Hands On With B5 Systems’ Retro CAR15 Furniture
With all of the retro AR’s I’ve been building lately I was pretty excited when B5 Systems announced they were adding to their retro line. They’ve had a CAR15 buttstock available for a while, but they’ve added CAR15 handguards, and the the LS2 pistol grip. the LS2 is a reproduction of the elusive Lonestar Arms […]
Recreating a Classic: The Colt 601 Grail AR Build
Of all of the AR builds I’ve done over the years one of my grail builds was a Colt 601 clone. The Colt 601 was the first AR-15 model produced by Colt after they purchased the rights for the design from Armalite in 1959. Colt made less than 14,500 of the 601’s with the majority […]
This Should Probably Be Your Next AR Build – The Micro-16A2 SBR
I’ve been quiet on AR build posts for a couple of months but that’s only because I’ve been, well, building, and not writing about them. I have a few more that I finished up though, and I’m going to start with one that may be a little controversial. I call this one the Micro-16A2, and […]
Springfield Armory Goes Retro With The New SA-16A2
We saw a lot of retro AR’s pop up at SHOT this year, and it looks like that trend isn’t over yet. Springfield Armory just announced the release of the SA-16A2. It’s pretty much what it sounds like, a semi auto clone of the M16A2 service rifle which as adopted in 1983. I still remember […]
AR-15 Builds: Tales From the Carry Handle Mafia
When I started shooting AR’s in the 80’s all we had were carry handle uppers. When I went into the Army in 1988, I trained on the M16A1 and that’s what I used in the Army Reserve. Later, when I was in the Air Force Reserve, we used early slick side M16’s, then eventually M16A2’s. […]
Classic Wood Furniture for AR-15 Rifles From American-Icon
When Eugene Stoner designed the AR-15 for ArmaLite in 1956 it was a pretty revolutionary piece, and its use of plastic stocks was not without controversy. A lot of folks were used to, and wanted, steel and wood on their guns, not plastic. A lot has changed since the late 50’s, but that doesn’t mean […]