The Franken Rifle: An A2 Retro Build

I’ve been slacking on my AR builds a bit lately. I have a couple planned for this summer that I’m waiting on parts for. In the meantime, I put together a mid-length A2 carbine during the spring. So let’s take a look at that one while the three of you who are fans of my weird builds wait with bated breath for my summer builds.

Another Retro That Never Was

I’m still on my carry handle kick, but I moved the clock up to the 1980’s for this one and went with an A2 upper. I built an A1-based mid-length carbine last year and found that I liked that set up a lot.

Mid-length ARs tend to be smooth shooters. Plus, a mid-length gas system with a 16-inch barrel will still accept a bayonet, unlike a 16-inch gun with a carbine-length gas system. And I need bayonet mounting capability. For reasons.

Depending on which AR forum or group you belong to, the A2 may or may not be considered retro. It’s a carry handle upper and a 40-year-old design now, so I’m calling it retro.

This build initially started with me looking for parts to do an early XM-4 carbine build. I saw that B. King Firearms had a sale on gray A2 uppers so I picked one up. My plans quickly derailed though when I saw the cat logo Bad Attitude Department lowers being offered in gray anodizing.

If you like the old Colt gray finish there aren’t a lot of folks doing it on AR’s these days. Harrington & Richardson, International Military Co. and maybe a handful of others. BAD offers a lot of great lower engravings options, and now have correct A1 profile lowers, so seeing gray coming as a finish option was a welcome move. The cat logo lowers were M16A2 marked and they’d go with my new gray upper, but the cat markings pretty much precluded a clone build, so I started looking at my options.

I had an excellent set of mid-length fakelite stocks from Cheating Death Customs that needed a home. Initially I’d put them on my A1 build and wrote them up here at SNW. That gun ended up going with a more retro modern look recently. I love the Cheating Death furniture though so I figured I could make a dedicated home for them with a new build. I had an A2 grip with that set anyway so this was perfect.

Lightweight pencil barrels Are the Way, so I snagged the same 16-inch barrel with Front Sight Base that I used on my A1 build. It’s a Del-Ton 1:9 twist with a mid-length gas system, and it was a good price. If I’d have known Del-Ton was closing up shop I’d have bought a few more of them. I had a mix of lower parts, and a Toolcraft bolt in my parts bin already. I also had a Brownells “gray” anodized two position buffer tube, and a spring and buffer. That was pretty much all that I needed to get started.

50 Shades of Purple

If you’ve looked into gray anodizing, you’ve seen that all grays are not the same. Between differences in anodizing batches, the kind of aluminum used, and the whims of the universe, it’s tough to get grays to match. Even Colt guns back in the day didn’t always match up. My Frankenstein build is the epitome of mismatch.

The B. King upper had a nice charcoal gray finish. The BAD lower had a purplish tint to it that you sometimes saw with old military guns. It’ll supposedly dull down with age and oil, but right now it’s definitely got a purple undertone to it.

Brownells “gray” buffer tube is really closer to a gold or bronze. Again, that’s a color you saw on some older M16 components. The gray charging handle was from H&R and is a little different shade still. Add in a mix-match of lower parts, some old gray parts and some moly coated by me for other projects, and you’ve got quite the range of colors. I don’t hate it, though. It’s kind of unique.

I added the Cheating Death fakelite stocks. I think they actually go well with the mismatched gray finish. It has the look of a rifle that’s been through the apocalypse and been rebuilt a number of times since. Initially I just tossed a basic black GI silent sling on it, but then I stumbled onto a seller on Ebay with M1 carbine style slings. They have traditional width M1 slings in black, OD, or tan nylon, or OD ones done from new old stock GI cotton canvas webbing.

The slings are made in Chesapeake Virginia, too. I grabbed a tan nylon one for my old 10/22. They also had 1.25 inch slings in the M1 carbine style though so I got one of those for this build. It fit the look for a military rifle that never was.

While I was adding accessories, I added another Ebay find. I picked up an M7 bayonet a while back with a stacked leather handle. That was never an issue variation but it’s a real GI Imperial contract blade that someone did a very nice job on with a custom leather handle. I asked the seller about it and they said they got a few of them, in the wrapper, in a batch that way. I’m not sure who did them, but they’re pretty nice and the stacked leather goes well with the fakelite furniture. I don’t see any currently listed by that seller, but I have seen similar ones pop up a couple times since I got mine.

Practical Peculiarity

So while I started thinking I’d do a clone build, I ended up with another carbine configuration that never was. At least not so far as an issue M16 variant went anyway. Like my A1 build, its light and handy, and the A2 markings and sights make it a little different than my other builds. The only other things I have with an A2 upper is an actual M16A2 clone rifle and my Micro-16A2.

While not based on anything in particular the Franken A2 carbine has a bit of a Fallout vibe to it. It’s a handy iron sighted carbine that would withstand the rigors of the waste long after the batteries on your fancy flat top AR have run out. Being able to mount a bayonet gives you an option when ammo is tight too. In the event that I never travel the nuclear wastes, it’s still a fun shooting carbine that would do just fine as a camp or truck gun. And hey, it’s not an evil black rifle. In fact it’s just about every shade but black!