Combloc
Stop Negassing me!!!!!
In this post, we're going to look at the oldest of the six Colt's shown at the beginning of this article:
Of course, "old" is a relative term and I don't really see it as old. I'm old....but I digress.
Left side of receiver:
Notice that the serial number prefix is "SP" which stands for "Sport". This particular rifle was most likely made in 1986, the year the civilian HBAR was introduced and, while thare are a myriad of little differences between this rifle and the previous two, it's essentially just an earlier true "pre-ban" version of the other ones. Yes, they too are pre-ban rifles made in the early 90's but they had shades of what was coming. For example, this one is marked "AR-15 A2". That was eliminated around 1990 in an effort to make the rifles seem less military and more "sporting". Similarly, while the previous two have had the bayonet lug removed and a block added to the receiver, this one still has the lug and lacks a block. It's pretty much just a semi-auto only version of the rifle developed for the Marines. The lower receiver is the same one used on the SP-1 and I think it has the smaller diameter hammer and trigger pin holes too. I like it because it's marked for what it is instead of trying to hide behind the goofy "Match HBAR" title. I also really like that it's marked "COLT'S FIREARMS DIVISION".
A neat feature is the large round forward assist button:
This replaced the tear drop forward assist for just a very short time before being changed to the small button we are used to seeing today.
Here is a small button for comparison:
Notice that the rear of the lower receiver is much more svelte on these older jobbers:
A newer receiver for comparison:
The other side is also less reinforced:
Compared to a newer one:
Barrel marking:
Muzzle:
I'm pretty sure this should have a peel washer so that tells me some moron had the flash hider off at some point. I just don't get why people dicker with things. However, when we look at some old Colt catalogs in a bit, you'll see that it does look like some of the rifles do appear to have crush washers when we would expect a peel washer. That could be a trick of the lighting in the picture....I just don't know. If I've learned anything in my years of collecting, it's that you should always expect the unexpected. Still, I'm going with someone, at some point, had this flash hider off.
No block, no web. Pure pre-ban:
I miss those days.
A particularly nice feature of this particular rifle are the glossy handguards, shown below in the foreground:
And here, in the background:
Of course, Colt didn't make these but rather bought them from subcontractors. Apparently, some contractors made pretty shiny ones while others made more dull ones, presumably because of differences in polymer formulas. I assume it was luck of the draw. I like shiny!
The pistol grip on this rifle has a more polished look as well:
A comparison of this rifle (at top of frame) to the previous rifle:
Other than some rain drops on the receivers, they are nearly identical. The only obvious difference is the pin for the receiver block seen on the bottom rifle. But, if you look closely, you might notice the difference in trigger and hammer pin diameters.
Compared to a current spec. FN-15:
LOTS of little changes and some big ones too.
Of course, "old" is a relative term and I don't really see it as old. I'm old....but I digress.
Left side of receiver:
Notice that the serial number prefix is "SP" which stands for "Sport". This particular rifle was most likely made in 1986, the year the civilian HBAR was introduced and, while thare are a myriad of little differences between this rifle and the previous two, it's essentially just an earlier true "pre-ban" version of the other ones. Yes, they too are pre-ban rifles made in the early 90's but they had shades of what was coming. For example, this one is marked "AR-15 A2". That was eliminated around 1990 in an effort to make the rifles seem less military and more "sporting". Similarly, while the previous two have had the bayonet lug removed and a block added to the receiver, this one still has the lug and lacks a block. It's pretty much just a semi-auto only version of the rifle developed for the Marines. The lower receiver is the same one used on the SP-1 and I think it has the smaller diameter hammer and trigger pin holes too. I like it because it's marked for what it is instead of trying to hide behind the goofy "Match HBAR" title. I also really like that it's marked "COLT'S FIREARMS DIVISION".
A neat feature is the large round forward assist button:
This replaced the tear drop forward assist for just a very short time before being changed to the small button we are used to seeing today.
Here is a small button for comparison:
Notice that the rear of the lower receiver is much more svelte on these older jobbers:
A newer receiver for comparison:
The other side is also less reinforced:
Compared to a newer one:
Barrel marking:
Muzzle:
I'm pretty sure this should have a peel washer so that tells me some moron had the flash hider off at some point. I just don't get why people dicker with things. However, when we look at some old Colt catalogs in a bit, you'll see that it does look like some of the rifles do appear to have crush washers when we would expect a peel washer. That could be a trick of the lighting in the picture....I just don't know. If I've learned anything in my years of collecting, it's that you should always expect the unexpected. Still, I'm going with someone, at some point, had this flash hider off.
No block, no web. Pure pre-ban:
I miss those days.
A particularly nice feature of this particular rifle are the glossy handguards, shown below in the foreground:
And here, in the background:
Of course, Colt didn't make these but rather bought them from subcontractors. Apparently, some contractors made pretty shiny ones while others made more dull ones, presumably because of differences in polymer formulas. I assume it was luck of the draw. I like shiny!
The pistol grip on this rifle has a more polished look as well:
A comparison of this rifle (at top of frame) to the previous rifle:
Other than some rain drops on the receivers, they are nearly identical. The only obvious difference is the pin for the receiver block seen on the bottom rifle. But, if you look closely, you might notice the difference in trigger and hammer pin diameters.
Compared to a current spec. FN-15:
LOTS of little changes and some big ones too.
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