Car-15
| Length Overall | Barrel Length | Weight | Caliber | Action Type | Magazine Capacity |
| 30"- 33" extended | 11.5" 1 in 14"twist | 5.6 Pounds | .223 | Gas Semi Auto | 20 or 30 |
a slight loss in velocity because of the shorter barrel (3020 fps
vs. 3250fps). There is a permanently installed flash hider, to bring the
barrel up to the length that the law requires, and to give the bayonet something
to hang onto. I would have preferred the 16" barrel; but it was out of stock
at the time that I placed my order. The barrel on this gun features the older
1 in 14" twist, which will not properly stabilize the new 69 grain SS109 ammunition;
but makes the older 55 grain bullets particularly deadly, due to marginal
stabilization.
The original Car-15 was equipped with a four position
retractable stock. During the clinton gun ban, this style of rifle was only
available to mere civilians with the stock pinned in the fully open position.
Fortunately, this rifle was purchased several years before the unconstitutional
ban went into effect. The stock is retracted and extended by depressing a
catch on it's underside. It is a bit difficult to obtain a proper cheek weld
with this style of stock; but then, a Car-15 is not exactly meant to be a
target or sniper rifle. The recoil is light enough, that the gun can be fired
from the hip, with the stick retracted; but for all practical purposes the
retraced position is for carry and transport only, and firing would always
be done with the stock extended.Though strictly speaking, this is not really a carbine, in the modern sense, it is deployed as one. It was introduced during the Veit Nam war, and was initially meant to replace issue of the M-1, and M-3 carbines, still in use during that conflict, by non combatants. Though it is short, light, and handy, it's use of an intermediate, bottle necked cartridge, makes it a rifle, albeit a shortened one.
I have kind of defeated the purpose of making this rifle so small and light, by mounting it with a scope. This particular rifle is equipped with see through scope
mounts, so that the standard peep sights can be used. This mount attaches
to the carry handle with s single mounting screw. The scope is a 4-12x40mm
ranging type. It uses the stadia method to range, and a second step to calculate
bullet drop. You first zoom the scope to bracket your target, and then read
the range off of an indicator dial. With the range known, you then click adjust
to scope, according to the calculator dial, and then fire. Not the fastest
system in the world, though with practice it can be made to work quickly
enough. The rifle is a bit of a hybrid, having the A-2 styling; but retaining the A-1 style of sight. This style of site has the windage adjusted via the rear sight, and the elevation adjusted at the front. The newer A-2 style of sight adjusts for both windage and elevation at the rear sight.
This is an Olympic arms rifle. I built it myself from a parts kit, and have found it to be a reliable, and accurate rifle. I have never been able to find any fault with the SGW / Olympic product line. These rifles are tight, accurate, well finished, and quite sturdy. My first ever AR-15 rifle was a genuine Colt. I sold it years ago, in preference to my set of Olympics. The Colt was not as tight, as well finished, or as accurate as the SGW. In an attempt to make the little rifle as politically incorrect as possible, I have put a bayonet on it (dreaded, deadly assault weapon), and a scope (dreaded, deadly sniper weapon). For general details please see the section on the standard AR-15 rifle.