About 20 years ago, a batch of AR-10 parts -- some were American production, but the majority Portuguese and Sudanese production -- came on the market. Some enterprising manufacturers made replica aluminum AR-10 lower receivers to rebuild the parts kits into shooting rifles. I purchased one of these rifles, along with a good number of aluminum "waffle" stamped magazines, and an original bayonet for a very good price.
The current versions of AR-15/M16/M4 rifles are considerably improved on the location of their controls for the shooter. Some of this is undoubtedly influenced by the smaller size of the .223 Remington/5.56 NATO cartridge as compared to the larger .308 Winchester/7.62 NATO round. Field stripping the AR-10 and AR-15/M16/M4 rifles is the essentially the same.
One of the major points of recognition of the AR-10 is its cocking handle. The handle resembles a hook and is located behind the front carrying handle support. On early models of the AR-10, this cocking handle is one piece, on later versions of the rifle it is made in two pieces that telescope into each other on cocking. On AR-15/M16/M4 rifles, the cocking handle is T-shaped and located below the rear support for the carrying handle.
Other areas of difference from the later rifles is the lack of guard around the magazine release, and shape of the selector and bolt latch. The rear sight of the AR-10 is very similar to the AR-15/M16A2 rifles except that it is adjustable for windage. The windage adjustment is done by loosening a set screw. Unfortunately, at least on my rifle, the set screw tended to loosen under recoil and zero was lost. I cured this by putting Loctite 242 thread locker on the screw.
For some reason, the felt recoil of this rifle was very uncomfortable. The straight-line stock may have had something to do with this, but the jolt against my shoulder was not good for precise shooting. When I had a chance to sell the rifle to an active duty military service member, I took it. Below are photos of the Portuguese-Sudanese production rifles to compare with the American production version and the current production Armalite, Inc. AR-10B rifles.
Above: The right side of a Portuguese-Sudanese production AR-10. Note the lack of the forward bolt assist and guard around the magazine release button found on later AR-15/M16/M4 rifles. Like the later rifles, the AR-10 pioneered the fold-down trigger guard for use with gloves in cold weather operations. The AR-10 retaining ring unscrews for removal of the handguards instead of the spring-loaded retaining ring now used.
Below: A left side view of the same rifle. Note the side location of the front and rear sling swivels, the location of the selector and bolt latch, and the gas spindle or gas cutoff on the front sight base. The closed flash suppressor is very similar to that used on current AR-15/M16/M4 production. The rings on the barrel are a gas seals and positioning rings for launching of rifle grenades. The top-mounted bayonet lug is just ahead of the front sight base. Compare this arrangement with the American production AR-10.
Above: Right side of an American production AR-10 rifle. Compare the differences in the handguards, front sight base, bayonet lug, and flash suppressor with the Portuguese-Sudanese production rifle.
Below: Left side of a current-production Armalite, Inc. AR-10B rifle. This rifle resembles more of a scaled-up version of the AR-15/M16 rifles than it does the original AR-10. The AR-10B uses modified M14 rifle magazines. AR-10B rifles share the same kind of cocking handles as their AR-10 predecessors, but have a compensator-muzzle brake instead of the flash suppressor of the originals. No bayonet lug is fitted to the AR-10B and certain internal and external parts are the same as those on the later AR-15A2/M16A2 rifles.
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