Braceman spliced a magwell to the back half of an 80% for me and engraved the back half.  Just had an early Colt 16" barrel cut down by John Thomas.  Now I am ready for paint!

Wow! Impressive work.

Sweet!!  He is a Jedi welder for sure. He did the same thing for me but my front half is a GM. Love the XM!!

Where are you guys getting cut receivers like that?  I'd love to have this done with a GAU-5A/A mag well.  This approach seems interesting now that I can see it.

I bought this one on Gun Broker and paid a very high amount for it.  I have been watching GB for years and this was the only intact XM177E2 magwell that I have ever seen. There have been two other XM177E2 magwells  that I know of that had been on GB, but they were cut in the critical areas and only good for paperweights.  There really were not very many of the carbines produced during the Vietnam war compared to the regular XM16E1s and M16A1s. I have wanted as close to an original XM177E2 as possible ever since the late 1970s and now I'm almost there! An intact GAU-5A/A may be just as, or harder than, an intact XM177E2 magwell to find.  But you never know.  One may show up at a gun show somewhere and the seller may not know what he/she has and you might get one at a good price.  Good luck!

M4it.......what kind of jig are you going to use? I've had great sucess with the 5D Tactical FWIW.

I have it all milled out.  I used Juggernaut Tactical jig.  It works ok but I've had some problems with it.  You need to use a machinist vice with good wide jaws on it.  A couple of times it worked its was loose and I ended up milling through the bottom.  Live and learn!!

What did it run you?  What kind of search criteria are you using on GB to look for stuff like this?  And what sort of cuts should I be looking for or turning away from?  Are any of these cut receivers complete and in a condition to be rewelded (by the appropriate FFL) but with mods done like the third hole welded closed like the Han Machine AR-10 receivers?

I remember the auction and know what it went for but that's M4it business to disclose. As far as cuts......you don't want the front half to be bent/distorted in any way and the cut should be neat leaving the bolt catch area and front of the trigger guard unmolested in my opinion. You don't need a FFL because the front half is going to be welded to the rear half of a 80% lower and you'll need to mill that out yourself. Don't worry about the third hole............no one here is making a MG.

Cudos to our retro wizards and congrats to you.

That is an awesome build

Intact demilled magwells typically run about $175 to $300 depending on manufacturer and condition.  I ended up paying $930 for the XM177E2 magwell.  I thru a high bid on it because I was going to be out at dinner and someone kept pushing the price up because they wanted it also.  After all is said and done, I will like have about $1,800 +/- into the carbine, still less than one of the Colt reproductions.  I look at this as a partial restoration of a piece of history since this piece of the carbine, along with most of the other parts used in the build, have been there and done that which the Colt reproductions can't claim.  It will be interesting to see if anyone else will try and sell their XM177E2 magwells on GB after seeing what some people are willing to pay.  Like I said, the carbines are very rare and it may be a long time, if ever, before you see another intact demilled carbine magwell of any type offered for sale.  Any demilled magwell has to be grafted to an 80% lower.  If you graft one to the back half of a demilled lower with the third hole, even if you weld up the hole, you may be asking for trouble.  It should be noted that when an M16 platform type weapon is demilled now, they crush it into little pieces and can't be restored.  Good luck!

Thanks!  Will be posting more pictures when complete!

thats excellent!

too bad you can’t trace a s/n to units or personnel, it would be cool to know the history on that.

I think that was me bidding on it also lol. Don't remember what my high number was but it was up there. Apparently not as high as yours. Cudos because that looks awesome. I just had my 80% milled with all my old xm177e2 info (s/n) from Braceman. I'll be posting pics and a write up soon. Looks great!

I've got my old arms room card from 1991 when I was issued an xm177e2 in 2nd Ranger Battalion. That's what I had my 80% engraved. Tread coming soon.

ya I’ve got my A1 card from Benning (988th MP) 1991-92

low speed/high drag!!

The following is what was in the Gun Broker listing.  Came out of the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Crane Indiana so at least I have a little history on it.

Here's a demilled Colt XM177E2 lower that came from the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Crane Indiana. As you can see this is not in MINT condition. These were rode hard and put away wet from deep in the jungles of Southeast Asia. This XM177E2 magwell has spots of corrosion and at one time was arsenal coated with the gray solid film lube to cover and stop the further corrosion from happening. The worst area is the outside of the right side pivot lug. The lug still appears to be solid.
This would be ultimate in making a retro reproduction carbine by having it welded to a 80% lower and machining out to semi-auto specs, for your own use.

Aw, that was you!!  I just thru $1,100 out there thinking no one would ever bid that high!  When I checked on the auction after dinner I was very surprised to see it go that high, but like I said, may never see another one listed for sale for a long time, if ever!   This will be my final build!  I have done this with an: (AR-15) XM16E1, (AR-15) M16A1, (No AR-15) M16A1, H&R, and a GM, so my collection is complete.  You may be seeing some of my spare parts show up on GB in the near future!  Good luck on your hunt for another XM177E2 magwell!

Yeah I would loved to have gotten it but wasn't going to splice it, just going to be a paperweight. Glad you got it and looks great. I wanted my old s/n so that's why I went with an 80%. Braceman did an awesome job on it. Gotta paint it but will be posting pics soon.

Looking forward to your pictures!

You have close up pic of the other side? Mainly mag release button? Pics are up of my build also

Here you go!