I am in the process of putting together an FN M16A2 clone. I have a complete FNMI upper and FN furniture along with period correct sling.  I also have a PSA M16A2 marked lower.

The issue is the color of the lower is clearly black and the upper is clearly a dark gray anodize.

I’m absolutely not interested in refinishing the FNMI upper but I would like to refinish the lower to better match the upper. Or at least a better representation of “as issued” condition.

I’ve scoured through the various posts and through the various FM’s and TM’s. I’ve reached out to a couple of companies and haven’t had luck either.

In 2020, what are the best options to getting a good matching lower to M16A2 gray?

I'm curious - how grey is your FN upper? Is it an early FK marked upper? FNs seem to range from lighter grey to charcoal, like a faded black. This isn't a great photo, but this is a surplus FN upper on my M16A4 clone lower that I had anodized by Outlaw Anodizing in Houston, and they used their regular MILSPEC black (which is really a dark grey). I know that PSA's finish is very black, more so than most brands.

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I can take a better comparison photo, but they look pretty good together.

I know that it's not that helpful when you're concerned about matching the colors and having them look good on a rifle that you put a lot of money into, but FNs are notorious for mismatched colors, in my experience. Here are two examples of photos I took back in 2005-2007 of FNs in my old Army unit. These are pretty typical of how they looked in that timeframe. I'm not sure if the lowers were overhauled and re-anodized, but I've seen other members post that they saw similar mismatched receivers even when the rifles were new. Probably because the uppers and lowers weren't anodized in the same batches.

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Having said all that, I think a consideration is that you're planning to anodize over an existing anodized coating. I'm not sure if you need to find a place that is experienced with doing it. From everything I've heard, I would trust U.S. Anodizing to do it but would be wary of other places. They specifically deal with refinishing older lowers, such as NFA machineguns, and they offer the various shades like pre-ban grey and current black. They have a warning on their website about people that try to remove the anodizing before refinishing a lower and how that could change the dimensions if not done correctly. They are very busy, but several people here recommend just sending Victor a note and asking him to fit you in whenever he can.

Thank you for the information and help!  I’ll definitely check out the companies you mentioned.

My upper is an FK forge code. Below is a picture of the specific FNMI upper on a PSA M16A4 lower from another clone rifle. The M16A2 marked lower is the same black finish.  I just hadn’t built it yet since I was trying to decide what route to take.  

The appearance of mine looks very similar to the two example photos.  It would seem like the mismatched parts would indicate either the lowers were changed out or FN originally had this significant of a difference in anodizing.  It would seem like since different dyes are used to yield these colors that it would be odd that they would change their processing between batches this drastically. That’s entirely unsubstantiated and just a guess on my part though. It’d be awesome if there was a definitive answer somewhere.

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I have done a little more research since my first post and it appears there’s 3 primary anodizing colors through the years with variations along the way; “XM grey”, “Pre-Ban Grey”, and “Black”.  With the FN I’m assuming it is “Pre-Ban” grey.

So far the list below is all of the options I’ve found and where I’m at with each;

Norrell Inc. Moly Resin - Paint option. Inexpensive solution for a better match but not clone correct.  Not sure if the XM grey would match the early FN A2 anodizing anyway.

Sandstrom 9A - Mil-Spec Coating approved for touch-up and upper rework. I don’t think this is technically correct for a lower though since the TM/FM limits it’s use on lowers.

SnF Finishing LLC - Email sent. Pending Information.

New Frontier Armory Anodizing Service - Inexpensive but black dye only.

Outlaw Anodizing - Will Contact.

US Anodizing - Will Contact.

Accept the color mismatch - Cheap option and obviously indicative of “as issued” for certain rifles.


Are there any others worth considering or any other thoughts?  Thanks again for the help!  I really appreciate it.

Like 3ACR mentioned, mismatched is quite common in military usage. Simple fact of the matter is that the upper and lower is probably never anodized at the same time, in fact they are probably subcontracted separately by the manufacturers. When the dye batch is new and stronger the color is darker and it fades with each batch and the exact alloy also effects the final outcome as well. Just a fact of high volume manufacturing. If it makes everyone feel better, over the years of my service I got issued exactly 2 new (or nearly so) M16A2s, one an early Colt and the other a FN with the professional looking marking, not the dot type. Both were black enough that there was no noticeable difference between the stocks and the aluminum parts and upper and lowers matched. The Colt had semi-gloss furniture and the FN had matte furniture but not the chalk board looking stock. BOTH did have the PG that was noticeably shinier than the rest of the furniture. All the other issued rifles and carbines I had were in various shades in between and often worn from usage and heavy field time, but I never had a purple version but did see them from time to time. My last M4 was very gray looking, upper was lighter than the lower, a lower serial number and even had the CAR stock.

So in the end, just build it with what you can find, use quality parts and use the hell out of it and expose it to lots of UV light and watch it start to look right. Personally I think the whole gray vs black thing is way over blown.

I have no doubt that these are mismatched in the wild and in service. Additionally, I am appreciative of the input and help. I also want to say thank you for your service. I especially enjoyed seeing the real rifles in use.

I suppose what I’m looking for out of this rifle is as close of a clone that I can get that is representative of the condition it left FNMI in.  This rifle, for me, is meant more as a ‘collector’ than as a high round count shooter.  I’m fascinated with all of the major military variations and am slowly working towards building each of them.  The A2 being especially cool to me as this was the rifle of Military when I grew up.

There’s just something that looks off with a jet black lower on a grey upper and I’m trying to get it to be closer to what I would assume it left the factory looking like in the end.  It absolutely functionally works and I suppose gives it character but the aesthetics of it seems awry.

Again, I appreciate the help and your service.

There have been some good threads in the retro section about getting new lowers to match old uppers.
Some of the picture links are broken but still some good info you could try. I know there are more threads about this, but I'm having trouble finding them.
https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/Aging_a_receiver/123-608850/?

Stay away from oven cleaner / drano unless you want to remove the ano completely.
https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/Removing_Anodizing/19-344105/