militarymoron
07-02-15, 21:58
i was going through old boxes recently and found some old A1 parts that i had forgotten about. it looked like i had enough to put together half a build, so i decided to put together a retro-ish carbine just for fun. a sort of 'return to simplicity' for me. i wasn't concerned with authenticity, but i did want it to channel the 'essence' of an old, Vietnam era carbine and most importantly, make it a fun rifle for me to shoot at the range.
i bought my first AR in 1985; a Colt AR15 A2; and when the movie Platoon came out i just HAD to have a carbine. i picked up a used colt carbine at a gun show that i thought was an R6001. it was only years later that i found out that the lower was originally an R6000/SP1 with serial number dating back to 1967 (the year before i was born). since retro builds weren't 'cool' like they are now, i had taken it apart sometime in the late 90's or early 2000's and reconfigured it into something more modern (the SP1 lower is now spray painted with krylon), and the A1 upper receiver was replaced with a flat top. my re-discovery of my A1 upper receiver, handguards and some small parts in a box is what prompted me to put together the rifle below. this was basically a 'retro rifle on a budget', and while i tried to do it on the cheap, i didn't want it to look like a just another new-looking carry handle carbine, so i put a little bit of effort into the distressed look and a couple of details like removing the bayonet lug.
i had an old stripped bushmaster A2 lower in my safe so i filled in the snake logo with epoxy, sanded it down, and painted the lower.
you'll see that there are a lot of things "wrong" with it - A2 lower, .750 barrel (from tony's custom - 11.5" barrel with pinned/welded 'XM style' flash hider), modern castle nut etc. I'm a lefty so i installed an ambi safety, norgon ambi-catch and original badger ordnance ambi charging handle. the receiver extension is a 6-position vltor. both the extension and lower were painted in automotive primer, distressed, then coated with matte clearcoat. the receiver end plate is a BCM QD socket in case i want to use a different sling point. while the use of all these modern parts is anachronistic, this is basically my idea of what an ambi GAU-5A carbine might have looked like if one existed back then.
i actually had more fun putting it together than most of my 'modern' builds, and it's helluva fun to shoot at the range. while it won't fool anyone who knows what they're looking at, it's not meant to. i've had more people comment 'man, that thing must be old!' and show more interest in it than any of my new-fangled carbines. :D
33970
33971
i bought my first AR in 1985; a Colt AR15 A2; and when the movie Platoon came out i just HAD to have a carbine. i picked up a used colt carbine at a gun show that i thought was an R6001. it was only years later that i found out that the lower was originally an R6000/SP1 with serial number dating back to 1967 (the year before i was born). since retro builds weren't 'cool' like they are now, i had taken it apart sometime in the late 90's or early 2000's and reconfigured it into something more modern (the SP1 lower is now spray painted with krylon), and the A1 upper receiver was replaced with a flat top. my re-discovery of my A1 upper receiver, handguards and some small parts in a box is what prompted me to put together the rifle below. this was basically a 'retro rifle on a budget', and while i tried to do it on the cheap, i didn't want it to look like a just another new-looking carry handle carbine, so i put a little bit of effort into the distressed look and a couple of details like removing the bayonet lug.
i had an old stripped bushmaster A2 lower in my safe so i filled in the snake logo with epoxy, sanded it down, and painted the lower.
you'll see that there are a lot of things "wrong" with it - A2 lower, .750 barrel (from tony's custom - 11.5" barrel with pinned/welded 'XM style' flash hider), modern castle nut etc. I'm a lefty so i installed an ambi safety, norgon ambi-catch and original badger ordnance ambi charging handle. the receiver extension is a 6-position vltor. both the extension and lower were painted in automotive primer, distressed, then coated with matte clearcoat. the receiver end plate is a BCM QD socket in case i want to use a different sling point. while the use of all these modern parts is anachronistic, this is basically my idea of what an ambi GAU-5A carbine might have looked like if one existed back then.
i actually had more fun putting it together than most of my 'modern' builds, and it's helluva fun to shoot at the range. while it won't fool anyone who knows what they're looking at, it's not meant to. i've had more people comment 'man, that thing must be old!' and show more interest in it than any of my new-fangled carbines. :D
33970
33971