So I needed a new Colt Fire Control Group to build up a new to me registered receiver and against my better judgement I purchased (what was purported to be)  a genuine "Colt" M16 Lower Parts Kit from somebody other than Ken Elmore at Specialized Armament Warehouse.

I was tempted by the better pricing and well buying parts from SAW isn't the easiest proposition in comparison to the modern era of expected couple clicks online shopping experience.  

So needless to say, today my Colt M16 Lower Parts kit arrived and immediately I was suspect that these were not genuine Colt parts.

The kit arrived in a quasi sealed plastic bag which contained a standard A2 pistol grip and a smaller zip lock style bag with the remaining components.



I proceeded to start a comparison to known genuine Colt parts that were known to have come from SAW or parts came directly out of NIB Colt 6920s (which conveniently now-a-days have a mix of M16 parts) and were purchased from a Colt Authorized Dealer (GT Distributors)

This is where things appeared to go south when comparing critical FCG parts to the new ones that arrived.

The Hammers are very different to any other known Colt hammers I have.  

- Odd Dot Forging Mark vs an S or C.
- Appears to be a burst hammer with the wider disco ledge
- Contours dont match in the slightest
- Pin hole support is thinner and rounded vs. flat



Triggers are very different as well

- Same Dot Forging mark vs C or S.
- Odd indent in toward selector edge
- Profiles are different



The disconnector appear much rougher in finish and you can see where many of the edges are "rounded" over from the stamping operation on the new part vs. the known Colt that has cleaner 90 degree edges



The selector has an indent on the opposite side I have never see on a Colt selector.



It also has a gage code of "5SY02" which doesnt appear to trace back to Colt based off my google searches



So here is the question/s

Are my concerns unfounded here?  
Has anybody ever seen genuine Colt parts like this, especially with a Dot Forge mark vs. a C or S?

I hate to call somebody out as a pulling a bait and switch and then ultimately trying and negotiate a return/refund....  However, after digging through the myriad of seller reviews I am not the first person to have these concerns but overall the reviews are 99% positive.

The UNK parts do not look like my Factory Colt parts, nor my Brownells Colt parts.

sorry

i think ever colt part has a C on it....if not close to every part

never go cheap....return it, buy again elsewhere

get a geissele trigger instead of the colt!....makes a huge difference if your looking for the ultimate edge...if you like to shoot faster than the next guy its the cheapest way to do it

I have seen plenty of Colt parts without a C on them.  The triggers for at least some time have only had the double "S" stamp on them and some of the disconnectors are sometimes completely unmarked.

The only two parts I have seen with a consistent C stamp on them are carriers and hammers.

I suspect that the seller may just be praying on most folks lack of knowledge and quite frankly it not easy to 100% tell.  Colt has had some variation changes over the years (and of course none of the parts are clearly marked "Colt").  It possible somebody sold them to him as Colt and the seller themselves doesn't know the difference.

I wish Brownells had Colt FCG parts in stock on a more regular basis as they are extremely easy to deal with.   I normally order from SAW but my last order was a bit challenged from an order processing perspective which prompted me to start searching for another source.

No Geissele for this gun, but I also dont want junk DPMS parts in it either.  

I am on the fence on just putting it up for sale as this is my fourth M16 variant and I really dont have a good plan for it.   I was originally going to turn it into a dedicated 22LR host, but I just recently picked up a full auto 10/22 so that would be a significant amount of financial overlap in the 22LR collection space.  Not to mention I have conversion kits for my M11 and AC556 as well.

I talked to Colt yesterday as well and sent them the pictures.  They told me they would research and get back to me sometime next week but I am not sure if the "full auto" part scared them a bit.

If I hear back I will post an update.

Not Colt but could be a good USGI replacement FCG..
The cage code stands for "Corgan Enterprise LCC" in CA..