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The AR-15 has a longer barrel, and is semi-automatic. The M4 is a carbine (short barrel) and is capable of fully automatic (burst) firing. The M4 cannot be owned by a private citizen in the US- they were made after the May 1986 cut off date to register full auto firearms.

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14y ago
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11y ago

The AR-15 is the family of rifles from which the M16, M4, C7, C8, etc. are derived. As for a military M4 vs. a civilian legal AR-15, there are several. AR-15 is a trademarked name which belongs to Colt - thus, only AR-15 rifles manufactured by Colt or by companies licensed by Colt can actually call their rifles AR-15 - companies such as the Cerberus companies (Bushmaster, DPMS, Remington) cannot call their product AR-15.

As for the differences between the two, the M4 has selective fire (either SAFE - SEMI - BURST or SAFE - SEMI - AUTO) vs. the semi-auto only of the AR-15. The bolt carriers are constructed different on the select fire M16 and M4 vs. the semi auto only AR-15s, as are the hammers (the semi auto only models use a smooth hammer). The receivers are milled in a manner so that a full auto trigger group or auto sear cannot be fitted into it as is.

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Q: What is difference between ar-15 and m4?
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The M4 is capable of automatic fire, the AR 15 is not


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