C&R · IV · 005
ArmaLite AR-18
Section IV: still an NFA firearm, also a curio or relic
Official wording
ATF P 5300.11 · APRIL 2025 EDITION · SECTION IV · VERBATIM · PDF P. 81 ↗
Armalite, AR-18, selective fire rifle, cal. .223, prod. by Armalite, Costa Mesa, CA.
What this entry requires
- INFOATF states no date; production was about 1964–1972.
- INFOStill an NFA firearm; only registered examples transfer, with ATF approval (26 U.S.C. 5812, 5861).
Editorial facts · Our research
- Country
United StatesBasis: no citation - Manufacturer
- ArmaLite, Costa Mesa, CABasis: the ATF wording
- Type
- RifleBasis: the ATF wording
- Action
- Select-fire / autoBasis: the ATF wording
- Caliber
- .223Basis: the ATF wording
- Made
- c. 1964–1972production; ATF states no dateBasis: outside reference ¹
- Service
- Commercial
Source
- Official wording
- ATF P 5300.11, April 2025 edition · Section IV · PDF p. 81 ↗ · ATF original ↗
- Entries
- 1 line
- Verbatim check
- Checked against the PDF text before every release
- Editorial facts
- Confidence: Medium · Last revised 17 October 2026 (Data-trust review) · How we rate confidence
- References
- 1. Wikipedia, “ArmaLite AR-18” ↗, years: designed 1963; trials purchases from 1964; Costa Mesa pilot production of 1,171 AR-18s between 1969 and 1972
- Fact tags
- ATF the ATF wording states it.
- REF ¹ an outside reference supports it; the number points to the list of references.
- ESTIMATE an approximate or indirect reading, for example the production range of the base model.
- NO CITATION we haven’t attached a reference for this fact; it’s our editorial reading, not ATF’s.
- Source checked
- 20 October 2026: ATF’s page still lists the April 2025 edition
- Corrections
- 2 changes · see below
Correction history
- Data-trust reviewEditorial confidence: Low → Medium. ArmaLite Costa Mesa made AR-18s for trials from 1964 and pilot production 1969–1972; later AR-18/AR-180 production was by Howa and Sterling, not ArmaLite, Costa Mesa
- Data-trust reviewYears: 1964–1975 → 1964–1972. ArmaLite Costa Mesa made AR-18s for trials from 1964 and pilot production 1969–1972; later AR-18/AR-180 production was by Howa and Sterling, not ArmaLite, Costa Mesa
Historical context
Image: Wikimedia Commons, “AR-18.jpg”, Public domain. Retrieved October 2026.
Summary: Wikipedia, “ArmaLite AR-18”. Text CC BY-SA 4.0.
FROM WIKIPEDIA
The ArmaLite-18 (AR-18) is a gas-operated rifle chambered for 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition. The AR-18 was designed at ArmaLite in California by Arthur Miller, Eugene Stoner, George Sullivan, and Charles Dorchester in 1963 as an alternative to the Colt AR-15 design, a variant of which had just been selected by the U.S. military as the M16.