Found in my spring cleaning a piece I'm not sure what it is:


The top (short) one is labeled "SOCOM 16" and I think is one Smith Enterprises made for me many years ago. Have a hazy memory when people were sending me prototype adapters for a military project: this might be the fruit of some of that.

Question is on the bottom one. It has the same front sight base, same 5/8-24 suppressor adapter thread, etc. but it's longer.

Is this for a SOCOM-16 as well, or some other variant?

I don't have any M1A rifles anymore, so I don't need either of them, but I'd like to know the whys &whats about the different piece.

Thanks!

Idk. Never seen one like that.
Yes it'd have to be for a 16"-ish barrel.

Maybe it's extended so it can accept something like an AAC "deep socket" Blackout FS?

It could also be a third-party clone that's threaded metric internally for a Chinese barrel? But that doesn't explain it being longer.

Do you have a barrel to try it on?

I would be interested in the long one if you want to sell. I have SOCOM 16 that could use a long adaptor.

I don't have a barrel or gun anymore to try it on, no.
Doubt it's for an AAC, no reason I'd have that.
Doubt it's for anything Chinese - this was for a US Navy project that never went anywhere, so I've got the leftover parts.  :)

Well, at least I'm glad it's a mystery and I wasn't missing something obvious!

It's probably just an extended version of the top one. Shrug.
Thanks!

Great lakes tactical?
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/07/29/socom-16-thread-adapter-gas-lock/

I have one that is similar. I bought it from wildmountainusa which is no longer around:
Attached File


Make sure you check concentricity if you use it suppressed. My SEI is right on the money and has tight threads, the longer one has pretty loose threads and took some filing to get it to tighten up and be concentric.

Yes, both parts were made for the M1A SOCOM 16. I am not 100% sure, but I think the two combination gas cylinder lock front sight bases in the OP are prototypes made in 2010 by Smith Enterprise, Inc. Here is some history regarding non-OEM M1A SOCOM combination gas cylinder lock front sights:

April 2007 - Smith Enterprise, Inc. M1A SOCO barrel muzzle attachment kit was assembled into two parts, a combination gas cylinder lock front sight with a dovetail base with 9/16" x 24 TPI male threads and a removable flash hider with female threads made from AISI 8620 steel (part number 2001V).

June 2010 - Smith Enterprise, Inc. M1A SOCOM combination gas cylinder lock front sight was redesigned with 5/8 " x 24 TPI x 0.635 " male threads made from AISI 1144 steel.

March 2011 - Delta P Design, Inc. introduced a M1A SOCOM muzzle adapter. The M1A SOCOM muzzle adapter was manufactured from hardened stainless steel and given a black oxide finish. It consisted of three parts, a cylindrical adapter threaded to the barrel with 5/8 " x 24 male threads at the front end, a gas cylinder lock front sight which threaded on to the cylindrical adapter, and a setscrew for positive retention between the two major parts. The M1A SOCOM muzzle adapter allowed use of the Springfield Armory, Inc. M1A SOCOM or USGI gas cylinder plug. The gas cylinder lock front sight base height was sized for the factory Springfield Armory, Inc. M1A SOCOM front sight.

March 2013 - In response to passage of the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act, Smith Enterprise, Inc. designed and manufactured a M1A SOCOM combination gas cylinder lock front sight without muzzle threads (Part Number 2001-GL-NYC). The front sight deck height of this part was lowered 0.045 " as compared to the factory part so rear sight settings could remain unchanged.

2013 - Gemini Technologies (Eagle, ID) offered a M1A SOCOM compatible combination gas cylinder lock front sight attachment. It had industry standard 5/8 " x 24 external threads for mounting muzzle attachments. This part allowed use of USGI design gas cylinder plugs.

2014 - Great Lakes Tactical (Willoughby, OH) manufactured a M1A SOCOM gas cylinder plug (part number GLT-0024) and a M1A SOCOM combination gas cylinder lock front sight base with 5/8 " x 24 external threads (part number GLT0015). Both parts were CNC machined from stainless steel and heat treated.

Different - thanks for the history lesson!



Well. How 'bout that. This mystery gas lock might have been from my own company.  :D

I don't know anyone at Great Lakes, so wouldn't have been them. I think I asked Ron Smith to do the ones we had. I don't recall us selling any on the commercial market, nor making any in-house. Perhaps this was a one-off sample or something I wound up with from a subcontractor. Maybe we made a handful for custom orders. Don't recall. But it sure wasn't a big seller.

Also, for some reason, the dates aren't lining up at all, so I may have this whole thing wrong. I'd have to go back and check my old emails. Because IIRC, this was all for the U.S. Navy Mk14 Enhanced Battle Rifle Suppressor solicitation in 2006-7. (Which Surefire ended up winning the contract to do the silencers for, so my need/interest in that platform kind of went away as soon as the award was given.)