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The Colt AR-15 was introduced in 1964. It is a semi-automatic version of the United States military M16 rifle.
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Wikipedia.
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After Colt's patents expired in 1977,[10] an active marketplace emerged, as other manufactures began to copy the Colt AR-15 rifle's design.
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Wikipedia.
I suspect very few civilians owned a semi-automatic version until other manufacturers produced enough of the rifles to get the price down to a point that the civilian market could afford them, i.e., probably the very late 70's or early 80's.