I have always liked the M16A1 and recently decided to try and source the parts to complete a semi-auto A1. I spent a lot of time researching and hunting for parts. I found an M16A1 parts kit that has everything except the barrel and lower. I found a Brownell's 20" 1/12 barrel that I will be using. I also got lucky and found a new Brownells A1 lower (Brownell's and NDS are currently out of stock). Only downside is it's matte/flat black (like current lowers). Once I receive the upper I am going to send both the upper and lower off to have the lower cerakoted to match the upper as close as possible. I am trying to decide if I want the upper refinished as well in a Colt Gray type finish....but it depends on the condition. What would you do?

Either way this is gonna take some time to get everything together and complete, but am definitely looking forward to it.

Welcome to the retro sickness. To answer your question it's completely up to you. Just remember that mismatched uppers and lowers are/were very common but if you want them to match then get them refinished. I can also highly recommend norrells moly resin as far as a coating goes.

I have used Norrell's Moly Resin on a couple other guns and it came out awesome (H&K black). But they were metal parts and I was able to sandblast ahead of time. Haven't worked with aluminum parts before and wouldn't want to mess them up, so I figured I would have them done professionally. In this case, if the upper is in decent shape I am just going to have the lower cerakoted to match the upper. If the upper is a bit ratty I may have them both done for a perfect match, but will have to wait and get the upper first.

I think Norrels has a closer color match than cerakote. I havnt tried the former yet, but wasn't real satisfied with the color of the cerakote.

I'm not trying to pimp my 656 i swear lol but I actually sent the upper to John Norrells to have it done and it matches the NDS partial fence lower almost exactly. OP this should give you a point of reference to how good moly resin's color can look.



Having said that if you want to get both upper and lower to match then cerakote would be fine, it just might be as close.

Ya kidding me? If ANY of us had one we'd be pimping that bad boy every chance we got!

OP Look away! He's trying to give you a terminal case of RBRD right out of the chute!

I personally wouldn't refinish an original part, but opinions vary.