My 602 build just became a green stocked 601

Well, I figure it deserves its own thread. It actually started as a 602 with black Brownell's furniture, but I ordered the brown furniture from them also, to paint green. I had ordered a set of their green retro furniture, but it was all wrong.

Parts list :
-NDS 601 lower
-Colt SP1 complete upper (close enough- not worth it to me to grind off the arrow and have it redone. the upper is like new.
-Colt semi auto lower parts kit (notched hammer)
Bolt catch modified to 601 configuration and selector and pins dimpled by John Thomas at Retro Arms Works.
-Fulton slick side chrome Bolt Carrier, and Stag Arms chrome bolt
-late production Colt buffer and spring
-Brownell's brown A1 retro furniture, painted green with Testors FS34079 (dark OD green)
-Brownell's 20" retro 1/12 pencil barrel, chrome lined (shoots 1 moa with Lake City M1934, so it stays!)
-Innovative Industries 601 "duckbill" flash hider
-Nodak Spud 601 triangular charging handle
-Nodak Spud waffle magazine, blocked to 10 rounds for Californication use with bullet button.
-1960s contract Colt M7 bayonet (not German, but rather Imperial made contract)
-M1 web sling
-Knock off of Colt 4x scope - shoots 1 moa, not too bad for a 439 scope...
-current Colt cleaning rod, not T handle. It looks a lot like the early 601/602 rods with the knurled handle.
Nice reproduction of original AR15 601 manual complete with fold out.

Parts inbound: 601 grenade spring coming from Sarco.

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I intentionally scuffed the paint on the handguard at a wear point to see how the green paited brown Brownells furniture looked. Awesome, just like an original with the brown showing through. Much better than black furniture painted green....

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Yeas ago I decided to install original green furniture on a four digit SP1, also installed an original early bolt catch (these are very rare to find)

Outside photos show the green color bestAttachment 88176Attachment 88177

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RCS

Yeas ago I decided to install original green furniture on a four digit SP1, also installed an original early bolt catch (these are very rare to find)

Outside photos show the green color bestAttachment 88176Attachment 88177

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Nice, I also had an original set in about 1989, that I put on an SP1, along with an original Edgewater buffer, 601 Bolt Catch, and duck bill. In about 1990 or 1991, a so called friend talked me into lending him all the 601 stuff for his rifle for an example at an Arms Shows (he also had an SP1, and mine was registered to me under the Roberti-Roos assault rifle ban of 1990). He never returned it and dodged me after that. I gave up. We had an original green stock 601 in our SP Arms room in 1979-1981, and I actually fired it several times on range days. I have always had a thing about them....

They replaced the early bolt catch very earlyAttachment 88180Attachment 88181 which makes them very difficult to impossible to find now, good market for repros in restorations

I got my reproduction 601 bolt catch from John Thomas at Retro Arms Works. He is a master machinist and retro gunsmith.

The story of the 601

Page Title

Some 601s and 602s in the wild:

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Another picture of a 601 in the wild....

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As AK-47 magazines are very cheap now as well as Colt AR-15 magazines, it would be interesting to fabricate some franken magazines to
find out how well they worked ?

Photos of franken magazines before the 30 rd Colt magazine became availableAttachment 88428Attachment 88429Attachment 88430

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RCS

Photos of franken magazines before the 30 rd Colt magazine became availableAttachment 88428Attachment 88429Attachment 88430

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I saw some of them around, but did not use one when I was in Viet Nam. A lot of trial and error file work to get them to fit and and the results depended on when the guy cobbling one together was satisfied with how well it worked in his rifle. I did see one that was held in entirely by friction, no attempt was made to cut a notch for the magazine catch. I can't remember who had it, but I do seem to think it was some larger base camp, like Bien Hoa or Long Binh. I also have a low opinion of "jungle clips," just too easy to fill the weapon full of mud and crap. Admittedly, on the tank, hauling lots of extra small arms ammo was easy, but the risk of long and short round related stoppages made the infantry's habit of wearing machine gun belts like a Mexican bandit look dicey to me.