I keep a reference library of military pics that I use for clone build inspiration. One that I kept going back to was a pic that looks to be from the first Gulf War, of a guy in chocolate chip desert camo rocking an M16A2 with a CAR stock and Armson sight. From the look of his modified Desert Battle Dress Uniform, with its big pockets added to the sleeves, and that Armson sight, he’s probably spec ops of some sort. I took some inspiration from that when I build my C7A2-ish 20-inch build a while back, but it didn’t scratch the itch for an actual clone build. I started gathering parts throughout the winter and ended up getting it all together recently.
Special Edition M16A2 Build Components
I started with a lower from Bad Attitude Department, as I frequently do. In this case it was an A2 lower with a GM Hydra-Matic stamp. It was one of BAD’s earlier lowers before they had A1 forgings. It’s marked M16A1, but is an A2 profile lower. It freed up when BAD started doing A1 lowers. I swapped out my GM clone to a correct A1 lower, so I had this one loose for another build. It would work fine for what I was doing. BAD isn’t doing the GM lowers any more so don’t ask. I just happened to have this older one available for the build. They have other correctly marked M16A2 lowers however.
I had previously moly coated it in Norrell’s Colt Gray Black. I used a B. Kings lower parts kit and carbine buffer tube with an H2 buffer, and an Ace Essential retro aluminum CAR stock. I finished it off with a B5 Systems LS2 grip to finish it off. I can’t tell what kind of grip was actually on the gun in the picture, but the original Lonestar grips were around at the time so it could have been one of those. At least that’s what I’m telling myself. I like those grips.
For the upper I used a B. Kings gray stripped A2 upper. I finished it with a Wilson Combat ejection port door, a B. King forward assist, and a Luth AR A2 rear sight assemble. I used a B. King A2 profile, phosphate finished barrel and one of their A2 flash hiders, and gas tubes. I initially had a set of surplus handguards on the build, but they have a crack in them. I ordered a set of A2 handguards from Echo Nine Three. I’ve covered these previously and they’re my go to for A2 and CAR handgaurds now. Their handguards are made by one of the original GI OEM manufacturers so they aren’t really repros, they’re the same as what was used on GI rifles and carbines.
Most of it went together easily but I will say that installing A2 rear sights suck. Nothing to do with the quality of the Luth AR components, it’s just an overly complicated sight. After fighting with the A2 sights I realized I actually had Armson OEG on my GUU-5/P build so I went and swiped it off of that for this rifle instead. It’s one with a vintage finish, but that was fine. I think it looks good with the rest of the guns slightly mismatched finishes.
I rounded out the build with a basic black nylon GI silent sling, a DCU camo mag pouch (I know, wrong Gulf War), and some old GI surplus 30 round mags, and an M9 bayonet.
Handling Qualities
I’m liking the combination of the 20-inch barrel with a collapsible stock. It was handy on the C7 build I did, and this M16A2 handles very similarly. The balance is slightly different with the government profile barrel, as opposed to the pencil barrel on my C7, but it’s still decent. I always found the A2 stock a little too long for. I prefer A1 length for a fixed stock, but the adjustable CAR stock is a very viable alternative as well. In addition to allowing you to adjust the length of pull for the shooter, it also lets you adjust for body armor or heavy clothing. Plus it knocks a few inches off for storage too.
While a carbine buffer system is probably not quite as smooth as a rifle buffer, the combination of rifle length gas system and H2 buffer make this build a very easy handling package. If you’re running irons, the longer sight radius on a 20-inch barrel is nice to have too. Not to mention the extra velocity of a 20-inch barrel.
The Armson is a pretty cool sight. It’s a both eyes open sight since it’s not a see through lens like a traditional scope or most red dot sights. It’s occluded in the rear and all you see is the back of the light gathering rod. With both eyes open though the dot is superimposed on your target. If you ever did training drills with a red dot with the front lens cover on, and realized you could still see your dot on target with both eyes open, this works the same way. It doesn’t require batteries either, which is nice.
All in all, it’s a pretty cool retro build. I didn’t camo up my stocks like the reference image, but otherwise I think its pretty close. It’s a pretty practical set up too, and even though it dates back 35 years, I wouldn’t feel bad using it for serious social purposes today.