10, chambered in .308 Winchester (or 7.62mm NATO) as this was before the .223 Remington (5.56mm) was developed. It differed in some details from the AR-15/M-16, most noticably with the cocking handle being located inside the carry handle rather than behind the receiver. The stocks were an early brown Bakelite plastic, which was one of Stoner's ideas to lighten weapons. As Armalite didn't have production facilities, the design was licensed out to the Artillerie Inrichtingen company in the Netherlands. The AR-10 never achieved widespread military use but was adapted by Portugal (top gun I drew) and the Sudan (bottom gun I drew) in limited quantities around 1960-1961 before the project went out of business. Parts kits of these guns were made into semi-automatics here in the US during the early 1980s and the present day Armalite company was re-established in 1996 at its present location in Geneseo IL.
Drawn in my work breakroom several weeks ago on a 5"x7" sketchbook I have in my locker.