looking for the best condition one possible, I'm not sure if the price difference is a real indicator of that. If there are any better options available I'd like to know about them.

I'm just looking for the stock body itself, I'd probably be putting A2 butt plates on them and making them semi modern-ish.

https://www.fulton-armory.com/buttstockstrippeda1newblack-1.aspx

https://www.apexgunparts.com/colt-m16a2-buttstock-stripped.html

I bought the Fulton, It is used but is a very good "E" A1 stock.

Apex has been sharply raising their prices and the stuff I’ve received from them has been pretty poor condition.

Fulton stuff is fantastic in my limited experience.

Numrich has them for $15-$25 but they may need a few coats of primer and sanding work to be nice.

Those stock seem a bit high.

But is it high for the condition that they're described to be in? My only concern is that they look as close to new as possible.

I bought a Fulton A1 stock awhile back, it was in good serviceable shape, but did not look new.

I don't really expect them to look 100% like they were made yesterday. I know they're old, I'm just looking for the least beat to crap condition that there might be available.

The foam core delaminating from the inside of the stock body and becoming loose and painted stock bodies are also things I'd like to avoid.

Then Fulton is your best choice. The one I received was in good used condition also. no paint or no repairs, just scuffs.

I'm leaning towards Fulton. But I haven't really heard from anyone that's had the one from APEX except the one not so great review on their site.

Attached File

My Fulton stock.
Other side looks better than this side.
Notice some scuff marks by the toe area near butt plate. But, perfectly serviceable.

Doesn't look too bad. On the plus side of ordering from Fulton I could also get a couple *new* A1 sling swivel screws at the same time. Where with APEX, all they have is used A1 sling swivel screws with messed up drive slots.

Just Out of the Box today from Fulton:

Attached File




Attached File


Lots of scuffs and light scratches (not deep tho), but no cracks or dings I could find.

BTW: S/H on the stocks hit me $18.00 (a extra $6.00 Handling Charge for the stocks, which really didn't get any special handling that I could see, everything just tossed in a box with lots of packing paper....), so order a bunch of stuff like I did.


Time to clean them, so any suggestions on what to use, i'd like to keep the rack number in tact if possible.

Hmm, not as nice as I was hoping for considering the other Fulton examples I've seen, but still not terrible. I'm thinking the ones from APEX might be worse based off of the one review... I'm still not decided enough to jump either way just yet.

I'm holding out for some pictures of the APEX stocks as I'm not in a hurry, though it's looking like I might have to buy a couple of them myself to find out.

Order one of each, That way you can pick the better of the two. I’m sure there’s room on the EE for the loser. :)

Not a bad idea, but one of my brothers would end up with the loser. They get all my rejected parts and because of that they have more guns than me.

I ordered one of the "very good to excellent" A1 stocks from Apex... Guess I'll see how bad they are first hand.

If they're any good I'll probably get 2 more, but if they're not I'll go to Fulton Armory I guess.

It's crazy how much earlier parts have dried up, when I first joined this site you could build complete A1's with stuff sourced from just the EE pretty cheap, people offered Retro parts Free in a PIF thread and you couldn't even give A2 stuff away even in the PIF thread.

Yeah, I got into the retro stuff way too late so I never really got in on many of the good deals. And not much NOS stuff to be found anymore, so when I see it (like with those NOS A1 butt plates that AR15sport had) I jump on it pretty quick.

With these A1 stocks I just don't know what to expect.

Well, I received my A1 stock from APEX yesterday and I don't see that's it's any better than the ones that are coming from Fulton Armory. The extra cost doesn't really get you anything special that I can see, but I'll let you be the judge... I'll go with Fulton for my next two.

That's not bad at all, how much more was it than the opposition $10.00?

A difference of $15.05. Not a huge difference, but I'm just not seeing enough difference comparing it to the pictures of the Fulton stocks to convince me to go with APEX for the next ones.

I agree

Just a quick update.

All the dirt and grime washed off the stock with just Ajax dish soap, hot water, a toothbrush and a small hummingbird feeder brush for the tight spaces and screw hole in the sling swivel area.

It was pretty filthy too... All in all, I'm happy enough with it.

Thanks for the info.

I recently ordered the cmmg A1 repro stock set with buffer, spring and tube.

It seems thick and sturdy, but the buttplate is pretty shit.
The upper stock screw seems a tad long and isn't vented (perforated). I can't get anything to fully cycle on it. I emailed cmmg already but it's the weekend.

It would burn me to have to buy a $2 screw after ordering a complete stock set I'll update for anyone else looking at A1 repro stocks.

That sounds about right for that stock, I believe it's made by Cavalry Manufacturing.

No foam filling like the real thing, and it really makes them feel cheap. Kinda like the Brownells A1 "retro" stocks that are hollow and have a rattly plastic insert for reinforcement.

I was never a fan of the sling swivel cutout on those Cavalry Mfg. stocks either... It just looks off.

Replace what you have to on it to make it acceptable. There are a few very low quality A2 butt plate knock offs that are out there that I avoid any time I see them. Fulton Armory and AR15sport.com have the real deal NOS A2 butt plates. The only problem with them is that they are only compatible with the aluminum trap doors which you can't get anymore.

Colt's modern A2 butt plates available from APEX Gun Parts are kinda crap honestly... Half the time I order them they will already be pre cracked with a hairline crack running through the sling swivel screw hole. And the matching modern Colt polymer A2 trap door kinda sucks too. Though it's well designed to allow the drainage of water, the latch's spring is so stiff that you can't both depress it and open the door without sticking a small flat blade screwdriver over the top of the depressed latch so it flings itself open.

RRA and Windham Weaponry sell a pretty good (no cracks) A2 butt plate and matching polymer A2 trap door. The door doesn't have any drainage holes for water to seep out, but at least you can open the damn thing easily with finger pressure alone.

For A1 stock screws, you can get them through Brownells, White Oak Armament, Fulton Armory and I'm sure from a few other places I can't think of off the top of my head.

I've cut down A2 length screws many times to use on A1 stocks in a pinch, if you have a hacksaw laying around might be an option for you.

Ya, but I don't have a perforated A2 screw either

I'll see what cmmg says, but...I don't see a vented A1 screw listed on their website (though I swore they had one listed as out of stock recently).

They don't advertise it as a repro, so I wasn't put off by the hex head screws, but I hope they didn't just slap whatever screw in there to fill an order

I'll probably end up with another buttplate and possibly try using some closed cell foam in the stock as well.

On the plus side: this rifle length buffer and midlength 16" pencil combo is like shooting .22lr!

I received two of the Fulton Armory A1 stocks today... So, I have them all cleaned up to show here for comparison.


From left to right: APEX, Fulton, Fulton.












Both of the Fulton stocks have cracks/chips in the same area by the the sling swivel slots.






One of the Fulton stocks has the foam core partially delaminating from the plastic shell, but not completely. While the other one is completely delaminated.




So I was wrong in my assumption that the APEX and Fulton stocks are in exactly in the same condition... Externally they are pretty similar, but the foam core on the APEX stock is still solidly intact with the plastic stock shell. Though I can't say I'd get the same thing as before if I ordered again from APEX. I have a feeling that it's a mixed bag from either source, but I would gladly pay the extra $15.05 that APEX is charging if it was a guarantee that the foam cores were still intact.

Note the more oval sling swivel slots on the Fulton stocks as compared to the more rectangular slot on the APEX stock.