questions about origional Armalite AR10

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14 years 5 months ago #4616 by lupy
questions about origional Armalite AR10 was created by lupy
I stumbled on your forum and was wondering if anyone here can answer a few questions regarding the origional ar10's from the 50's. I understand that some were imported into the US with the origional lowers converted to Semi only, I came accross one of these at a show recently. What is the current legal status of these guns? can they be transfered? Is there a range of fair market value?, this one had the origional plastic furniture,flash hider was closed on the end, bayonet lug on the top of the barrel, and a slightly rough bore, the origional anodizing was faded, but mostly still there. It also had 6 of the origional waffle mags.
It looked like a cool old rifle, sort of an AR on steroids, was thinking about picking it up, but don't really know enough to make a resonable choice.
Thanks for any help

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14 years 5 months ago - 14 years 5 months ago #4619 by BUILDING MY SASS
Replied by BUILDING MY SASS on topic Re:questions about origional Armalite AR10
That would be one for MSH....but I would say if it was semi...then it should be ok....but given the gun ban of the 90s....you may want to check with the ATF....you might have to get a permit if it can be converted to full Auto.....as for a market...it would be more of a collectors piece...I would check out the collector's sites and see...if anything you would have a nice piece of history... ;)
One more thing...you might check also with Uncle ArmaLite..to see what the factory has to say... :dry:
BMS
Last edit: 14 years 5 months ago by BUILDING MY SASS.

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14 years 5 months ago #4624 by a Guest
Replied by a Guest on topic Re:questions about origional Armalite AR10
That one will be fine. Which trigger system does it have in it. If its an old FAL style you got a rare bird. Most were changed to the modern day type.MSH

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14 years 5 months ago #4626 by lupy
Replied by lupy on topic Re:questions about origional Armalite AR10
no idea how to tell, the hammer is driven by a longish compression spring off to the right side, does that ring a bell? I will have to take a look at some exploded pics to see what looks close.

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14 years 5 months ago #4628 by a Guest
Replied by a Guest on topic Re:questions about origional Armalite AR10
Yep you have a winner. Thats like our old one.MSH

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14 years 5 months ago #4642 by lupy
Replied by lupy on topic Re:questions about origional Armalite AR10
well I don't own it yet, still need to arive at a price and such. I guess mostly I was nervous about the legality in the US because of the origional lower, (converted to Semi, of course). The lower is marked MFD by AL(in a triangle) Nederland. The selector is blocked from moving to auto, the autosear is of course gone, and the hammer looks like something was removed (the autosear catch??) The bolt is nice and clean and looks like new, the chamber is nice, the bore is shootable, but does have some roughness near the muzzle. The furniture looks rough, but origional. If I do end up with it, I promise some pics. The searial ## is close to 7000

So what is a resonable price I should be looking at for this?? It's a cool old piece of history, but I don't have the budget unless I can call it an investment with the wife :blush: ;-)

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14 years 5 months ago #4643 by Hank in Arkansas
Replied by Hank in Arkansas on topic Re:questions about origional Armalite AR10
Lupy, at to legality, I wouldn't even want to hazard an opinion. But if I were you I'd want to be sure before I shelled out big bucks.

As to value. Last year I went to the Knob Creek Machinegun Shoot, and saw an original Portugese AR10 for sale. It was a registered transferable Class III full auto, in decent shape, but with lots of use. Looked to be all original. It was priced at $18,000. Needless to say, I didn't have that much in the rather thin wallet, so I passed. Hope that helps.

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14 years 5 months ago #4650 by lotoofla
Replied by lotoofla on topic Re:questions about origional Armalite AR10
If you open up the gun and look inside, look at the safety if you see that there is a pin missing thats right above the safety it is a full auto rifle (selective fire) stay away from this gun!!
Google up AR-10 promotional video the voice track is out of synch but it will show you how thw rifle works (circa late 1950's)

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14 years 5 months ago #4661 by HHollow
Replied by HHollow on topic Re:questions about origional Armalite AR10
The serial number and description of the lower parts makes this a Portuguese variant of the Dutch AR10. Is the sear hole closed off? Is it a reweld? Rewelds of demilled receivers were done hy Hahn Machine and are known by ATF. The Hahn mark is generally hidden, like under the pistol grip. If the sear hole is open then walk away. Such a semi-auto conversion was allowed in Canada at one time. When laws tightened many of these rifles migrated south and are destined to cause big federal trouble for an owner.

A nice Portuguese should have the 4-piece handguards. there are two inner metal pieces and two shorter bakelite halves. A nice Poruguese will also have a plastic stock as opposed to the wooden reproduction. I believe that the US made semi-auto lowers are more desireable than a reweld. An illegally converted semi is a liability and has "kit" value only. A decent Portuguese with original parts goes for $3K or so.

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14 years 5 months ago #4663 by lupy
Replied by lupy on topic Re:questions about origional Armalite AR10
I don't remember a hole, will have to take a look when I go up to see it again. I asume a reweld will be pretty obvious? was just the hole covered? or was the whole lower cut up and rewelded?

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