I thought I’d share my Colt 633(DOE) clone project and some pictures. In case anyone is wondering if it can be done easily.  It can. I bought a demilled Colt SMG kit that had seen very little use.  With the help of this forum, I found the Garrison reproduction Front sight assembly and handguard-its a one piece unit.  I sent the upper and the parts to John Thomas at Retro Arms Works.  In a freakishly fast turnaround, it arrived back.  Thank you John Thomas. All the great stuff I read about you is true.

He used the chrome lined Colt barrel that came with the kit.  The barrel had enough meat at the finished length to make a shoulder and pin the front sight assembly.  A beautiful crown and a shiny clean chamber are at each end of the reparkerized barrel.  There’s no wiggle or front/rear movement in the handguard.





I was torn about whether to use the 2 piece pinned magwell conversion or a drop in. When they didn’t sell quickly, I decided to use them.  The presence of the pinning holes concerned me.  A gunsmith friend said he could hit the holes.  He hit them.  I bought the 4 springs that are for the blocks.  Since they fit the lower with absolutely no room to wiggle, we didn’t use them.  I’ll probably return them.


After this was done, I gave the lower the Norrel flat grayish black treatment.


The color comparison to the Colt factory upper and the commercial moly resin is right on the money. I’ve used it before and knew what to expect.


The next thing is to get the lower engraved and the hardest part-waiting for the stamp to come back.  I’ll probably get a drop in block to use in my registered SBR lower to use until the form 1 is approved.

That’s really nice. I said the same thing about lowers, but mine is still sitting on a DPMS SBR lower after 10 years. Lol.

Looks good. Can you remove the handguards if needed or is it a permanent install?

Looks great, I have all the parts for my DOE build just need to send them to John

Here is my SBR DOE. John Thomas did most of the work on mine also. I used an ADCO barrel. John pined it and parked it for me.
I used a Colt 9mm upper and a Colt 9MM Carbine lower that I had a Colt 1 piece mag block already installed. But Colt only puts 2 pins in the new one piece blocks. So I had JT  drill the third hole and pin it to look like the older 2 piece blocks.
I also used Norrell's on my lower and it matched almost perfectly.

I also used reproduction 2 piece handguards from  matsucorp

Attached File

Thank you.  I figured pinning the magwell blocks would force me to do the form 1. I may do a pistol brace while waiting for it to clear.

Thanks.  The handguard is a single unit.  You would have to drive the pin out and rake off the front sight assembly if you needed to get at the barrel.

That looks great!

Thank you.  John is the man.  Quick and talented.