One of the most iconic rifles in the history of weapons and warfare, the AR-15 has gone through many changes over the years and its variants remain to be the weapons of choice for the U.S.A. and many of its allies. Tracing its roots to the late 50s, the CAR-15 was introduced in 1963 as designed by Eugene Stoner, the M16A1 entered service in the U.S. military afterwards and seen widespread use during the Vietnam War.

Considered to the “Lego” of firearms, the AR-15, or just called the AR for many, is a very versatile rifle in terms of configuration. With the introduction of modularity to the rifle such as rail systems and approaches in the designs of its receiver, it is the most configurable allowing users to customize the rifle according to their preferences. In recent years, many firearms companies have built their businesses around the AR, offering different designs for use in combat, civilian and sporting uses. Springfield Armory, the company behind the infographic below, is just one of the latest companies to offer an AR product, the SAINT AR-15, even if it has been business since 1974 (the government arsena, Springfield Armory, was closed in 1968).

In airsoft, the AR design remains to be most popular platform that airsoft players go for so they can configure it to their own uses reflecting the how the real steel version is also used in the firearms design. Even if many of us have already been numbed by the myriad offerings from airsoft companies on AR-based airsoft guns, such as the M4s, still we are comfortable with it, as many companies build accessories and upgrades for the AR platform. Thus, it can also be considered to be the “Toyota” of weapons due to sheer breadth of products that can be used with it.

Thus, as airsoft players, we also need to know how the airsoft guns that we used evolved to what they are now, as most of them are based on real world guns. In this case Springfield Armory have put together this infographic for us to have a quick read on the history and evolution of the AR-15.