30317 AR 15 magazine rack and organizer  

30317 AR 15 magazine rack and organizer

The Colt AR 15 A Multi Mission Weapon

Starting in World War 1, the US military used the 30-06 .30 caliber cartridge for its Model 1903 Springfield bolt action service rifle, and then in World War II for its Model M1 Garand semi-automatic service rifle,.30 caliber BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) and for the Browning .30 caliber machine gun. The 30 caliber M1 cartridge was both powerful and had range capabilities that exceeded 1000 yards. For the type of conflicts and engagements that the US was involved in from 1917 through 1954, this rifle and cartridge combination was a perfect fit. After the Korean conflict and the forming of NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) the US and its allies agreed to have commonality of ammunition. For handguns, this was the 9mm Parabellum. For rifles, this became the .308 otherwise known as the 7.62 x 51. This cartridge had almost identical ballistics to its predecessor the .30-06, but it was shorter, and therefore could be utilized in rifles with shorter and therefore lighter actions.

This led to the development of the M14 semi-automatic rifle, which also had the ability to fire full-automatic. This particular weapon was somewhat of a hybrid between the Browning Automatic Rifle, and the M1 Garand. It typically had a 20 round magazine that held 20 7.62 x 51mm rounds, and on full auto had a cyclic rate of about 600 rounds per minute. It was an excellent weapon. but was on the heavy side at about 11 pounds, and after a rather short deployment it became obvious that weapons of this type were not suitable for ground troops to use in engagements that were perceived to be on the horizon.

During the 1950s as this was taking place a company called Armalite developed a weapon called the AR10 designed by Eugene Stoner, which was semi-automatic, and also used the 7.62 by 51mm NATO round. This was an excellent weapon however, when viewed in the context of the Eastern bloc, which had developed the AK 47, which fired a short lightweight 7.62 x 39 round and had the option for full automatic fire and high capacity magazines, it became evident that a semi-automatic/full automatic weapon using a lightweight high velocity round held in high capacity magazines, would be the best possible solution. With this in mind, Armalite refined the weapon and re-designated it the AR 15.

At that time the .223 Remington civilian hunting cartridge had just about the right ballistics for this particular purpose and Armalite used this particular round as the basis for developing the 5.56 x 45mm round, which came to be the one used in the AR 15, and by extension was used by all of the NATO allies. Unfortunately for Armalite, they had financial difficulties, and in 1964 they sold the patent and trademark for the AR15 to Colt’s manufacturing of Hartford Connecticut. Colt refined the weapon and introduced it to the US military, and after a rigorous testing and evaluation process, was accepted as the main battle weapon. As a military weapon the gun was able to fire in three different modes, single shot, three round bursts, or fully automatic.

In the Vietnam conflict typically, soldiers were equipped with 20 round magazines which could be quickly detached and reattached to the gun to provide a high rate of fire. Although Colt still owns the AR 15 trademark, Colt’s patent on the weapon ran out in 1981. At this point various other manufacturers such as Daniel Defense, Ruger, Remington, Smith & Wesson, and Rock River Arms began making AR 15 clones, almost all them using the same 5.56 /.223 round. Just as the model 1911 Colt pistol became a favorite of returning U.S. servicemen after World War II, the AR 15 became the favorite weapon of returning servicemen after the Vietnam conflict. As a result, this particular style of weapon became extremely popular. Manufacturers realizing this developed numerous variations of the gun, but more importantly, developed a huge range of accessories so it can be customized for use in numerous missions such as hunting, self-defense, law enforcement, and competition.

Today’s AR 15 not only resembles the basic characteristics of the original 1964 version, but it has become one of the most desired and sought after sporting weapons in the USA. Generally speaking, the effectiveness of the 5.56 round is limited to about 400 yards with a 55 grain bullet. However, bullets weighing up to 80 grains easily make the gun capable of exceptional accuracy at ranges out to 800 yards. It follows that ammunition manufacturers, such as Winchester, Remington, Federal, and Hornady recognizing the huge increase in gun sales, realized that by making various types of ammunition that would be mission specific, they could increase the sales of ammunition for this particular gun. Therefore, an extensive range of bullet weights and special bullets for use as home defense, law enforcement, varmint hunting, and competition became available.

Typically an AR owner may own several guns, but almost certainly owns a plethora of magazines ranging in capacity from 10 rounds up to 30 rounds. Typically, each magazine would be fully loaded with ammunition, and the ammunition would be specific for a certain purpose. The challenge of course is identifying which magazine has the ammunition you tend to use for target shooting, hunting, or even self-defense. This is where an effective and efficient organizing and storage system becomes a huge asset. The perfect accessory for this is the Hyskore www.hyskore.com  30317 AR Magazine Racking, Indexing, and Organizing System https://hyskore.com/products/30317-modular-magazine-storage/. This clever rack can be wall mounted with holes that are 16” on center so they can mount directly to studs and still support the weight of fully loaded magazines. The capacity is 12 magazines in sets of four. What this means is that in one or two or three slots you can have your 55-grain general purpose ammo. In the other set of slots, you can have your 62-grain green tip target ammo. In another slot you can have your 75-grain long range ammo. Or for that matter, you could have three or four separate racks, each one with magazines loaded with a different type of ammo. The other interesting feature is that these racks can accommodate 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 round magazines interchangeably. This is the perfect addition to anybody’s gun room, gun locker, or hunting camp.