When he was asked if he wanted to shoot the last watermelon or just go down and eat it, General LeMay sighted in on the lone melon and replied, 'Let's eat the son of a bitch!' It was in the middle of a field, eating watermelon where the discussion arose about an 8,500-unit order for the Air Force. The General was very impressed with the results and noted there was one target remaining. General LeMay fired at and destroyed two of the watermelons. When it came time in the day to shoot this new rifle some watermelons were placed at approximately 50, 75 and 100 yards.

He stated the event was actually a yearly gathering at the Macdonald's farm, usually for recreation: in his words, 'a cookout and beer-bust.' A few days before the date he was asked to bring the rifle along because there would be '.some brass there.' Little did he know that the guests that day would include General Curtis LeMay, the United States Air Force Chief of Staff. When asked to recount the demonstration that would eventually lead to the adoption of this weapon system Mr. Mullen was asked if #000106 was indeed the rifle that traveled around the world on two occasions and the rifle involved in the famous J'Watermelon Demonstration' he replied, 'Absolutely.'

It was in a Jmeeting where many of the former suspicions were realized as factual. William Mullen, Vice President of Cooper Macdonald Corp., it is believed that in December of 1959 Colt manufactured 20 of their new Colt ArmaLite AR-15 automatic rifles and it is documented through Colt that rifle #00106 was shipped to Cooper Macdonald Corp.

The mystique of this special rifle begins its journey from Hartford, Connecticut to Baltimore, Maryland on Februand ends up in Fairfield, Maine in 2011 after traveling around the globe more than two times.Īccording to the research of David Norman, and later confirmed by Mr. For those of us who take fondly to the black rifles, the most famous of all may arguably be the Colt ArmaLite AR-15 Serial Number 000106, also known as 'The Coconut Rifle.' This particular gun is credited for the adoption of this weapon system eventually becoming the primary service weapon of the United States Military for almost 50 years. No matter the style or discipline of interest, such a famous or personally important gun exists. There are several famous firearms that we have all looked at, read about or simply heard of that we would like to claim personal ownership of.

Colt ar-15 serial number database