Know your M16s? Can you ID this model?
- Thread starter Dosing
- Start date
What he said. I’d guess it as a parts gun or else they swapped flash hiders just to make it more compact.
Given the forward assist and 11.5" barrel I'm gonna guess XM177E2 aka Colt 629 Commando with the moderator removed. You can barely make out the step at the end for the threads.
CAR 15/XM177/XM177E1/GAU-5A all had 10" bbls. Some lacked the fwd assist too. GAU-5A/A had a 11.5" tube but no fwd assist.
CAR 15/XM177/XM177E1/GAU-5A all had 10" bbls. Some lacked the fwd assist too. GAU-5A/A had a 11.5" tube but no fwd assist.
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The video seems a little more clear than the stills, but it appears the muzzle device is almost backed right on to the front site assembly, with no barrel gap between the muzzle device and the site assembly. Its hard to tell in the video but it looks like its a solid device, rather than a slotted flash hider. Granted, 40+ year old video aint the greatest though.
So it has me wondering if someone stuck the flash hider from 5882 on an xm177. Of course being an idiot I didnt make note of what 5882 was when I was at Rock Island, so can anyone id what that muzzle device is?
OK looks like its a colt 607. So could the pic in the OP be a 607 with different furniture?
It can't be a 607. It has a fwd assist.
If there's a muzzle device on it against the sight block, it's a 10" barrel. The number of models with 10" barrels and fwd assists is very limited. I don't see a muzzle device though. Where's the video?
If there's a muzzle device on it against the sight block, it's a 10" barrel. The number of models with 10" barrels and fwd assists is very limited. I don't see a muzzle device though. Where's the video?
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It looks like it actually has a muzzle device. What is sticking out in front of the front sight is way thicker than the barrel and you can make out openings in it, so it should be a 10" barrel with a flash hider on it. Looks like an A1 flash hider.
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It looks like it actually has a muzzle device. What is sticking out in front of the front sight is way thicker than the barrel and you can make out openings in it, so it should be a 10" barrel with a flash hider on it. Looks like an A1 flash hider.
You're right, I see that now (the thickness.) But I also see what looks to be a step down for threads at the end of the bbl? I wonder if it's not shadow making the barrel look thicker? Also by the time period of the video the E1 had long been replaced in service by the E2. The last 609s/E1s were produced over eight years prior to the video. Not sure if they were even issued to the USMC.
Need to see the original video.
Edit: pretty sure it's shadow. The top of the "muzzle device" is in line with the top of the barrel under the sight block. It should be noticeably higher if it was a muzzle device. There's also no step at the rear I can see for the wrench flats.
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It's not a step with threads, it's the end of the flash hider.
I don't think so. Your line on the muzzle device is too high; you can white between it and the black of the barrel. It needs to be lower, basically touching the oval you have drawn.
The other thing strongly suggesting to me it's an 11.5" bbl with no moderator is that the Army had known for nearly a decade at that point there were functioning and accuracy issues with the 10" barrel. That's why they went to 11.5 starting with the E2. It doesn't make sense to me that eight years after they figured that out, and after the progression from duckbill to 3.5" moderator to 4.5" moderator someone would stick a flash hider on a 10" barrel 609. It can only be a 609/XM177E1 given the fwd assist and assuming it has a 10" barrel. It would basically be a backwards modification decreasing already poor functioning. It's possible, yes. But I think far less likely than it being an XM177E2 with no moderator. It also looks too long to be a birdcage flash hider, but exactly the right length for an E2.
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