Was over a year in the making, just got the tax stamp yesterday and finished it.

Build List


Complete original Colt 1985 vintage RO6420 Sporter 2 upper receiver
-Had the Correct profile pencil barrel
-Had the Correct skinny shiny hand-guards
-Had the Correct A1 port door
-Had the Correct teardrop forward assist
-Had the Correct A1 sight upper
-Had the Correct grey anodized delta ring


Retro Arms Works did the following work on the upper receiver
-Chopped and Threaded the 16 inch pencil barrel to 11.5 inches
-Removed the casting flash and bayonet lug from the front sight base -Re-parkerized front sight base
-Enlarged the gas port
-Provided the 4.3 inch replica moderator and grenade ring


Correct vintage Colt M16A1 parts were installed in the upper including:
-M16A1 Round front sight post
-1974 vintage C Marked Bolt and Carrier group
-1974 vintage Colt charging handle


Nodak Spud M16A1 80% Lower was electro etched with the correct rollmarks using Dogfightink stencils, then machined out and coated with Norrells Moly Resin Grey-Black Flat. The Lower was then soaked with rem oil and lightly weathered with a fine grit manicure sponge to match the well used finish of the vintage Upper. The manicure sponge was also used on the high spots of the rest of the rifle to give the whole thing a nice patina.


These parts were installed in the lower
-1974 Vintage Colt Grip
-Assorted Used M16A1 lower parts kit components.
-Used M16A1 grey anodized trigger guard
-Used Colt SP1 "no tick" selector
-Ace/Essential Retro Aluminum buttstock, weathered to match upper
-Ace buffer tube moly resined grey-black
-Ace Spanner type lock ring


Original Vintage Colt 20 Round Aluminum Magazine I picked up on active duty in the 90s


Original Vintage Seatbelt Sling combined with an Alice strap to make an adjustable 2 point sling.


Inaccurate stuff I decided to live with:
-No auto sear
-Moderator is not a baffled suppressor
-1/7 twist barrel instead of 1/12
-Buffer and spring are a modern carbine version
-Some of the internal springs and detents are out of a modern parts kit
-An adapter bushing was used to fit the Upper to the Lower
-C H (Colt Harvey) forge code is incorrect
-Buffer tube is a Colt 4 hole (because I actually want to shoot this thing  and the stock all the way in or all the way out only makes me nuts)

Beautiful..!!!

Very nice work.  

Nice job!

Looks great! My XM177E2 also has the 1/7 barrel. It's a cut (Retro Arms Works) SP1 pencil barrel Police Turn in before manufactures jumped onto the retro trend. Let us know how it shoots!

Awesome ??

Cool Beans

Very nice! Congrats on bringing your project in. I’ve got several I’ve been gathering parts for - they’ve been hanging fire for a very long time.

Very Cool

Looks great :D  My little XM177ish clone has become one of my favorite rifles.  When I built it I couldn't find a Pencil barrel in stock so compromised with a gov profile barrel.  :(

Excellent!  I settled on a black delta ring.

that looks perfect

Thanks for the kind words guys.
Some more detailed pictures.

Nice work

Great work OP.

Absolutely beautiful build! Enjoy it

Took it to the range yesterday.
My very first shot was funny enough I made a meme out of it.


After about 5 double feeds I switched to P mags and it ran like a top.

Thanks for the LOL, that was funny...

That OG mag still looks great in pictures.

I does look great.
Im going to change the spring and maybe the follower and see if that gets it working.

Beautiful example

Nice job!

Very nice, OP!

Some good looking XM-177E2s in this thread. I'll post a pic of mine when I get home from work.

Pick up a mag feed lips gauge.  They are probably out of spec.  I have four or five in my collection that are unserviceable because of that and cause the same malfunction.

Fine looking build by the way.

Thank you.
I will order one of those