Pretty much title related; I've seen the M16A1s refurbed with A2 handguards (as in Israel and the Philippines), but were any M16A1s also retrofitted with the newer A2 barrels? I imagine that this must've been done to standardize ammo and make them properly stabilize M855 in addition to M193 ammo, but I haven't seen any photos of this in practice.

It would have made sense to replace old A1 barrels with A2 ones.. but There’s a recent thread about a 1996 made colt a1 barrel.. quite confusing since it doesn’t make sense to keep 2 different barrels and 2 different ammo in stock...

If the commercial SP1 market is any indication, yes.

Think about it: you have barrels & parts.  You can sell them as scrap, or use them as part of the existing contracts.

Look, also, at the mix-master Franken-guns of the Air Force: GAU and GUU-series.  A2 barrel on an A1 upper with skinny 6 hole hand guards.

Colt wasn’t exactly following their own specs.  Hopefully, the CZ folks can make Colt great again....

This is an old article from Weaponsman (RIP) which talks about spare barrels, and he mentions having seen both FN and Colt 1/7 replacement barrels with A1 profile. Some years ago, both MacKay Enterprises and Gun Parts Corp sold some of the Colt barrels and I was lucky enough to grab one. They were stripped with no FSB, and no markings other than C MP B.

http://weaponsman.looserounds.com/?p=17611

Mine came from GPC with not much in the way of details or description but I took a chance since they've always been good about returns. They were discussed here at the time and I believe a few others here picked one up also. Using the cleaning rod method, it did indeed measure out to 1/7.

Don’t know about A2 barrels. But a factory Colt model had an A1 upper with round handguards and pencil barrel

Colt 711/715, and the Colt/Diemaco C7.

More than 3, but I get your point. Sam Colt or someone like him wouldn’t have let this ever happen.

It’s my understanding that CZ is going to keep Colt in CT using the same people and equipment that made hash out of Colt in the first place. I do hope Colt will have a quality comeback, and hopefully start making SAAs again.

Except the C7 has the Brunton Bump / Brass Deflector. The pictured 711/715 doesn’t

While always and never should be avoided, the military supply system should have prevented it, unless there were no more A1 barrels in the supply system. By the time the A2 was introduced, supply is being computerized.

Your unit is assigned certain types of weapons, and each of the parts has a stock number. If your unit had A1s, and you ordered an A2 barrel, which has a different stock number, the supply system should kick that back as an unauthorized item. Exception would be if A1 parts ran out, and the A2 part was an acceptable substitute part (handguards, grips, stocks) as functional equivalents.

This is why weapons fielding goes brigade by brigade, the supply system needs to match what you can order to what you are supposed to have on hand, or is part of the PLL (Prescribed Load List) of spares to be kept on hand for operational needs.

Units don't order ammo by caliber, it goes by DODIC, so you order M193 ball, M855A1 ball, M856 tracer, M200 blank and so on.

That being said, mismatches do occur, especially as the Army is in transition as happened in sandbox I. The combat brigades deployed were all M16A2 rifle/ M9 pistol equipped, bu the reserve units deployed were frequently still M16A1 / M1911A1 equipped. An example is in 2nd Brigade, 1AD, our Civil Affairs support team came from an Army Reserve unit in Rochester, NY. So, while all of the active duty folks in the brigade area were M16A2 equipped, there were still M16A1 equipped units that came from the reserve component. Even at that, the reserve units did not draw weapons parts from the 47th Support Battalion of 1AD, unless there would have been a repair that their unit armorer was not authorized to make. Barrel replacement is a unit armorer task.

When Colt first released civilian "A2's" they came with A1 uppers and everything else was A2. The barrel was the government 20" profile and all hardware was the new A2 style.

IMO they were dumping stockpiled A1 uppers on the civilian market to liquidate inventory. Within a year or two all civilian A2's came from the factory looking just like the ones issued to the services.

The early ones had SP1 lowers too. The only A2 features were the barrel and furniture.
I don't recall ever seeing an AR15A2 govt. with a fenced magazine release either.

Derp

I have a pic but cannot upload it, I imagine it is due to my member status.  If you can (right?!?) check out issue 181 of PS Monthly from 1967.

Especially when you're talking about the words "Colt" and "A2" are involved...    (OK, "A2" isn't a word, but you know what I mean)

grondike posted the classic "M16A2 Weapon System" catalog above.  Look at the variety there, and ask yourself, "What the hell was the criteria for Colt calling something an A2?"  

My very first AR15 was one of those, around 1988 IIRC.

I know the guy that owns it today.

My first A2 was an AR-15A2 Government Model. SP-1 style slabsided lower marked thus, SP-1 style carrier, C7 type upper, and A2 furniture and barrel.

Sold upper, lower and B/C to a guy in a ban state. Furniture, bolt and barrel live on in and A4 DMR clone.

IIRC, the Navy's M-16A1HB was an M-16A1 with the furniture, barrel, FSB, and flash suppressor replaced with the A2 components.  Not sure if any are still around.  They were supposed to be replaced by the M-16A3.

Largely barrel twist was the difference between A1and A2. The only truly new features were the twist, PG, rifle stock length and sometimes the brass deflector.

I know that currently Windham is producing an A1 upper 20" rifle with A2 stock and handguards.  No fwd assist and A1 grip.  I think its a gov't profile barrel.

When I left Active Duty Army in the early 90s, my Reserve Unit was still rocking original M16A1s... All the M16A1 rifles were configured as 100% A1s and since it was a Reserve unit, they received very little usage.  So, I don’t think many Army Reserve or National Guard units did any mixing of parts since the supply system was still flooded with A1 replacement parts.

Around the mid/late 90s we received brand new Colt M16A2 rifles.

Speaking for the Army, which has a massive supply system, mixing A1s with A2 parts wouldn’t be ideal since some SFC or 1SG in that unit would blow a fuse.

Yes, NMCB24 deployed in 05 (OIF111) with that configuration

not USA but as for philippines mostly stock set upgrades on slicksides and a1 converted to a2. colt a2 barrels were installed on all models 601 thru a1. no preference to which model except that the barrels needed replaced seems like.

CZ is completely replacing the management that's been bleeding the place dry for decades.

Since they seem to want to make guns and a profit, that means they're going to make guns without bleeding.

US navy rebarred A1 wth delta ring barrel and hand gaurds ! I'll post pictures when I upgrade my account