I got word today that a friend of a friend is ready to sell his M16. It is an Olympic Arms that was converted by "Earl's" is about all I know. He wants $13k, and I'm thinking if he'll take $10k I'll put money in his hand.

Anything to look for or avoid on conversions? I know check for trigger/sear pin holes being wallered out.
Is $13k a good price? I feel $10k would be a good deal...
Any knowledge of this "Earl's"? I was told the shop was in Texas, that's all I know.

Thanks for any and all help guys! I don't have much knowledge on M16s, especially conversions, but I do want one. My limited knowledge is more how to make them run correctly, not what to look for in one. I know the prices will continue to climb (in all likelihood), so if the consensus is it's a good deal I'm ready to jump on it.


ETA: It's a registered receiver. The upper is nothing relevant, it's an 11.5" and I don't think it's anything original/collectible.

Damn you

I will bring an upper I know is in spec to fit on there, though. That's exactly the type of thing I'm looking for! I wouldn't have thought of that, but great advice.

I am welcome to test fire it, so I can check to see that it operates as expected.



More advice on potential problems and estimated value (and contributing factors) still needed!

see if it takes Pmags too, and is not too tight

They are PWS/Oly lowers with "Earl's Gun Shop" stamped on the other side of the receiver. They work and function just like PWS/Oly lowers, so yes most uppers will not fit unless you either work the upper or the lower. M16 Joe can fix it reasonably cheap.

In today's market 10.5 K is a deal you should not walk from.

Well on my way!

I wouldn't walk from $10.5k, I am just hoping to save a few bucks. I don't think there is anyone else serious about it, so it's basically mine. I sure will be kicking my own ass if it doesn't pan out...maybe I'll call and say I'll take it in the morning, haha

I would be seriously pissed if someone bought it @ $10.5k while I was haggling it down to $10k. I hate it when there's noone to blame buy myself...........

Sam

Okay guys, time to come clean. It wasn't an individual, a "friend of a friend", that had this M16––it was a dealer. I didn't want someone to search my posts, find out what area I'm in, and go buy it.


I talked them down to $10k and put some cash in their hand yesterday. With sales tax, and a tax stamp, the total will be $11,025 out the door. I feel that's still a good deal, and I'll be getting something I've wanted for years. It comes with an 11.5" upper, and I had been planning to build one soon. Ultimately, I didn't see M16s getting cheaper, and I had to scratch that itch.


Thanks for the advice guys! It's still on a Form 3 going to them, but that has been in the works for over a month. We should be sending in the Form 4 sometime this month. So, maybe by Valentines day or so I will post up some videos of mag dumps as a small token of thanks


Time to start hunting down ammo deals, and maybe invest in a reloading set up. Anything to take my mind off this wait, as I think this one will feel like the longest ever.

Welcome to the club!
The wait sucks, but at least it will be an instate transfer. My M16 was out of state on a form 4 and I had to wait a few months before I could even see what I dropped all than money on.

Congrats!!!! $10,500 is a really good price in this market. Yeah, $10k would have been that much better, or is that much better, but I wouldn't nitpick over $500 on a gun that is worth $13k in this market. YMMV.

If you reload I'd recommend trying a suppressed 300 blackout. I have had a 300 fireball for a few years and it's one of my favorite uppers. Pulled 147 gr FMJ's in front of about 8 grains of 2400 stays subsonic and functions perfectly with a standard CAR buffer and a SWR Trident. It's cheap to shoot and it sounds quieter at the ear than my MP5 with the same can.

For cheap ammo, I go with bear. Usually brown bear. Have yet to have a FTF or FTE. I've shot a good bit of wolf/tula, can't say I've had much of any issues with any of that either, but it is a bit under powered.

I have shot silver bear and brown bear, I think the Brown Bear is better. You can get it for about 23 cents per round.

However if you reload, and take the brass out of the equation since it can be reused 3-4 times (because full auto I wouldn't load it past 5 times) you can get the cost to about 15 cents per round buying in bulk.

Also we do have a reloading forum and I ended up with the Dilon XL650. Which means I have to use the super swager one at a time on all the once fired brass. Hindsight I would have gotten the 1050 because of the built in swaging capabilities.

Also get a C&R FFL and purchase one from grafs, you'll save about 10% on the reloader set up.

Oh and get one of these if you are going to reload. http://tacticalbrassrecovery.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=50 or shoot brass.

If you don't want to reload, you can always sell once fired brass for about 6-7 cents per case shippped to reloaders, in flat rate boxes with a 1k cases.