I followed this discussion a couple years ago when the FN Military Collectors series M4 and M16A4 were announced, which wrapped up with a couple assessments of the two rifles, including a lot of disappointment that they didn’t live up to expectations about them being true replicas of the military issue weapons:
FN Military Collector Series (M4 and M16A4)
Ignoring the issues with the roll mark / text that’s engraved on the lower receiver, can anyone provide some current feedback on the M16A4? I’ve heard that they produced another batch that corrected the selector markings, so I’m curious if any other updates may have been done to the rifle. What I’m mainly interested in is whether the internal components, stock, barrel, BCG, and other parts are good quality, even if no one can confirm if they match the MILSPEC. I’m familiar with the whole TDP conversation, but it seems unlikely to me that FN would go to all the trouble to use completely different internal components, furniture, etc. Even if they did, how do FN’s commercial parts, such as their lower internal parts, FCG, etc. in their FN15 series measure up to other brands?
Two specific questions: (1) Does this FN model have M4 feed ramps and barrel extension; and (2) does the buttstock have a plastic buttplate as I saw reported somewhere?
Where I’m going with this is that I carried an FN M16A4 briefly on a deployment and would like to have a clone of that rifle with as many FN parts as possible. I’d be willing to replace things that aren’t quite right in order to stick with FN as the basis for it. I can get a little better deal on it through FN’s military / LE discount program. The one thing I’d like to replace eventually to go all out on the clone would be to find an actual FNMI stamped 20” barrel, which I know were available a few years ago through surplus sources but may be hard to track down now. I believe the Military Collector rifle comes with just the cage code on the barrel.
Thanks for any feedback you all can offer!
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