Notes: The Leader was designed by Charles George, and is a close copy of the AR-18. It was meant to be an assault rifle that was easier and cheaper to manufacture. The biggest differences between the Leader and the AR-18 are the bolt (3 lugs instead of 8), the charging handle (above and to the left of the handguard), and the carrying handle on top. The Leader appears radically different from the AR-18 because of the carrying handle and the plastic furniture, but is really not that different.

There is one other big difference; the Leader is a rather pathetic assault rifle that is close to completely unreliable. The general opinion is that it was simplified too much. Quality control was terrible; the flash suppressor was ineffective, the chamber was undersized, and a magazine could be pushed all the way into the bolt area when the bolt was locked to the rear, which of course led to an instant jam upon firing the first shot. The Leader would also suffer stoppages for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

Though the Leader has been reintroduced of late in a semiautomatic civilian version, its reputation is so poor that almost no one is buying them.