The AR15 or 'Black Rifle' The AR15 is a name given to a type of modular rifle based on the original Armalite/Colt AR15 which was designed By Eugene Stoner as a lighter, smaller calibre (5.56x45mm) version of the 7.62x51mm AR10 rifle. Nowadays, many companys produce AR15s although, technically, only Colt can use the name 'AR15'. It is a gas-operated, semi-automatic, air-cooled rifle utilizing a 30 round magazine. Often called simply the Black Rifle (or Nasty Black Rifle by it's detractors), the AR15 is an accurate and reliable rifle that because of it's modular design, is extremely customisable. They are so much fun to own that they are said to cause 'BRD' or 'black rifle disease' in their owners. The original AR15 was designed to fire the 5.56x45mm cartridge, the military version of the .223 Remington, but nowadays AR15s are available chambered in a wide variety of calibres including .22LR, .410 slug, 9mm and 6.5 Grendel. UNFORTUNATELY, thanks to the post-Hungerford ban on semi-automatic rifles in the UK, the AR15 rifle is only available in straight-pull form. These two photo's show a straight pull .223 AR15 (the rifle in the photo's belongs to a shooting mate of mine, Dave Swindell). The rifle must be made as a straight pull and not converted from a genuine semi-auto. This is done by machining a long slot into the side of the upper and attaching a pull handle to the bolt. This allows the bolt to be manually operated to load each round. It isn't strictly necessary to do it this way, the standard cocking handle can be used but this is difficult when the rifle has a scope fitted.