I built this for my buddy Mike J. last year. He had a mid 70’s Colt take off upper that I cleaned up (it had that grey moly spray lube on it)
I love “perfect clone” guns but for some reason this thing is just so cool to me. The upper was black so the lower was black.

He used his own fancy trigger fyi.
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Nice OP.

@mike_nds

This was a project I worked on for about a year, I haven’t posted in a long time and I wanted to share something cool.

Normally everyone wants 100% original, I thought the ANAD marks matched with the upper/later buttstock was a nice touch.

All fixed.  

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Fabulous work as usual.

I love the look of parkerizing against black.

I feel like I should be doing pushups at A/795 while Sr. Drill Elvis McGrew is discussing my various shortcoming as a Soldier trying to pollute his beloved Army.

Wow that caused a flashback big time. I got to tour ANAD at Bynam, AL in that era. Beautiful weapon.

That rifle's provenance (is that the right word?) just blows me away. Superb.

Beautiful clone. Who says it needs to be grey and matching color on all upper/lower/small parts? This is totally cool as legit clone as other A1 built I saw.

Beautiful rifle!!

What did you use to stamp the ANAD ?


ETA:  I like the defense stamp

Very neat.  Its probably one of the only A1 clones that I actually think would look better with a 30rd mag, just because of the 1976 "rebuild" date.

Very slick OP.

I found a arsenal black A1 upper last week.  Your bulid is motivating.

I think Mike is doing them in black too i am so this won't be hard to reproduce. The ANAD is done with hand stamps, i will find out the size and report back.

I have really enjoyed these refurb builds lately, 100% clone correct is getting boring for me. The black upper was of the nicest complete uppers I have ever seen.

This is the last H&R rifle I will ever build… I don’t even have a spare for myself.

Probably the wrong time to be getting out of the H&R repo line, w/ actual H&R branded lowers about to hit the market.

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Nice.  What was the other company that made replacement A1 lowers?  I can't think of it right now. Balimoy.

No concern of mine, just that w/ H&R marked lowers from H&R about to come to market, along w/ new H&R small parts down the road, it would seem we're almost to a golden age of H&R cloning, w/ a mix of original & new H&R parts available.

Oh I get it, see i took it wrong again. I am half awake. I had to get out of the H&R Repo business. It was the respectable and legal thing to do. With them releasing their products and trademarking the logos there can't be duplicates being made at the same time. You have branding/trademark issues as well as brand recognition issues. It was time to pull the plug. Maybe one day we will do a joint product or they will license me something to make.

I will still sell vintage H&R parts and GM parts.

My only issue with the balimoy lowers is not having the correct forgings. That’s why I didn’t do them yet. I am looking for the actual forging blueprints (not the locations of the holes), i may end up buying the dies and have them made. I think there is a huge gap in the A2 retro market.

On another note:
I would like to take this time to tell everyone here how much I enjoy this forum and hobby, and how much I appreciate everyone that had a hand in helping push me forward. When I started making lowers in 2019 I figured I would end up with the most expensive clones ever and maybe a couple friends wouid snag one.
I NEVER would have imagined I would still be here today just as excited as I was in 2019. This project has been the most fulfilling experience of my life. The joy these little slab of aluminum bring to ppl amazes me.

Now H&R Gets to pick up and run with the M16A1, then subsequent other versions, more people will be introduced to our hobby and it will only get better for us as more parts become available for us to build guns. I hope they will decide to sell me a few uppers in the future - but As long as ppl have parts to assemble their clones I am happy.

Everyone have a great day.

Nice. About 30 years ago, my ARNG M16A1 had "ANAD 7-74" stamped on it. It was an early M16A1, S/N 1867446, still marked "Colt AR-15".

The ANAD A1 to A2 refurbs are really cool too. There are plenty of these still in the service with multiple refurb marks on them. I did one if I could find the photos. Edit: here they are

Here it is, it’s not perfect since normally the burst wouldn’t be this cleanly stamped. But I liked this.
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Very cool build, I'm always impressed to see the ideas for unique projects in the retro section

You are one of the guys who has constantly raised the bar of what is possible in retro land. We need a supply of 80% XM and A1 lowers to keep the wheels turning.

I appreciate that, it’s been a ton of work but 100% worth it.

I’m working on it - I have a solution, that’s all I can say for now. I do need to figure out how this new receiver rule will affect selling 80%’s.

I have a plan either way it falls that will solve everyone’s issues.

I hope someday to see a GM, H&R, or Balimoy restamped all the way to M4A1, but I'm running out of time.  All I ever see are Colt and FN M4s restamped to M4A1s.

I think one of the reasons we are unlikely to see much of that is the A2s went to the Iraqi and Afghan armies by the thousands, while the US was upgrading to M4A1s, thus the stock of A2s to upgrade has been depleted. The supply of surplus A2 parts has been depleted as well, and while 10 years ago, A2 stuff was to be had - anything mil related is hard to find if not current production.

Can we get Taliban A2 parts kits?  

Have yall seen the Afgans reviewing our M16A2's and M16A4's? Its interesting for sure.

Very cool.

In one of my prior foreign language gun video threads (current one), there was a Pakistani guy who reviewed all sorts of Pakistani made & Soviet surplus stuff.

These are fantastic! Nicely done!

Well, my wife isn’t gonna be happy cause now I need to add one of these to list of builds I have to do now LOL!  Amazing work as usual!!

Thank you for doing what you do. It’s truly artisan level stuff.

Where can the H&R lowers be bought from ?
I've got the A1 upper but am looking for that perfect Viet Nam era lower to complete it.
Yours looks incredible !
I had flashbacks at first glance of the pics.

You will have to buy one from the newly formed H&R, they should have lowers soon. I have discontinued mine, these were ones I made before they got going again. There is a thread about it "H&R Acquisition Nodak Spud".

Would I be able to buy a GM receiver from you and if so how do I get in contact with you thank