A Retro Clone

[6167]

Some of my club friends did a buy with Dlask for some stripped lowers.
Some of us discussed building M4 style or CQB rifles but I already had one of those, and looked at this as a way to use some very old furniture a friend had on hand for years.
I obtained an early upper and a new vintage contoured 1/8" barrel so I could shoot 55 grain for less expensive plinking and up past 63's if wanted.
I guess most people use an SP-1 lower for this type of build, but I wanted to use the personallized one in this interpretation.
The fit is really snug and it shoots quite well.

The 7.5" 7.62x39 VZ-58 is a lot of fun to bring out with it as well!
Decent hearing protection is required! Cheers

Information

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[browningautorifle]

Don't think you're too far out with your choice of lower. The forward assist wants a mag release button fence, you have that... I'd have kept the old trigger guard but I have that on my M4 so...just preference. Forward assist upper would likely have the trap butt but this one looks good. You can get and shoot 55 gr M193 recipe till you get old. Won't matter, they work fine. Looks good...as you say it's preference and personalized.

[6167]

Yes BAR, I have an earlier style for the trigger guard on the way. I had this aftermarket one on hand for now.
I was trying to date the butt and not sure if it was in the '64/'65 range? Cheers and thanks.

[browningautorifle]

I can't date it for sure but was told by a vet that was there...the prong flash hider, plain upper and trapless butt were all changed at once for the birdcage, fwd assist and butt trap. He would have seen it first hand. Hang on, others will follow here...

The butt probably is in the age you expect. I'm not sure if there's a FSN marking or what...they just kept making them until they changed. I had a fibrite brown set...that was neat. RCS has a set here, he'll be along and show you.

[PaulTT-33]

Hey now there's a couple of real beauties. Can't imagine how dissimilar they would be to shoot. "ones for fighting, ones for fun"

I've been considering, and so far resisting, going down the AR-15 rabbit hole. I'm more drawn historically to the M-16 - M-4 style rifle. It might just be an age thing where I seem to identify more (and enjoy) the WW-2 to cold war era stuff.

Any tips on how how ease into the whole M-16 world without going broke would be appreciated.

[6167]

I don't know how typical my cost experience is but it wasn't too expensive to do this build in CDN$.
Quality lower and kit at about $300
Nice vintage upper with bcg, and retro 1/8" barrel assembly came to about $500
The early furniture was free but I have seen A1 sets in decent shape recently for $150-$175 or so.
So I guess a value of about $650US or $900 CDN for what I was able to piece together using a less expensive lower as there seems to be some good deals around.
Others may be able to do this cheaper using some bits already on hand or getting a deal on some lightly used items at a show? Cheers Paul

[browningautorifle]

Any tips on how how ease into the whole M-16 world without going broke

You can buy as you can afford and assemble later. Keep your eyes on CanadianGunNutz and find deals on things but make sure they're good and what you want. It'll be way cheaper than buying from across the border or from a dealer. As said, maybe pick things up at the gunshow too...

[RCS]

The early brown color is very difficult to locate as well as original green color furniture, but the repro sets are around or you can paint your own. Most of my furniture came out of salvage yards and was sold by the pound ! You can still find the early Edgewater buffer around - but now expensive. Easy to do retro now just difficult to find original parts.

Photo shows Colt semi autos SP1 three digit and SP1 four digit with green furniture, also photo of Edgewater bufferAttachment 99141Attachment 99142Attachment 99146Attachment 99147Attachment 99143Attachment 99144Attachment 99145

[browningautorifle]

Mine was black paint over green paint...over fibrite brown. Very hard stuff to get off too.

[6167]

Nice pics of the early stuff! Thanks for sharing.
There was an early brown grip in with the old stuff I picked up. I have a friend with a really early F/A AR-15 that I gave that to as he had some other brown furniture.
The fibre moulding in the brown grip reminded me of the early Dutch AR10 furniture.
Cheers Paul