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Page AR-15 » AR-15 / M-16 Retro Forum
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Posted: 5/29/2017 10:06:15 AM EDT
Certainly most of this would be old news to the more enlightened Retro-heads but Historical Firearms has a short post on the DOE guns including a pic of a prototype with ambidextrous selector switch.  I don't recall anybody cloning one with the ambi switch, but then again I don't pay much attention to that particular branch of Retro obsessive-compulsive behavior and may well have missed it.

Link here
Link Posted: 5/29/2017 10:13:46 AM EDT
[#1]
Link Posted: 5/29/2017 12:07:03 PM EDT
[#2]
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... ...
Link Posted: 5/29/2017 4:38:37 PM EDT
[#3]
Yup, I missed it.
Link Posted: 5/29/2017 4:54:45 PM EDT
[#4]
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Quoted:
Yup, I missed it.
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No worries, it's an old thread I started in 2010: https://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_123/517354_-ARCHIVED-THREAD----DOE-Variant-.html&page=1

Led to My65Pan turning out a couple of handguards, and I eventually got a Front Sight Post made by WaTom.

I'm in CA, so I can't do SBR.  I did a pistol build instead, but even that is pretty hard.  So I use one lower for all of my RO63x uppers.  Thus, I haven't done the Ambi Selector or Bolt Catch.

Link Posted: 5/29/2017 8:03:45 PM EDT
[#5]
Here is my clone in pistol form also. We can have SBR's starting July 1st. So after that I hope to get it SBRed so I can add a stock to it.

Attachment Attached File
Link Posted: 5/29/2017 8:11:27 PM EDT
[#6]
Two questions:
1) When were these made?
2) What's the point of a folding front sight if the rear is fixed? It seems a little odd.
Link Posted: 5/29/2017 8:15:50 PM EDT
[#7]
I believe the front folding sights was so the muzzle could fit  thru port openings in guard towers and armored type truck firing ports. But I could be wrong
Link Posted: 5/29/2017 8:29:53 PM EDT
[#8]
They were developed in the mid 80's.  Their use isn't super well documented, and the 633's Front Sight folding is awash in apocrypha.  As Earrhardt mentioned, usually it's said to be for use with firing ports, but I've never heard of anyone who's actually SEEN a port that this was supposed to fit into.  It's also often speculated that the sight folded to keep from snagging when concealed under coats and the like.  Again, no proof has been forthcoming.

RO633 uses the folding sight and the earlier 231 handguards.  It is often dubbed DOE, for Department of Energy, and is said to have been used to guard nuclear sites.
RO634 is a semi auto version of the 635 (according to the chart)
RO635 has a 10" barrel and uses standard carbine handguards.  It's pretty well documented as being used by various law enforcement agencies.
RO636 uses rifle length A2 handguards over an integral suppressor, and is often dubbed DEA, as it's said to have been used by the DEA to raid meth labs.  I think we had someone on here who attested to its use as such.

The prototype in my profile photo has a fixed front sight base, and a one piece aluminum freefloat handguard.  It is labeled in Black Rifle II as RO663 in one caption, but there is also a model listing table with no 663 listed, and instead the gun seems to match the features for RO630, which would be the basis for the 630 line and make sense for a prototype, except that 630 is also supposed to be the GAU-5A.

Link Posted: 5/29/2017 9:09:16 PM EDT
[#9]
Wow, thanks for the info guys!
It kind of dawned on me after I posted that, as someone mentioned above, since it's referred to as a "briefcase gun", maybe the folding sight helps it fit into the rectangular space better.
Link Posted: 5/29/2017 10:02:23 PM EDT
[#10]
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Quoted:
Wow, thanks for the info guys!
It kind of dawned on me after I posted that, as someone mentioned above, since it's referred to as a "briefcase gun", maybe the folding sight helps it fit into the rectangular space better.
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I've never heard of them being briefcase guns?  I know the MP5K had a briefcase, and I think the Styer TMP might have?
Link Posted: 5/30/2017 12:21:16 PM EDT
[#11]
Sorry, it was in the link.
"In Black Rifle II Chris Bartocci notes that the R0633 was colloquially known as the ‘briefcase gun’ by Colt employees."
Link Posted: 5/30/2017 12:36:20 PM EDT
[#12]
I heard it was so the men in black could conceal the gun under suits without the sights sticking out the armpit area
Link Posted: 5/30/2017 4:32:37 PM EDT
[#13]
I had it on good authority the DOE story was just a cover up and that NASA actually bought them for the little green men from Mars to use for security during filming of the fake moon landings in New Mexico.

Link Posted: 5/30/2017 4:34:44 PM EDT
[#14]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Sorry, it was in the link.
"In Black Rifle II Chris Bartocci notes that the R0633 was colloquially known as the ‘briefcase gun’ by Colt employees."
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Derp, missed that one.
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