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Posted: 5/3/2020 3:38:30 PM EDT
Im finally (for the most part) done with my 1966 XM16E1 reweld the only thing that makes it incomplete is the buffer roll pin which should be here Thursday or Friday, then it’ll be 100% complete I couldn’t be happier with the results, I started sourcing everything for this over a year ago, this is essentially my dream rifle and it’s my tribute to my Father who was a Vietnam Veteran (65-67) HUGE HUGE thank you to Braceman for doing the weld job!!!!
For those wondering I have an in the field defense binary trigger in it which you can use either an M16 or AR15 selector with, aside from the rear half of the lower and the trigger and disconnector this rifle is all Colt the barrel and front sight post are not original to the upper they’re mid 70’s the rest is mid 60’s era the hand guards are the early ones and do not have the drain holes in them. I tried to use the original bolt catch that came with the magwell but it wasn’t catching the bolt turns out it got a slight bend in it when it went through the demilling process so I swapped it out with a surplus one I had laying around and that did the trick. This was the first rifle I ever built and I gotta say I’m pretty damn proud of myself LOL!!! Here’s some pics         What it was... 
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Posted: 5/3/2020 5:06:38 PM EDT
[#1]
nice build. you have some really rare handguards there. the black ones with the fiberglass pieces are really tough to find.
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Posted: 5/3/2020 6:30:43 PM EDT
[#2]
Braceman is amazing! I'm thoroughly impressed every time.
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Posted: 5/3/2020 6:52:39 PM EDT
[#3]
SO INCREDIBLY COOL.
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Posted: 5/3/2020 7:11:59 PM EDT
[#4]
Very Nice Rifle! You deserve to be proud of your first build.
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Posted: 5/3/2020 7:14:45 PM EDT
[#5]
She is a beauty, fantastic job!
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Posted: 5/3/2020 9:03:53 PM EDT
[#6]
I believe that's the best first build I've ever seen. Great job and parts sourcing. Hope it shoots fantastic. I'd be proud of that one any day. Wish I had my first build back. Had a 01 sling on it that I didn't know was 01 until after the sale plus a lot of good parts, mags etc. Sold it for $525 to older co-worker one Christmas and he passed since. His son inherited a decent collection of parts if nothing else..
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Posted: 5/4/2020 11:26:27 AM EDT
[#7]
Thanks everyone! Right now my OCD is killing me because I don’t have the buffer roll pin installed yet it should be here this week and then it will finally be completed!
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Posted: 5/4/2020 12:05:13 PM EDT
[#8]
WOW! What a nice job.
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Posted: 5/4/2020 12:17:59 PM EDT
[#9]
Great job, beautiful rifle!!
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Posted: 5/4/2020 1:07:37 PM EDT
[#10]
Very, very well done Steve
Don't change a thing. Looks fantastic. Nice photography also. Another great, old veteran lives again. 
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Posted: 5/4/2020 3:44:18 PM EDT
[#11]
Congrats! It looks fantastic! I’d be curious to hear how you like the ITF trigger. I can find very little in the way of testimonials about em!
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Posted: 5/4/2020 6:59:48 PM EDT
[#12]
How'd you go about refinishing the lower?
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Posted: 5/4/2020 8:27:51 PM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By bdm2t: Congrats! It looks fantastic! I’d be curious to hear how you like the ITF trigger. I can find very little in the way of testimonials about em! I’ve had one in my sp1 for months and I absolutely LOVE it the one in this rifle is my second one I HIGHLY recommend it. I also have a Franklin BFSIII and the Fostech Echo 2, and I prefer the ITF the ONLY issue I’ve had with it is light primer strikes, I’ve since changed the hammer spring and haven’t had any issues with it. The company who makes them is a small business out of Philly. (It’s basically 1 guy not a big company like Franklin or Fostech) |
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Posted: 5/4/2020 8:28:46 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By jeepdan: Very, very well done Steve Don't change a thing. Looks fantastic. Nice photography also. Another great, old veteran lives again. Thanks man! I was originally gonna do a BFPU look with it but I think I’m gonna put that idea on hold I like the way it looks currently. |
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Posted: 5/4/2020 8:29:32 PM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By saigamanTX: How'd you go about refinishing the lower? I used Norrells Colt grayish black flat moly resin on the lower. I didn’t touch the upper |
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Posted: 5/8/2020 10:22:21 AM EDT
[#16]
That looks very very good.
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Posted: 5/8/2020 3:51:44 PM EDT
[#17]
That's sweat. I'm digging it.
I'm building an A1, a late '67 or early '68 version as a tribute to my father as well. He went in country March '68 during Tet. They had the issues with the earlier models worked out by the time he received his A1. They issued them their M16s when they received their overseas orders. The guys in his ground pounder unit initially thought that MacNamara and Johnson were trying to get them killed with a plastic rifle like that. He soon changed his mind after a couple fire-fights. He could't say enough good things about the M16A1, even though he went through basic with an M14. |
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Posted: 5/8/2020 10:41:31 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By techno_000: That looks very very good. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By techno_000: That looks very very good. Thanks! :D Originally Posted By Ricks66c10: That's sweat. I'm digging it. I'm building an A1, a late '67 or early '68 version as a tribute to my father as well. He went in country March '68 during Tet. They had the issues with the earlier models worked out by the time he received his A1. They issued them their M16s when they received their overseas orders. The guys in his ground pounder unit initially thought that MacNamara and Johnson were trying to get them killed with a plastic rifle like that. He soon changed his mind after a couple fire-fights. He could't say enough good things about the M16A1, even though he went through basic with an M14. Awesome!! I look forward to seeing pics! Also my roll pin for the rear of the lower near the buffer came today, so now I can officially say my XM16E1 is 100% complete! :D |
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Posted: 5/9/2020 3:26:22 AM EDT
[#19]
Great job! That is about as close as you can get to having a full-on original! Now, you will need a GM and a H&R!
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Posted: 5/9/2020 12:31:28 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By M4it: Great job! That is about as close as you can get to having a full-on original! Now, you will need a GM and a H&R! Thanks man! And a Colt A1 and an E2 etc... LOL! I did mention to my wife the other day I want to build a GM next but that’s gonna take a lot longer than this one. And she didn’t smack me so that’s a good sign LOL!!! The last magwell I saw on gunbroker the seller (who lives 20 minutes from me) had it listed for I think over $800 needless to say he didn’t get any bites on it. I’ve thought about messaging the guy and making an offer. I’d also like to build a 601 but that’s gonna be extremely pricy and finding a magwell will be next to impossible since I’ve read only 4 of them are known to exist. I might see if John can reprofile an 80 for me. But that’s a ways off yet. |
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Posted: 5/11/2020 9:41:15 PM EDT
[#21]
Man that lower turned out amazing! I want one like that.. Great job!
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Posted: 5/11/2020 10:05:34 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By tiredude: Man that lower turned out amazing! I want one like that.. Great job! Thanks man! :) |
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Posted: 5/12/2020 1:19:45 PM EDT
[#23]
This is a great rifle. Quality is amazing.
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Posted: 5/12/2020 9:15:44 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AmericanSheepDog: This is a great rifle. Quality is amazing. Thanks man! I’m pretty proud of it especially since it’s the first rifle I ever built. :) I just picked up this sling that’s dated to May 1964 to go with it.   
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Posted: 5/13/2020 5:40:06 AM EDT
[#25]
Very nice!
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Posted: 5/13/2020 6:07:48 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By 17Liberty76: Thanks man! And a Colt A1 and an E2 etc... LOL! I did mention to my wife the other day I want to build a GM next but that’s gonna take a lot longer than this one. And she didn’t smack me so that’s a good sign LOL!!! The last magwell I saw on gunbroker the seller (who lives 20 minutes from me) had it listed for I think over $800 needless to say he didn’t get any bites on it. I’ve thought about messaging the guy and making an offer. I’d also like to build a 601 but that’s gonna be extremely pricy and finding a magwell will be next to impossible since I’ve read only 4 of them are known to exist. I might see if John can reprofile an 80 for me. But that’s a ways off yet. Finding an E2 magwell is rough, also the H&R. Last XM177E2 I saw on GB sold for $215 which is not too bad, but it needed a lot of work. Have not seen a decent Xm177E2, H&R, or a GM magwell in a long time. Have fun with your E1. I reall like those hand guards! |
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Posted: 5/13/2020 6:14:04 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By 17Liberty76: Thanks man! I’m pretty proud of it especially since it’s the first rifle I ever built. :) I just picked up this sling that’s dated to May 1964 to go with it. https://i.imgur.com/tYYKMTi.jpg https://i.imgur.com/yNDnM1R.jpg https://i.imgur.com/gym9ART.jpg Where did you snag that from, I need two. Can you PM if you don't want to make public. |
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Posted: 5/13/2020 6:39:11 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By M4it: Finding an E2 magwell is rough, also the H&R. Last XM177E2 I saw on GB sold for $215 which is not too bad, but it needed a lot of work. Have not seen a decent Xm177E2, H&R, or a GM magwell in a long time. Have fun with your E1. I reall like those hand guards! Yeah I think I remember that E2 Magwell if I remember correctly the front pivot pin bosses were broken off. The GM magwell I saw was up for about a week last month, it was in GREAT shape too. I love the hand guards on my E1 especially the right one when you get it in the sun it you can see brown in it almost like a camouflage LOL! I would imagine that it’s from handling through the years. |
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Posted: 5/13/2020 6:39:44 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By jurassic63: Where did you snag that from, I need two. Can you PM if you don't want to make public. It was on eBay |
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Posted: 5/16/2020 10:56:20 PM EDT
[#30]
Thats one of the most amazing builds Ive ever seen on here! Amazing.
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Posted: 5/17/2020 4:20:32 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kalahnikid: Thats one of the most amazing builds Ive ever seen on here! Amazing. Wow! Thanks! |
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Posted: 5/18/2020 3:08:54 PM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Ricks66c10: That's sweat. I'm digging it. I'm building an A1, a late '67 or early '68 version as a tribute to my father as well. He went in country March '68 during Tet. They had the issues with the earlier models worked out by the time he received his A1. They issued them their M16s when they received their overseas orders. The guys in his ground pounder unit initially thought that MacNamara and Johnson were trying to get them killed with a plastic rifle like that. He soon changed his mind after a couple fire-fights. He could't say enough good things about the M16A1, even though he went through basic with an M14. You're a fine son, Rick! I know your Father will love it and hopefully it'll be ready by Father's Day. It'll be his new best friend. My story is much like your Dad's. I touched down in Vietnam early February 1968 and was issued a new M16A1. I also trained and qualified with the M14 so after quite an initial shock I grew to love Miss plastic fantastic. Funny, I slipped through the cracks and never qualified with the M16. But it really didn't matter. |
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Posted: 6/5/2020 3:24:52 PM EDT
[#33]
What is the correct roll pin size for the hole in the upper beneath the buffer tube threads and do you have a source?
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Posted: 6/5/2020 3:39:32 PM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryQuoted: What is the correct roll pin size for the hole in the upper beneath the buffer tube threads and do you have a source? Ask NoDak Spud for some. |
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Posted: 6/5/2020 6:02:42 PM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryQuoted: What is the correct roll pin size for the hole in the upper beneath the buffer tube threads and do you have a source? It’s 3/32 roll pin 7/8” long you get ask Nodak for some or you can get em on eBay, how many do you need I think I have some extra |
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Posted: 6/7/2020 2:46:18 PM EDT
[#36]
NoDak Spud has their NDS-XM16E1 "Retro" lower receivers in stock.
Also they have one NDS-601 "Retro" lower receiver in stock (no more until 2021 after that one is sold). Both are XM Gray and include the roll pin. I'm still on the NDS-16A1 waiting list but my NDS-XM16E1 lower is on the way! |
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