Older AR's

[highpower]

I thought I post up a few pictures of my retro AR15's. I like my stuff simple and as light as I can make it and the older AR15's work just fine for me.

Colt Sp1. This has what is known as a slabside receiver. Basically, a civilian 601, Colt made these into the mid '80's. Note the lack of a "fence" around the mag release. This one is from 1976.




M16-A1. Colt 603 clone w/partial fence lower. In the mid 60's the design changed to a push pin for the front pivot to facilitate disassembly. The upper changed with the addition of a forward assist. I built this one from a near pristine Colt A1 kit and an NDS receiver.




M16-A2. This is my oldest AR. I built this back in '89 using the latest AR upgrades available, ie., heavy barrel and easily adjustable rear sights for windage and elevation. Note that the upper and lower receivers have the profile that we are accustomed to seeing today, with the reinforced rear portion of the lower and the cast in brass deflector. I built this from all surplus parts except the lower and the barrel.




The last one is a early M4 with detachable sights. not much to say about this as they are all over the place.




Next in line to be built is a mid 60's Colt XM177-E2 that I am still collecting parts for. I should have it done by November, but you never know.....

 

[Ohio Gun Guy]

nice collection and good information!

 

[henschman]

Very cool -- thanks for sharing. I love the old pencil barreled rifles. They point like a dream. That is the barrel profile they should have stuck with IMO, though going to the faster twist was definitely an upgrade, as were the round handguards -- the triangle ones look cool, but they are more fragile as well as being "hand pinchers." I am shortly sending my A4's barrel off to be milled down to that profile, and I have a BCM 16" middy pencil barrel on HD duty. My only old school AR is a Colt 604. It has all the original GI parts in near mint condition except the lower and auto sear... it is installed on a RRA semi auto lower. If I wanted to be super authentic I'd get a Nodak partial fence lower, but I don't care that much -- I just put some rounds through it occasionally and enjoy shooting such a light, simple, good-handling rifle. Besides, if it doesn't have the third hole, it's not an authentic lower anyway. It is the bottom rifle in the pic. The one on top is an early 90s Olympic A2 HBAR, which I acquired in the same transaction... I sold it off to somebody in CT where it has a higher value due to their BS illegitimate laws. I don't care much for HBARs anyway.

 

[BigG]

The Colt SP1 is my favorite, also. I have a few A1 type for personal use.

 

[moxie]

Interesting to see how it's evolved. Thanks.

 

[119er]

Very nice collection and you taught me some things. I still need to get around to an M16A2 clone build. Our "rubber ducky" rifles in basic were A1 receivers and barrels molded into the heaviest darn hard rubber they could find I'm sure, so that's my only experience with them! Rifle PT with an M16A1 that weighs as much as a Garand; good times.

 

[ifit]

Nice, I have an original colt A2 HBar with slick side receiver.
All you need now is to replace the rear takedown pin on the sp1 to match the rest of the lower to xm grey, if you choose to.

 

[silicosys4]

Some neat AR's in here. How about an old Frankenbuild!
My first AR is a bit of an oddity. It has a SGW lower and an old Colt A1 upper, with some kind of HB and a very long compensator. Here it is as purchased. One of these days I'm going to switch the barrel out to another flattop upper so I can scope it and see what the barrel can actually do. Maybe I'll find out what the barrel is at the same time...right now I have no clue as to even what twist rate, let alone who manufactured it. The only info on it is "5.56" stamped near the gas block.

Anyways, here she is, I'm guessing the whole shebang was put together sometime in the 80's, from what I can ascertain. Any further info would be welcome!





Never shot it much, I never had much inspiration to try and work around the height of the scope mount. Its a neat upper though, and I like the look of the guns posted here, so I might have to do some research and put a barrel on it that's correct for that style upper even if the upper style doesn't necessarily match the lower style/fencing.

 

[highpower]

I might have to do some research and put a barrel on it that's correct for that style upper even if the upper style doesn't necessarily match the lower style/fencing.

Actually, the full fence lowers were around in the later 60's. The XM177E2 that I am building is going to have that type of lower. The main difference between the A1 lower and the later A2 style is the reinforcing around the area where the buffer tube attaches and in the front at the pivot pin hole where there is a reduced radius to add more material at that point.

All you really need is a 20" pencil barrel and a set of triangle handguards and you would be pretty close to an A1.

If you look at the picture you can see the differences.

 

[dprice3844444]

pencil barrels 1/12 http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/m16-a1-5-56mm-20-1-12-twist-20-barrel/
1/7 pencil http://store.mckay-ent.com/parts/m16-a1-replacement-barrel.html

 

[Reloadron]

As far as the AR guns go I also like the plain and simple. Just my taste in an AR type rifle.







The SP1 is a late 70s rifle. Should another early SP1 come along I would likely buy it is the price was right. Can't believe what some of those SP1 rifles sell for today. Anyway, plain and simple is my taste in these rifles as can be seen.

Ron