"AR15" X'd out replaced with "M16A1"?

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

Back in basic in '89, I was issued a rifle like this. I thought it was pretty neat at the time, as none of the other trainees' rifles I saw were so marked. Further, the "M16" stamp had a different look than the "A1", as if the "A1" had been added later. I've no idea how original the rest of the parts were to the receiver--probably replacements. But mine did have the triangular handguards which I liked much better than the round pineapples that were present on about half of our platoon's rifles.

I'm curious as to the history of these markings. How common were they, and were they unique to a particular manufacturer? For the life of me, although I remember the X'd out stampings very well, I cannot recall the manufacturer. Funny how one's memory works. My best friend treasures his Oly, because he swears he was issued one in basic training and distinctly recalls the Griffin logo.

[BUBBAGUNS]

In the Navy we had origanal colt ar-15's that were x ed out and restamped m-16a1. This was back in the early 90's before we turned them in for new a3's made by FN.

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

Funny you should mention that. When I was returning from one of my deployments to Iraq, I encountered some Seabees in the chow hall line. What I noticed first was one of their M16 A1's. As I was staring at his rifle, the Seabee said something like "Yeah, this is an A1; people keep making a big deal about it." He let me look at it for awhile. His was made by Harrington and Richardson. The finish was devoid of any high edge wear and was almost a purple color, leading me to believe that it had been refinished at some point. I thought it was pretty neat to see such an old rifle in this day and age. On my first deployment, I saw some Marines with an M60 machine gun mounted in the turret on their M1165. They, too were used to guys making a big deal of their "obsolete" weapons.

[obucina]

In the Navy we had origanal colt ar-15's that were x ed out and restamped m-16a1. This was back in the early 90's before we turned them in for new a3's made by FN.

Those A3s have an auto selection instead of a burst, right?

[Psybain]

Funny you should mention that. When I was returning from one of my deployments to Iraq, I encountered some Seabees in the chow hall line. What I noticed first was one of their M16 A1's. As I was staring at his rifle, the Seabee said something like "Yeah, this is an A1; people keep making a big deal about it." He let me look at it for awhile. His was made by Harrington and Richardson. The finish was devoid of any high edge wear and was almost a purple color, leading me to believe that it had been refinished at some point. I thought it was pretty neat to see such an old rifle in this day and age. On my first deployment, I saw some Marines with an M60 machine gun mounted in the turret on their M1165. They, too were used to guys making a big deal of their "obsolete" weapons.

I remember being thrown off by seeing a couple seabees with A1s back in Al Asad in 05. It was the first I had seen one in person. Over in Bagram in 09 the navy EOD platoon I was working with had a m79 in our weapon safe as well.

[BUBBAGUNS]

Those A3s have an auto selection instead of a burst, right?

Yes. They were marked safe, semi and auto. The A3 is just an A2 but with Auto instead of burst.

[american lockpicker]

Funny you should mention that. When I was returning from one of my deployments to Iraq, I encountered some Seabees in the chow hall line. What I noticed first was one of their M16 A1's. As I was staring at his rifle, the Seabee said something like "Yeah, this is an A1; people keep making a big deal about it." He let me look at it for awhile. His was made by Harrington and Richardson. The finish was devoid of any high edge wear and was almost a purple color, leading me to believe that it had been refinished at some point. I thought it was pretty neat to see such an old rifle in this day and age. On my first deployment, I saw some Marines with an M60 machine gun mounted in the turret on their M1165. They, too were used to guys making a big deal of their "obsolete" weapons.

One of my friends was a Seabee and told me he was issued an A2 which he thought was retro since others were using A4s.

[halfmoonclip]

For the OP, did your rifle have a Forward Assist?
Moon

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

Yes, it was FA. I also remember that in the National Guard, once the A2 was adopted in the RA, we still had A1's--but an aluminum plate with an aluminum arm was installed between the pistol grip and the receiver; the arm blocked the selector from being placed on auto. I thought that was interesting; not only was the Army pro 3 rd burst, it was positively anti-FA. We used to routinely break those little arms off. It wasn't that we needed FA so much; we were just insulted by this modification.

[halfmoonclip]

Sorry, changed my original post to indicate 'FA' meant 'forward assist'; IIRC, a straight M16 had no FA to close the bolt.

I recall those damnfool little tabs; my old guard outfit had them. Even worse, when we were called up for the trucker's strike, they took our BCGs out of the rifles as well; guess they figured it would be messy if we shot some truckers. About half the company had privately owned handguns stashed on their person....
I always put in for range detail because we got to shoot up the leftover ammo at the end of the day. It took about no time to unscrew the pistol grip and remove the steel gizmo, burn up some ammo FA, and then put the gizmo back on. The guys in the arms room got grumpy if you simply broke off that tab.
Moon
Moon

[Heavy Metal]

Yes, it was FA. I also remember that in the National Guard, once the A2 was adopted in the RA, we still had A1's--but an aluminum plate with an aluminum arm was installed between the pistol grip and the receiver; the arm blocked the selector from being placed on auto. I thought that was interesting; not only was the Army pro 3 rd burst, it was positively anti-FA. We used to routinely break those little arms off. It wasn't that we needed FA so much; we were just insulted by this modification.

I bet one of the missions of your Guard Unit was Riot Control. That is one of the uses of the limiting plates.

They tend to frown upon Group Therapy in those settings.

[halfmoonclip]

I bet one of the missions of your Guard Unit was Riot Control. That is one of the uses of the limiting plates.

They tend to frown upon Group Therapy in those settings.

I think you are entirely correct, and after Kent State they were even twitchy about giving us cartridges, never mind the BCG.
Moon

[Heavy Metal]

I used the Ozark Surplus tool this week to install a barrel and install the three-prong hider. Worked like a champ for both. I am going to post pics in an new thread later.

The tool seems well-made and properly hardened. The only thing it lacks is a 13 digit NSN.

[Bigun]

In Basic, Ft McClellan 1986. My lower receiver was a Colt marked XM15 it had a A1 upper but no fence around the mag release.

[walkin' trails]

I was in army basic in 81 (Ft Dix), and the Infantry School at Benning in 87, and various reserve elements mixed in and around. Everything I trained with was Colt M16A1, although I did see one marked GM Hydramatic at Dix. Even the DRMO rifles we had when I was in the Border Patrol were all well-worn A1s. I wonder that with the A2s coming into the inventory, military units started putting some of the older moth-balled stuff back into various inventories to wear them out before putting the new stuff into circulation.