ArmaLite AR-180B
Eugene Stoner's other AR. Designed in 1963 to be manufacturable abroad. The platform that influenced everything from the Crusader 9 to the SA80.
Is the ArmaLite AR-180B banned in Canada? Yes. The ArmaLite AR-180B is prohibited in Canada. It was named in SOR/2024-248 (December 2024). If you owned one before the deadline, confirm whether it appears on the federal Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program list. The current amnesty for prohibited firearms expires 90 days after the latest Supreme Court appeal termination under SOR/2026-114.
Classification: Prohibited · OIC/SOR: SOR/2024-248 · Ban-Risk: Already Gone · Compensation: Confirm federal list · Amnesty: SCC appeals + 90 days
Verdict
The ArmaLite AR-180B is Eugene Stoner's lesser-known second AR design — the 1963 AR-18, modernized and reissued as the AR-180B in 2001. Stoner and ArmaLite engineered the AR-18 specifically to address the AR-15's design weakness for manufacture outside the United States: the direct-impingement gas system required precision tooling that less-developed industrial bases couldn't match in the late 1960s. The AR-18's short-stroke gas piston, simpler receiver pressing, and lower-precision manufacturing requirements made it the design ancestor of an enormous family of subsequent rifles — the British SA80, the Singaporean SAR 80 / SR 88, the Crusader 9 (Batch 3, the Canadian-manufacturer derivation), the Bushmaster ACR (Batch 3), and others. SOR/2024-248 named the AR-180B on December 5, 2024 alongside the Mountain Machine Works clones of the same platform. The entry sits with the Robinson XCR-L (Batch 3) as the historical anchor for short-stroke-piston civilian semi-auto centrefires.
Tracking a rifle on this list?
The Ban-Risk Index updates as classifications and the federal compensation list change. Get those changes, and the SCC + 90-day amnesty deadline reminders, in The Dispatch.
Lineage
Parents: ArmaLite AR-15 (1959 Stoner predecessor) → ArmaLite AR-18 (1963 simplified-manufacture redesign) → AR-180 civilian variant → AR-180B modern reissue (2001)
Primary sources for this entry
- Canada Gazette — Canada Gazette. accessed 2026-05-27
- ArmaLite AR-180B product page (Manufacturer, accessed 2026-05-27) — Manufacturer. accessed 2026-05-27
Safety note: the Ban-Risk Index is editorial estimation, not legal advice or a substitute for current official guidance. The classification field reflects current RCMP FRT status as of the last-scored date. For any transfer, surrender, deactivation, or transport question, consult primary RCMP / Public Safety Canada sources and, where appropriate, a Canadian firearms lawyer.
