Colt’s systems have generally followed the times and though its model numbers originally came without prefixes, with the need to separate weapons made for civilian consumption from those made for military and law enforcement use, military models became prefixed with the code 'RO'. Colt has an intricate internal nomenclature system for its models, with a variety of suffixes and prefixes. See Glossary of terms for an explanation of each column.Ĭolt has been the most visible producer of ArmaLite AR-15 pattern weapons, and the military designations M16 & M4 are heavily associated with the company.

Military while italic model numbers are weapons for commercial or export sale. For purposes of these tables, bold model numbers are weapons used (or previously used) by the U.S. The tables here are split in a variety of categories, and provide an overview of different subtypes.

Weapons patterned on the original ArmaLite AR-15 design have been produced by numerous manufacturers and have been used by nations around the world, some of which created their own variations. This article describes the many variations of the Colt AR-15 and M16 rifle family of weapons produced by Colt's Manufacturing Company. M16A1 rifle with forward assist, raised boss around magazine release button and a 30-round magazine.

Colt sp1 serial numbers