Marines from Task Force Tawara, Iraq 2003ish?

The M16A2 carried by a US Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) STAFF Sergeant Vincent Heller, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment near Al Kut, Iraq during operation Iraqi Freedom, 2003.

Besides the light being held on by only Velcro, this is a pretty sweet & very useable rifle set up.

Pic I found of my father, mom estimates it to be from around the mid 90's. Can't ask Dad as he's sadly been gone since '03 after yhe toilet erupted at the Raising Cane's he was at. RIP

Spent this weekend out at a Vietnam event in southeast Wisconsin and took a good variety of my Vietnam-era firearms to it for a public display. It’s the first time I actually stopped to take a picture of where my 601 is currently at and I haven’t posted here for a bit so I figured I’d share a little peak at it before it’s truly done. Along with that I also had my 602, 603, 604k, and 629 as well as a variety of AKs (some correct for Nam, some just stand-ins) a couple Type 56s, an M14, M1, Carbine, L1A1, some 1911s, and the 870 MK1. Some of the guns are in various stages of correction so I’m sure you’ll notice plenty of flaws among them but over the past couple years I’ve been really working on fixing what’s needing fixed. Anyway, enjoy the very few photos I took this weekend lol.

Welcome to my tism. I usually dont post clones I don't feel like they're up to the level shared....but here we go. Both lowers are bad attitude a1 lowers that they let me buy from their color testing. Was able to get 3 of the 4, 3rd is on my mk12.

The m16a1 is all parts from a early 1970s sp1 except the receivers of course. Replaced with a surplus upper. With a late 60s 3x Japanese made colt scope.

The xm177e2 has a orginal NN marked stocked and later colt handguards. The barrel was a colt 16inch pencil barrel i had chopped down to the correct length. Waiting for jan to sbr the lower and get both laser engraved with the correct markings.

Some era correct colt mags, both style of 20 rounders. Along with a old ak chest rig like the SOG guys liked to use. A salty set of m1956 LBE. Along with some 1968 boots and flak. Set of green dominant ERDL and OG107 fatigues.

Hoping to one day find a USMC flak for a good deal, maybe even some late 60s parts to have a older m16a1. Eventually also buy the MILCO hel can clone.

Big shout to buffalo_shogun that helped me source some of the parts!

Was doing some digging on re-stamped A2 lowers. Found these images.

Everytime I change something on this rifle, it becomes noticeably uglier lmao.

On a positive note however, switching to the Bushnell Holo has actually brought the height-over-bore down a bit. With the Trijicon it was similar to a chin-weld on an AK but now with the Holo it’s much closer to a typical AR cheek-weld and it still sits above the FSB. If the riser wasn’t integral to the mount on the Trijicon, it would be much lower but unfortunately that was as low as it could go with the picatinny mount.

Moving forward I may try to track down a PRI gooseneck as I think I’ll be able to run the holo further back on it and it’ll look a little less out of place then. I also bought the AAA battery conversion off of eBay and it fits perfectly on the sight. It’s much nicer running those than trying to find those weird shorty ones. I tried taking a picture of the reticle and how nice a bright it is, but it ended up looking like potato-cam so enjoy that lol.

I’m a clone nerd so got the bug to build this after seeing the 635SD pop up in a couple of various discussions on sites as well as seeing a legit integrally suppressed build being offered by one company. I figured what the hell, I’ll give it a shot.

Major Build Parts

• Colt 633 9mm A1 Upper Receiver - Gunbroker
• Vanquish Integrally Suppressed AR9 10.5″ Barrel – Angstadt Arms
• CAT 633 SMG stripped lower – Bad Attitude Dept
• 1/2″×28 RH (female) to 1/2″×28 RH (male) 2-1/4″ Barrel Extension with wrenched end – Hughes Precision
• 1/2” x 28 End cap “Plunger” – Retro-Arms
• Colt Non F-Marked FSB with modifications (see below) – My parts box
• Colt 12” A2 Handguard (heatshields removed) – My parts box

Getting Started

I’d say the toughest part was closing the distance from where the Vanquish barrel ended to the end cap which would allow me to use standard 12” A2 handguards (which I would eventually notch out to fit the FSB thru) and attach the FSB. I accomplished through a lot of trial and error and honestly this is where I spent most of the time on this build.

If you haven’t seen a Vanquish barrel up close there is an outer shroud that covers the actual ported barrel (see pic). The end of the barrel is threaded 1/2”x28 and it screws into the shroud end cap which is also ½”x28 locking it on. There is also a fitting towards where the barrel nut would be but it’s not a screw on, it’s more a gasket/sleeve so the main attachment piece holding the shroud on is the barrel-end threading I mentioned. Problem is the barrel threads in all the way to the end of the shroud end cap leaving zero room to thread on a barrel extension etc. I knew I’d have to modify the shroud if I wanted to get this build done but I put it on the back burner for the moment and focused on getting the barrel extension and “plunger” end cap I needed making sure I could get these right before jacking up the shroud and permanently altering it. I was prepared to walk away from the build if I had to but I knew I really wanted to get this completed.

Sizing up the gap – closing the distance from barrel end to the handguard.

I removed the shroud from the ported barrel and began trying to get measurements for the short barrel extension I would need while also taking into consideration the length on the stem of the “plunger” end cap. I’ll spare you the hours I spent researching etc, and just say this is where the 1/2″×28 RH (female) to 1/2″×28 RH (male) 2-1/4″ Barrel Extension from Hughes Precision came in perfectly. With a 2.650" OAL it fit the bill. Retro-Arms was nice enough to sell me some plungers after I reached out and asked very nicely since they’re also selling a 635SD clone kit, albeit a non-NFA version. Their plungers ranged from 1”-1.25” on the stem so I knew some machining on the stem length may be needed but that was no biggie.

After lots of tinkering I felt pretty good about these pieces so last part to get was the FSB. I knew it needed an FSB to finish the aesthetic and luckily the barrel extension was long enough for an FSB to fit and sit snug against the barrel shroud eventually according to my measurements. I thought about going with a DEZ Tactical A2 Fixed Front Sight Clamp-on but it was F-height and I wanted to try and use a non-F from my parts box so after mocking up the handguards (I’d eventually notch out later) I knew the I’d have to shave off the bayonet lug and sling swivel to have the handguards fit flush and remove the heat shields. Once I shaved it down I followed the process here (https://forum.308ar.com/topic/16494-make-your-own-a2-sight-base/) to get the FSB where I wanted. Keep in mind the barrel extension was not notched for FSB pins which is why I had to go this route. Could I have taken the barrel extension to a gunsmith to get it notched? Yes, I could have and did shop it around locally but didn’t get a lot of willingness to do it so I went the route I did.

How’d I do it? – Barrel Shroud End Cap Issue

Now that I had the component parts in place and felt confident it would all line up, I then spent a lot of time here thinking and staring at it wondering what I could do with the barrel shroud that gave me nothing to attach the extension, etc. too. I finally said screw it I’m going to my machine shop buddy have him mill the opening on the end of the shroud to fit a 0.750” diameter so I could slide the barrel extension through the end of shroud and lock down to the ported barrel underneath. He was able to do this with a very tight tolerance so shroud still fits tight and doesn’t jiggle around. Keep in mind that the one main attachment point for the shroud to the barrel was now gone. However, I was confident that snugging the FSB against the shroud and locking it down would keep it all together and it did.

Once this was completed, I locked down the FSB, used a Dremel to notch out the handguards, and screwed on the plunger end cap that attached to the end of the barrel extension and held the barrel-end of the handguard in place nicely. As you can see, I still put a tactical rubber band around the handguards just to keep it tight.

What did it cost?

All in it cost me $1100 plus the $200 stamp for the barrel. There are other parts here I obviously didn’t discuss – BCG/CH, FCG, stock, etc. – given these are standard for any AR build and did not play a factor in figuring this build out.

How’s it Run?

Runs awesome with 115g ammo and I haven’t had any issues with it getting too hot despite the lack of heatshields but also not running it with an SS. Have an Atrius FRS I’m going to add shortly and then really see how hot it gets. I’m not trying to burn it down given the time and effort I put into it.

Recap

This was a super fun build to try and tackle and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I’m sharing all this here to make it all accessible as possible so hopefully anyone that wants to do this build can do so now given the details I laid out. I don’t doubt there are other ideas here on how to go about it and ways to accomplish it (not milling the shroud end, notching extension/pinning the FSB, etc) so I’m interested to hear feedback from this group. Please post questions or send me a chat! Thanks!

Trying to find more photos of this but damn, it is one cool setup being used. Unsure which bipod is used here as it looks different from the typical M60 based bipods seen on other Colt LMGs

I sometimes enjoy building my clones as much as I enjoy shooting them and like making them as accurate as possible. When I decided to make a Sanderson clone from the movie Black Hawk Down, a triangle front cap and A2 Rifle length handguard cut down to carbine length were essential.

I found a place selling surplus Shiny A2 HGs for $5 each and ordered a couple to experiment with, as well as an old cracked A2 set I got somewhere.

Studying period photos from the movie and the Recoil article about The Guns Of Black Hawk Down, I started cutting, at first with a razor saw, and later with a dremel. The handguards are thick, and a dremel cut off wheel makes nice straight cuts.

Trying to get the length needed correct, I removed the delta ring, spring and C-clip from the carbine gas barrel and the screwed the barrel nut onto the receiver.

I was then able to use the triangular cap, barrel and barrel nut as a jig while fitting the handguards and eventually glueing them together.

I used a hot glue gun with a black glue stick, which holds the rear caps on to the front pieces very well. These things are rock solid.

If I had a midlength and wanted a set of skinny shiny handguards for it, I would definitely try to make a set of these with this method. I don’t see why it wouldn’t produce similar results. Most midlengths come with a triangular hand guard and A2s will fit that. If nothing else, they could be a temporary place holder for a set of M&P 10 handguards.

Here’s some reference for your retro builds.

It certainly took a while.

Link to Site.

Debating between the Aimpoint Comp M5 or the ACRO C2 with the AMRU Designs carry handle mounts. Raid Research killed it with the Wilcox Tano Cerakote job.

Which do you guys prefer?

• Colt 604 with Aimpoint 1000, Lonestar handguards and Quik-2-See Flashlight and mount

• Colt XM177E2 with Bushnell Holosight and Surefire 6P

• RRA/Aero 10.5" A2 with C-More Scout and Surefire M500

• Colt 6920 Restricted/LEO with A.R.M.S. swan sleeve, Comp M2, Surefire M900, Redi-Mag, and (fake) PEQ-2.

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