It's 2021, what's the new LE6920?

[DG23]

The Expanse rifles (short lived) wernt made by colt. They sucked. Colt had a 2nd party make them for them. A complete embarrassment for colt to put their name on that travesty. The 6920’s of all years are solid. As far as I know the expanse line was not called 6920. Colt 6920, 6720, 6721, 6960, 6940 and 6920-EPR are all top notch weapons I feel you can trust your life on.

If I take all three of these to the range and shoot for groups out of the same ammo can / lot - That one on the far right is my least favorite.

[Disciple]

What do they call that middle profile?

[17K]

Don't want to derail this but what year do some of yall think is the best year for Colt AR's?

My Dad had 2 and when he passed away they were left to me so I never bought any Colt AR's I purchased different brands because I like to try different things.

Thanks.

I like 2009-current as they have M16 BCG, standard pins, no sear block in the lower.

[indianalex01]

What do they call that middle profile?

SOCOM profile

[Disciple]

SOCOM profile

I thought this was the SOCOM profile?

https://bravocompanyusa.com/bcm-stan...rrel-stripped/

https://www.brownells.com/rifle-part...prod71337.aspx

[Core781]

I like 2009-current as they have M16 BCG, standard pins, no sear block in the lower.

I'm not sure about the sear blocks being dropped in 2009? Someone was just saying they still block the sear: I cant vouch for them but he says hes a FFL and NFA. They stopped the big pins a long time ago, not sure of the year: I feel like it was pre ban when they made them and dropped them post ban. But they do all have M16 BCG now.

[indianalex01]

I thought this was the SOCOM profile?

https://bravocompanyusa.com/bcm-stan...rrel-stripped/

https://www.brownells.com/rifle-part...prod71337.aspx

Technically yes you are right. I was just being vague. The middle one is a medium weight socom type of profile. Left was heavy and right was government profile.

Colt changed the away from large trigger pins in early 2009.

[Core781]

I thought this was the SOCOM profile?

https://bravocompanyusa.com/bcm-stan...rrel-stripped/

https://www.brownells.com/rifle-part...prod71337.aspx

The SOCOM has the cut to mount the M203. Early SOCOMs some didn't have the cut. Its basically a mid weight barrel between HBC and M4. The early Crane barrels are pretty rare but had some interesting characteristics and variations until they standardized them. I have several Colt contract overruns, they are very nice, I can shoot a playing card sized group at 400 meters with a RISII with a red dot and no magnification. Good stuff. Diver at ARFOR has some Crane barrel photos and Augie had some neat early barrels. Some folks turned down HBs yikes!

[indianalex01]

Depends on the exact model of Expanse and when you bought it. Towards the end of that series they were pretty much pulling parts from the 6920 bins and selling them under the Expanse name. If you bought at the beginning of the series you may (most likely) have got a rifle missing bits (ejection port door, forward assist) and / or containing a lot of non-Colt parts.

The Expanse rifles I bought (towards the end of that series) are darn near identical to the 6920 carbines I have less the barrel, trigger group and buffer. (aside of being assembled on a different line and minor things like staking being different) Same exact LE prefix M4 Colt lowers on all...

With a detailed inspection that actually involves measuring things and shooting them side by side (Expanse vs 6920) - I can't come to the same conclusions that you did with regard to the Expanse samples I have.

The triggers are lighter and the barrels are more accurate.

You are correct. Late model expanse rifles did have a lot of colt parts. The majority of them did not though.

[Core781]

I had an Expanse gas tube sold to me by a guy who was well intentioned. When I went to install it, I flexed it and compared to a Colt Defense tube and its an entirely different tube. Much thinner and different stainless in appearance. I called Colt and they explained they were different part numbers: and not to exchange parts.. One of the forum guys made a parts list comparison. What would we do without the passionate among us? The seller was a bit taken aback when I explained it to him, but he paid for the return and sweetened the deal with a S FCG for a reasonable price. The tube was easily bendable: you can flex a military rifle tube but it takes a lot of effort to flex a military carbine tube due to its shorter length. When I took an armorers course years ago the instructor demonstrated how rugged a milspec carbine has tube was but placing it in a vise and flexing it. From my experience different manufacturers use different quality tubes and Colt Defense is worth the extra scratch.