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Posted: 11/25/2011 6:56:39 PM EDT
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While heading from PA to Family in Michigan for Thanksgiving, sidetracked to the Air Force Museum in Dayton (excellent!!!!).
Thought you would all enjoy these shots of S/N 000836! 
And a nice GAU-5/XM-177 
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Quoted:
no dimple on the magazine catch. makes me think I need to go that way for my build. I have seen a few from the air force that did not have the dimpled mag catch.They did have the 01 bolt catch and many circles mag button.Looks like the one in the pic has a type B stock. |
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Great pictures. Thank you for taking the time to take these and share with our retro community.
Question: the angled area above the charging handle slot looks odd to me. I cannot tell if it is a distortion in the picture or from the surrounding plexiglass. However, it seems as though there the slot in the back has sort of a half moon shape cut into it instead of a flat edge. Can the OP comment on this? It is shown in the 5th picture from the top. |
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However, it seems as though there the slot in the back has sort of a half moon shape cut into it instead of a flat edge. Can the OP comment on this? It is shown in the 5th picture from the top. I can see what you're referring to. Take a look at pic #6, it looks flat in that one. Quoted:
The GAU-5 looks like a rubber duck to me...can't see any definitive space between the mag catch and the slot in the receiver, the take down pin and pivot pin, the slip ring and guards, etc. But you can see the gas tube between the slipring and the front of the carry handle. |
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Here is the part that I am referencing. It is hard to see. Almost like a chip of metal came out of it. I can't tell if this is the way it was designed or through use, which it looks like the rifle has not seen much of. Or maybe my eyes are just really bad 
http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/8497/usafmuseum960.jpg Maybe someone dropped the upper and put a big dent above the charging handle exit? |
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Quoted:
Here is the part that I am referencing. It is hard to see. Almost like a chip of metal came out of it. I can't tell if this is the way it was designed or through use, which it looks like the rifle has not seen much of. Or maybe my eyes are just really bad
http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/8497/usafmuseum960.jpg Maybe someone dropped the upper and put a big dent above the charging handle exit? Sure looks like it took a hit. Thanx for the pics OP, motivates me to do a 601 |
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The GAU-5 looks like a rubber duck to me...can't see any definitive space between the mag catch and the slot in the receiver, the take down pin and pivot pin, the slip ring and guards, etc. Good eyes. Looks like no mag catch assy either. That mag isn't staying in by magic. 
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Excellent photographs. It's not easy shooting through a glass (or acrylic) case and we appreciate your effort to get good shots of this relatively rare gun.
Just goes to show you, sometimes the Air Force does know when it has something unusual. (Actually, one reason that museum is so great is that the US did better than any other combatant at preserving its aviation heritage. Of course, it helps that we won WWII, but the only reason that many Japanese and German types of aircraft survived is that we kept them as museum pieces). A surviving 601 like this is a great time capsule for builders, even though you will always wonder if some parts of it have been updated. It looks like this one has very little wear, so it was probably set aside for the historical collection very early. All AR-15 fans should say a little prayer of thanks to Curtis LeMay. Without him, our gun'd be a footnote to weapons history. |
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Excellent photographs. It's not easy shooting through a glass (or acrylic) case and we appreciate your effort to get good shots of this relatively rare gun. Just goes to show you, sometimes the Air Force does know when it has something unusual. (Actually, one reason that museum is so great is that the US did better than any other combatant at preserving its aviation heritage. Of course, it helps that we won WWII, but the only reason that many Japanese and German types of aircraft survived is that we kept them as museum pieces). A surviving 601 like this is a great time capsule for builders, even though you will always wonder if some parts of it have been updated. It looks like this one has very little wear, so it was probably set aside for the historical collection very early. All AR-15 fans should say a little prayer of thanks to Curtis LeMay. Without him, our gun'd be a footnote to weapons history. A prayer for(to) the old man indeed! A great officer and one of the greatest americans. Godspeed belatedly sir. That said great pics man. |
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http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/rstel/gau.jpg Here is the blow up of the GAU, It's not a Ducky Wow - guess you're right - my computer fu is weak.  Nice E1 then! 
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http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/rstel/gau.jpg Here is the blow up of the GAU, It's not a Ducky Wow - guess you're right - my computer fu is weak. Nice E1 then!
ETA (I mean GAU...) 
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I live within a few miles of the USAF Museum, but I hadn't been there recently and didn't know they had this on display. I went there today to see it, and also noticed they had a nice USAF model 604 on display. Here is a pic of the markings on the M16 604, as well as one of my pics of the 601:
http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu271/glob35/IMGP3330b.jpg http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu271/glob35/IMGP3336.jpg Enjoy, Greg |
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