Retro Carbine build: CAR-15 XM177E2

[RedArmy]

ah a fellow homeboy with fine taste I see, gonna throw a single point optic on it or an oxford if ya can find one?

View attachment 308918

my very 90's Bushmaster Rebuild.

No optics for this one, keeping it Vietnam era correct. Eventually I'll build an early rifle with a Colt carry handle optic.

Now this would be cool if only it were possible to acquire one. This is pure 80's retro, same company that made the sight Arnie used in The Terminator on his AMT Hardballer.

Laser Products Corporation Helium-Neon Laser

 

[baboon]

How my Colt Commando left the factory in 86

 

[10-96inTexas]

Really nice work, looks great. I have a couple of semi retros but nothing near that accurately detailed. I just picked up a pre ban Olympic Arms AR-15 with an SGW lower that want to rework.

 

[A1Oni]

No optics for this one, keeping it Vietnam era correct. Eventually I'll build an early rifle with a Colt carry handle optic.

Now this would be cool if only it were possible to acquire one. This is pure 80's retro, same company that made the sight Arnie used in The Terminator on his AMT Hardballer.

Laser Products Corporation Helium-Neon Laser

there were some early short range optics used during 'Nam


like this guy with a Single Point OEG

and this guy with an oxford electronic sight, a VERY early type of red dot sight circa 1968

You also had guys who would take spare A1 pistol grips, lop the ears off em and use them as a fore grip in the holes of the handguards

MAC V SOG guy with XM177 with single point sight, foregrip and custom chicom vest modified to fit 30 round M16 magazines

 

[RedArmy]

How my Colt Commando left the factory in 86

View attachment 308956

Yep, that's a rare and valuable example right there. I'd have that little beauty mounted up on my wall for display. That lock ring on the buffer tube is hard to get, I've got a reproduction part inbound.

 

[RedArmy]

there were some early short range optics used during 'Nam


like this guy with a Single Point OEG
View attachment 308959

and this guy with an oxford electronic sight, a VERY early type of red dot sight circa 1968

View attachment 308960

You also had guys who would take spare A1 pistol grips, lop the ears off em and use them as a fore grip in the holes of the handguards
View attachment 308961

MAC V SOG guy with XM177 with single point sight, foregrip and custom chicom vest modified to fit 30 round M16 magazines



View attachment 308962

Yeah I've seen a lot of early systems used, it's just not something I want to put on this carbine. I can get my hands on an AN/PVS-2 starlight scope, that would look awesome on my M16A1 an there's a guy on Etsy that restores them to functioning condition. Just not something I'm looking at doing right now. I've got too many irons in the fire as it is, I'm keeping this build simple.

 

[baboon]

Yep, that's a rare and valuable example right there. I'd have that little beauty mounted up on my wall for display. That lock ring on the buffer tube is hard to get, I've got a reproduction part inbound.

The original commando upper & rubber coated stock are off and in the safe. Currently a new monolithic commando upper in on the gun. I have a collection of uppers for the registered receiver.

 

[V-Tach]

The old school early red dots are still pretty cool.......imho.....

 

[ArmyDub]

didnt early Car15 not have the fwd assist?

 

[RedArmy]

The old school early red dots are still pretty cool.......imho.....

View attachment 309032

That's really cool, one of these days I'll have to try an build a replica of Arnolds gun in the Terminator. I've seen several replicas in videos, the long tube and side mount made it hard for the operator to rack the slide back. Still, the cool factor would be worth it.

This one was made by Laser Products Corporation

 

[RedArmy]

Made some more progress, got the upper assembled and ready to go. I've also got a reproduction handguard ordered so now all I need is for the receiver to come back from engraving so I can get it ready for Cerakote.

The upper came with a modern dust cover shown on the bottom, I got a correct early Colt dust cover to replace it shown on the top.

I also got a correct Colt delta ring dated 1973.

Here is the completed upper minus the handguard. I checked it for head space and all checked out, it's ready to rock. I managed not damage the new finish by covering it with lots of tape during assembly.

 

[RedArmy]

didnt early Car15 not have the fwd assist?

The very early ones did, I have no idea how widespread their issue was though.

Brownell's has a timeline on their website.

Premier Supplier of Firearms, Reloading Supplies, Gunsmithing Tools, Gun Parts and Accessories | Brownells

Brownells is a leading supplier of firearms, reloading & gunsmithing products, gun parts, and ammunition. Since 1939, Brownells has been committed to gunsmiths, shooters, police, and hunters.

www.brownells.com

 

[tonelar]

My first AR was a Colt carbine that had A1 sights and no fwd assist. I bought it used in the early 80’s.

 

[LEP]

My Uncle used one back in the day. He's asked me where to find one & I didn't have a clue. He did say, however, that the 'yards' liked the M1 Carbine.

 

[Coyote9]

I've slowly started my attempt at building a clone of the CAR-15 XM177E2. This will be an early Vietnam version of the rifle carried by SOG and other elite groups. I've done a lot of research and I think I've got good information to get this carbine fairly accurate. I'm being held up by two hard to find parts, but I've got one of them on the way and I have a guy trying to get me the other so I should be able to get her done soon enough. One of the parts was a lock ring which I'm hoping they've sent me the correct one and the other is an early 6 hole handguard with an unshielded gas tube.

XM177E2

Here's a mock up of some of the parts I have for this carbine, a few originals with a lot of reproduction pieces. You could build an Ok carbine like this, but I'm going a little further to get it as close as I can to the original. I've stripped all components down for rework.

For a receiver I'm using Brownell's excellent early M16A1 receiver made by Nodac Spud. This is the correct unreinforced receiver for early M16 type rifles. It's currently at the gun shop for laser engraving. I hope they haven't screwed it up, the last one they did for me didn't take this long, lol.

I'm having the early colt pony and script along with the US Gov property marks and auto fire select engraved on the Brownell's receiver. Unfortunately Brownell's puts their model roll mark on it so no room for the XM177E2 designation, I can live without it though.

 

[tekiwap]

Cool thread

 

[RedArmy]

I sincerely appreciate the offer, but I already have one. I started collecting parts a while back, I've been wanting to build a carbine like this for a long while.

 

[RedArmy]

I'm going to call the gun shop in the morning to see where they are on the engraving. Been trying to avoid calling them as I don't want them to think I'm in a rush. Hopefully not much longer. Also, I got the handguard today so now I'm just waiting to get the lower back.

 

[A1Oni]

I'm going to call the gun shop in the morning to see where they are on the engraving. Been trying to avoid calling them as I don't want them to think I'm in a rush. Hopefully not much longer. Also, I got the handguard today so now I'm just waiting to get the lower back.

you could try your hand at salt water etching

80% Lower Receiver Stencils

 

[RedArmy]

you could try your hand at salt water etching

80% Lower Receiver Stencils

I actually have a set, I chickened out on trying it though. I want to experiment first on some scrap aluminum so I can work out a technique. I've got another project that I'll use a set on if I can get it to work for me.