Small Arms Maintenance, the M16, and Brownells “Retro” AR-15's.
Copyright 2018 by Michael H. Maggelet
As a nuclear weapons specialist, one of my
five additional duties was unit armorer. While stationed in central Germany in the late
1980’s, myself and two fellow gun nuts (excuse me, armorers) maintained our shop’s stock
of M16 rifles. These ranged from early issue Colt/Armalite stamped Model 601’s,
and a decent number of Model 602’s and 604’s. It was interesting to field
strip, inspect, clean, and then reassemble these rifles and note the differences in the versons,
since the 601’s dated back to the earliest Colt production in Air Force
contracts of 1963 and 1964. These rifles were supplied to the US Navy
SEAL’s, advisors in Viet Nam, and to the USAF.
Surprisingly, the rifles in our shop were not well worn, and retained their parkerized coating. There were a few that had typical AF “preventive maintenance” which consisted of a few dabs of black paint. Our 601’s did not have the original brown fiberglass furniture painted green (some were painted black), but had the early black non-trapdoor buttstock, standard nylon triangular handguards, and early three prong flash hider.
Surprisingly, the rifles in our shop were not well worn, and retained their parkerized coating. There were a few that had typical AF “preventive maintenance” which consisted of a few dabs of black paint. Our 601’s did not have the original brown fiberglass furniture painted green (some were painted black), but had the early black non-trapdoor buttstock, standard nylon triangular handguards, and early three prong flash hider.
Internally, the early rifles all had
chromed carriers and bolts, large firing pin, and machined firing pin
retaining pin. A few I remember did have the early Edgewater buffer. All other features
were typical of the 601, including dimpled take down pins, which I verified referencing
a 1982 copy of “Small Arms of the World” by Edward Clinton Ezell. I wish I had copied some of the serial numbers down for future reference. On a more interesting note, we had five GAU-5/P's on order, however the first Gulf War in 1990 pretty much put a damper on that acquisition.
The 602 and
604 rifles were a combination of parts, with some minor differences due to
replacement by Combat Arms Training and Maintenance (CATM). All had birdcage
style flash hiders. Our limited
maintenance included monthly inspection and cleaning, since many of the bores
were not chrome lined, and we only called CATM when parts were damaged. A case
in point was a damaged handguard which was found after an exercise, with a
missing tooth in the handguard. Instead of handing the replacement handguards
to me, the CATM specialist insisted that he replace them, and I had to sign
this individual into a restricted area, escort him, and then sign him into the
armory where he replaced the handguard (with my help), and of course escorting
him out of the area. A simple task which I could have performed in a few
minutes, but took more than 30 minutes from our schedule.
I don’t
recall any failures to feed, nor jams when we qualified after arriving in Germany. Just about everyone in
our shop shot “expert”, at least by Air Force standards (standard silhouette, all rounds in the 10 ring and you were an "expert marksman"). This included firing twenty
5.56 rounds at 50 yards on semi in the standing position (right and left
barricade), prone (right and left shoulder), sitting, and kneeling. I was one of the unfortunate few who had a hot
brass land inside my BDU shirt compliments of the shooter to my left, resulting
in a nice 5.56 case shaped burn on my neck. We did not qualify when I was in
basic in 1980, since it was “too hot” at the range (100 deg Fahrenheit temps on Lackland
AFB/San Antonio, Texas that year). Also, the rifles in basic used .22LR
adapters, and not the standard 5.56x45mm round.
One of the highlights was a German/American friendship shoot, where we fired Bundeswehr weapons to include the P8 pistol and MG 3 machine gun (I don't remember the rifle, perhaps the G3). One individual in our shop received the German "Schutzenschnur" marksmanship badge.
One of the highlights was a German/American friendship shoot, where we fired Bundeswehr weapons to include the P8 pistol and MG 3 machine gun (I don't remember the rifle, perhaps the G3). One individual in our shop received the German "Schutzenschnur" marksmanship badge.
While many gun
enthusiasts have changed parts of a civilian legal AR-15 to resemble a semi-auto Model 601, the supply of original parts now is extremely difficult to find. Parts
such as chromed bolt carriers, bolts, takedown pins, and lower and upper receivers are reproduced by Nodak Spud of Minnesota, and by Brownells of Iowa.
Brownells has recreated the
early Model 601 with some minor variations.
Model 601
characteristics Brownells
BRN-01
Furniture
is molded fiberglass, Polymer,
light green.
Painted
an OD green.
Edgewater
buffer. Standard
AR-15/M16 buffer.
Chromed
bolt carrier and bolt. Chromed
bolt carrier and bolt.
Dimple
on selector switch. Has
M16A2 indicator notch on right side
of selector.
Dimples
on take down pins. 604
type pins.
Steel
lined bore. Chrome
lined bore.
With the cost of a Colt AR-15 SP1 Sporter rising significantly (one 1964 specimen sold for $4,000), acquiring Brownells civilian legal, semi only variations of the Model 601,
XM-16E1, M16A1, or XM-177 may just be the thing for you. That, or their version
of the 7.62 NATO AR-10.
Retro Black Rifle- website on various models and variations of the M16, starting with the Model 601-
https://bpullignwolnet.dotster.com/retroblackrifle/ModGde/RflGde/601.html
https://bpullignwolnet.dotster.com/retroblackrifle/ModGde/RflGde/601.html
Brownells
Retro Rifles
Brownells
website-
USAF
training film on the M16, 1967-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_6yraUIBJw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_6yraUIBJw
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