Hello,

I am new to this forum and I just purchased a new Colt AR15A4. This is my first Colt rifle and I have some concerns about it. I did some research on Colt markings, proofs, etc. and some of them don't seem to match up with my rifle. First thing I noticed was the rear sight on the carry handle has no notches for windage adjustment. The windage knob has some kinda yellowish gunk between the knob and carry handle that I can't seem to get to, but it does have the square forge mark. My PSA carry handle has the adjustment notches and is from the same forge, so I'm a little confused. I began to examine the BCG and immediately noticed the carrier did not have the "C" stamp and it was black in color not the usual gray parkerized color. The bolt is marked MPC and is the same black color, but no white dot was present. The extractor has the gold/copper colored spring and black insert, but it has the gray parkerized color so it looks mismatched from the bolt. The upper receiver has the C mark and the keyhole forge mark. The lower receiver has no forge mark and has some play with the upper. It also features a QR code near the Colt Defense stamping. The Colt rollmark and everything looks correct. I took the handguards off and the barrel is dated 7/17 with a W stamped near the receiver and a yellow paint dot under the FSB. The handguards themselves appear fine, but they have some kinda white glue blobs holding the heatshields in place. The other markings on the barrel seem correct with C MP 5.56 NATO 1/7 stamped at the top near the flash hider. The front sight base is F marked with a C B next to it and with what appears to be circle and 87 on the opposite side. I did a cleaning after I got it home and the bore was a bit dirty and the bolt face has brass marks on it, but I will chalk that up to factory testing. Any insight would be appreciated thanks.

Can you post some photos? Especially of the carry handle?

The rest of the stuff doesn't sound alarming. The yellow stuff is probably grease. I don't believe the lack of C marking  on the bolt carrier means it's not Colt these days. Same w/ forge code on lower. QR code on lower is cool.

BCG should be black. As far as stamping, I have read that this procedure is done by hand which is why some are very faintly stamped and once in awhile some may get missed and be lacking the "C" stamp. It seems odd to not have windage marks on the rear sight though. Yellow stuff is grease

Congrats on the new rifle! Id love to have a factory Colt a4. I recently built an m16a4 clone and it has become my favorite rifle

My Colt AR15A4 doesn't have a forge code on the lower either but has the C marked square forge upper.

Seems the forge code on some of the forgings is in a spot that can be milled off, during the actual work by Colt.

Are you sure the windage markings aren't just very faint? My A4 has very pronounced markings but my 6921 carry handle markings are faint and hard to see, depending on the angle.

The lack windage markings seems odd, but everything else seems to be good. I've read of quite a few that have new production Colt bolt carrier groups which also lack the standard Colt "C" on the carrier. You got a nice rifle. Enjoy it.

Degrease that bolt really well, get it under some light, and I bet you'll find a faint, electro-dotted "C".  That's what I've found recently on 6720s & the 20" rifle.  6920s I've seen have still been deep struck.  Carry handle is interesting...also would like to see a picture.

Thank you all for your input, I feel a little better now. Here are some pics of my carry handle rear sight so you can see what I'm talking about.

Everything is fine other than the windage marks. I would contact colt about the windage marks

I contacted Colt about the carry handle sight and the nice gentleman I spoke with acknowledged that definitely wasn't right. He gave me a good option for replacement so I'm being well taken care of on this issue. Thanks everyone, especially Tig, for the info.

What are the marking on your lower? I sold a customer a new Colt 20" and the lower was marked lightweight carbine, came out of the box that way, kinda screwey.

Mine is marked just AR-15A4. I wonder if there was a mix up at the factory with the lower on that rifle since the 6720 model carbine is also advertised as AR15-A4 Lightweight LE carbine. Only thing I noticed on mine was the word COLT on the rollmark was not perfectly stamped. The front and inner part of the O and the back of the L are not well defined like the rest of the rollmark.

Just an update on my carry handle issue. I've since mailed it in to Colt and an awesome customer service guy who I've been in contact with is going send me a new one in the mail today. I know it's probably a minor thing that slipped past QC, but he made it right. I'm a big fan of Colt now. I will update again once I've received it, which should be within the week.

Good news. :)

When you get that new carry handle. Get that thing out and shoot the snot out of it. :)

I've got a couple Colt AR15A4's. One modified quite a bit and I love 'em both.

I plan on it. It's kinda hard to look at it without its beautiful matching carry handle sight. I have been field stripping it down though and I noticed some of the parts have Colt's cage code on them instead of the traditional "C". My bolt carrier is not marked at all from what I can tell, but the bolt definitely is. I also noticed the underside of the charging handle and the inside of the extractor have Colt's cage code on them. I think I like that better rather than having a C stamped on it. Overall, I'm really pleased with the rifle and I intend on keeping it completely stock. I love the classic look and feel.

Did you buy it from a dealer or second hand?

Funny thing about easily detached and unnumbered parts-

They sometimes wind up being swapped out and the sellers "forget" to mention it.

I purchased it off tombstone tactical where it was shipped to my local FFL for transfer. I've known the guy for years so I'm sure he wouldn't be swapping parts. I was initially pretty concerned by the carrier not being marked, but everything else checked out so I'm not gonna worry about it anymore. I figure if I was a shady dealer I would swap the bolt before the carrier. I actually asked Colt about this when I called about my carry handle issue and the guy's response was basically it all depends on the machine it came off of and that not all Colt carriers will have the C mark on them.

I just received same rifle from same vendor and the bolt carrier is missing any mfg c mark. I went over it once and then again after looking at my other colt rifles' bolts carriers.  It not there. The windage marks on the carry handle are.

As for the BCG, Colt went from a deep struck "C" to a what appears to be some dot matrix engraving pen "C" it's very faint and difficult to see in comparison to the older BCGs. You almost have to get under direct light to see it, or at least I do.

I took BCM back out and sprayed it down with contact cleaner which strips it raw of any shiny oil/grease etcc.  Looked at it closely with illuminated magnify bench lamp.  There's no C mark electro pencil, stamp or whatever. Only thing I saw was on end adjacent to where bolt slides into BCM is an 'S' stamp in the end face.

Well, I just got my new carry handle from Colt in the mail today and it's perfect with proper windage marks to boot. I'm a very happy customer now.

OP, when you had your BCG broke down and were doing the inspection, did you notice if the extractor was stamped?  I just picked up a recent Colt (Trooper), and the carrier wasn't marked either.  MPC bolt with white dot, but the interesting thing was a T stamp on the extractor.  Haven't seen that before.  Makes me wonder is they're subbing some to Toolcraft at the moment.

My charging handle and extractor were both marked with colt's cage code. The mark on the underside of the charging handle is stamped, but the marking on the inside of the extractor appeared to be laser etched.

Etched C or CE, then?

13629

On the back of the extractor?  I haven't seen that one yet.  

Just making sure we're speaking the same language here.  The extractor...as in driving out the pin on the bolt, flipping the extractor over and looking near the copper spring/black insert, there's the cage code?

yes, I can show you a picture if you'd like.

I would if possible. I sent you an email. Thanks.

I just picked up a AR15A4 from RSR group and the Bolt is marked MP C but three is no C on the carrier. I capaired it to my other colts and the machine work is actually nicer then the others. I’m pretty happy with it. I do need to look at the carry handle though. Also the front sight is marked like my new Socom Barrel.