Don't know how it would hold up under battle conditions, but probably just as good as an AR-15 just much longer range knock down power and heavier.
It definitely didn't hold up nearly as well as the 5.56 AR did, but that has nothing to do with design. The M16/M4 has had 50 years of development, while the AR10 design has had far less development.
In regards to the original AR10, there is nothing wrong with the AR10 design per-se. The only issues encountered had to do with development of the rifle from a standpoint of manufacturing process, and materials. Unfortunately, full development never really happened with the AR10 for a few reasons.
1 – They were a little late getting into the game (this probably hurt Armalite more than anything)
2 – Before any real development could happen, attention shifted to the AR15
And when you say AR10 it casts a HUGE net encompassing some fairly low quality range toys, on up to the SR25 and the previously mentioned LMT modular .308. The SR25/M110 was the first AR10 that was a serious battle rifle. And quite predictably when it was adopted by the US it had its fair share of problems. Almost all of which were related to materials and manufacturing, not to design because as we know, there’s nothing wrong with the design per-se. Still, the US Army found the M110 adequate as a DM rifle, but they have never been really happy with it, which is why they are getting rid of it for the most part. They have contracted with H&K to either upgrade M110’s or just replace them with the DM version of the H&K 417 rifle (CSASS).
Be it FAL or AR, with civilian legal rifles, the real factor is the build quality of the rifle; not which design.
