DPMS Panther Arms AP4 Panther Carbine
By Christopher Bartocci
In the 1950s, the ArmaLite Division of Fairchild Engine and Aircraft touted their new revolutionary AR-10 as “Tomorrow’s Rifle Today.” How right they were. But the day of the AR-10 would have to wait nearly 40 years to just show how true that claim was.
With the adoption of the smaller caliber AR-15, which was destined to become the 5.56x45mm M16 rifle, the AR-10 wound up in the scrap heap of the Ordnance Corps, even though it may have well been superior to the home grown M14 which was adopted by the U.S. military. The M-14 had an active service life of only 6 years before the AR-15/M16 would officially replace it as the main battle rifle for the United States military. Though the AR-10 was produced in limited number by Artillerie-Inrichtingen Hembrug-Zaandam of the Netherlands, it would disappear and become one of those extremely valuable collector items of the lineage to the longest serving small arm in U.S. history, the M16.
It was not until the early 1990s when the AR-10 would be re-introduced by its designer, Eugene Stoner. The AR-10 was always special to Stoner. His original design interest was in 7.62mm military rifles and it was noticed by individuals from Ordnance Corps that the AR-10 was unusually accurate for an auto-loading firearm. This was for good reason. Stoner teamed up with C. Reed Knight, Jr. of Knight’s Armament Company and introduced the SR (Stoner Rifle) -25 (10 + 15). This was a match grade sniper rifle based on the AR-10 with many of the advancements of the M16A2 and boasted 60% parts commonality. But it was expensive and scarce to anyone other than military. The development of the SR-25 was paid for through commercial sales. Knight did introduce a very small limited run of SR-25 carbines just before the September 1994 Assault Weapon Ban. These utilized the telescopic carbine stock and a 16-inch free-floated barrel.
In the mid 1990s, Mark Westrom, President of Eagle Arms, bought the trademark along with all other remaining rights pertaining to ArmaLite and reintroduced his Company as ArmaLite. Westrom made many 5.56mm variations of the M16 rifle but his true crown jewel was the reintroduction of the AR-10. The new AR-10A2 and A4 series were modernized AR10’s. Unlike the SR-25, Westrom was more concerned with making a rifle that was designed to be a 7.62mm rifle than a rifle that shared parts commonality with the existing M16A2. Westrom built a stronger rifle utilizing forged receivers instead of extruded ones and at a much more affordable price. In fact, ArmaLite (Westrom) has sold more AR-10 rifles than all the others combined throughout the history of the AR-10. With the new ArmaLite Company geared toward high quality weapons design and sales at reasonable prices, the AR-10 was back and back for good. Westrom did develop his weapon with surrogate components from the SR-25 and did maintain parts compatibility to tap into the existing SR-25 market.
AR-10 Carbine Development
Although the mid to late 1990s showed a variety of different AR-10/SR25 rifles, the one that was usually missing from Knight’s and ArmaLite’s catalogue was the carbine versions. This was due to the federal assault weapon ban that prohibited the use of telescopic stocks, bayonet lugs, flash suppressors and production of high-capacity magazines for commercial use. ArmaLite got around the magazine ban by his converting the countless surplus pre-ban M14 magazines into the magazines for his AR-10A2/A4 family of weapons. If you were fortunate enough to have an SR-25 you were stuck paying nearly $150 for a 20-round magazine. With there being little law enforcement or military interest in a compact 7.62mm weapons system, it made little sense to invest in the development of something you could not sell; at least, not yet.
On September 14, 2004, the federal assault weapon ban expired. These weapons were now legal in most states and civilians were anxious to get their hands on a 7.62mm M4. ArmaLite was the first to respond with their AR-10A4 carbine. This sported a 16-inch barrel with an M16A2-style muzzle break and a telescopic stock. Selling for around $1,400, ArmaLite could not produce enough. Knight’s also responded and in 2005 put into production a carbine version of their SR-25 called the MK11 Carbine, which is made in very limited numbers and sells for more than $5,000.
The DPMS AP4 Panther Carbine
The latest entry into the AR-10 family of carbines is the AP4 carbine manufactured by DPMS Panther Arms and introduced at the 2005 SHOT Show. Selling for $1,249, the AP4 is an extremely high quality carbine that is light, reliable and accurate. Panther Arms offers an entire line of match grade rifles in this caliber but the carbine comes in two configurations with the only difference being the hand guard. One comes with standard hand guards and the other with a free floating hand guard. All come with two 20-round magazines and the DPMS Panther Arms Back Up Iron Sight, sling and operators manual all in a hard plastic carrying case.
The Upper Receiver
The upper receiver is made from thick-walled, extruded from 6066 T-6 aluminum. The receiver is then hard coat anodized to a flat black finish. The top of the receiver has a flattop Mil-Std 1913 rail. A unique aspect of the upper receiver is that it has a forward assist/shell deflector built into the receiver located directly behind the ejection port. Why does the AP4 carbine have a forward assist when Knight’s and ArmaLite do not? DPMS was merely responding to customer demand. Although the forward assist assembly is quite useless and designed to force a bolt closed, which you should never do, there are customers who demand it because the M16 has it. The original rifle was designed without one for good reason but there has been a perceived psychological need for it, not a mechanical need, one which has kept it on the M16/M4 series weapons since the mid 1960s. The customers desired it so Panther Arms provided this feature on their AP4. The shell defector, like on the 5.56mm rifle, prevents ejected fired cartridge cases from hitting the left handed shooter in the face. The standard ejection port dust cover is used as well.
The 16-inch long barrel is manufactured from 4140 chrome-molly steel and has the “step-down” contour of the barrel of the M4 carbine. The barrel is button rifled with a right hand twist of six lands and grooves with a 1 turn in 10-inch twist. The carbine uses a standard profile M16 front sight assembly with the M16A2/M4 square front sight post and a modified Vortex-type flash suppressor. The carbine utilizes a gas tube for its direct impingement gas system.
The test and evaluation carbine was also equipped with a DPMS designed BUIS (Back Up Iron Sight). This is very much a standard M16A2 style rear sigh adjustable for both windage and elevation with both long and short range apertures and is secured by two tension bolts. However, any BUIS can be attached to the standard Mil-Std 1913 rail.

Dpms Panther Lookup Zip Download MUGEN; The Screen Pack was requested by A loyal fan of your work The Screen Pack come with Mugen 1.0 1.1 Fonts and lifebars been modified and added the the screen pack the screen pack can hold over 1000 characters The Screen pack is 640x480 Hires All Credit goes to Mugen Jet the Original Author of the Screen pack and Haseo Lee for Modification for the screen. The serial numbers listed, except for 1963, 1969, 1970, are the serial number at the first of the year. NOTE II: The 1969-1970 downturn (highlighted in purple) in production numbers is due to Colt withdrawing the AR-15 from the market temporarily to fix the 'hammer follow-down' issue (the gun could fire full-automatically - erratically - if. Now called ArmaLite. They will not give out a list, but will look up on an individual basis. Lower receiver serial numbers DO NOT begin with EA. Essential Arms All are Pre-Ban as they went out of business in 1993. (DPMS bought them prior to the Ban) Call DPMS Lower receiver serial numbers begin with EA. Some or all lowers are cast. An affordable yet accurate plinking gun, the Panther Oracle is built to bridge the gap between the Sporting and Tactical markets. This introductory level carbine features a 16' light contour barrel DPMS Panther Oracle.223/5.56 AR-15 Rifle 60531: RK Guns.

The Lower Receiver
The lower receiver is milled from a solid billet of 6061-T6 aluminum and hard coat anodized to a flat black finish. The trigger components utilized are standard .155 diameter AR-15 hammer, trigger and disconnector. The selector is the A2-style with co witness on the right side of the receiver so a left handed shooter will know the condition of his rifle. The lower receiver is thicker and sturdier than either the Knight or the ArmaLite rifle.
The telescopic stock utilizes an M4-type polymer stock but has 6 sliding positions instead o