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Colt Model 01 (601) Consolidated Photo Reference Thread (Page 2 of 3)
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I'll eventually get around to adding that rifle to the OP. Sorry, things are busy where I am currently and I completely forgot to reply to the thread. Very cool rifle. Also, the stock looks to be in good shape. I think there's just tape on it lol |
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid"
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
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Originally Posted By AmericanSheepDog: Id agree, in part. I think the earliest 602s already had the 3 prong and im not sure when the engraved arrow began, but the rifle discussed in the other thread that utilized a 601 receiver was about halfway through 602 production. Amazing thread Andrew. Thank you for your service and for sharing this amazing history with us. When someone ask what AR means. Answer "Freedom"
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Attached File This was offered for sale over at sturm last year with non-original upper and furniture. Its the highest serial number 01 Ive ever seen and interestingly does not have Armalite markings. |
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11425 Look at that barrel!  Attached File      |
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Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: 11425 Look at that barrel! https://i.imgur.com/w1ruzlS.jpg https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/11425a_JPG-3032128.JPG https://i.imgur.com/lZmfPlz.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ZfnP18m.jpg https://i.imgur.com/MxCJexP.jpg https://i.imgur.com/WnaarLV.jpg https://i.imgur.com/QrWpIDi.jpg Amazing. What is the story? Interesting markings. |
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Originally Posted By akaLoneStar: Is that a normal barrel marking? I am not as up on all the 601 barrels that were produced Originally Posted By akaLoneStar: Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: It was for sale last year and I found the listing today. Thats all I know. Is that a normal barrel marking? I am not as up on all the 601 barrels that were produced No, that's why I was excited to see it. There was an excellent thread here about 10 years ago with every kind of 601 barrel marking you could imagine and the very late 1x12 barrels had a wide variety of markings to indicate it was a 1x12 twist. I deeply regret not saving all those photos and they're long gone. I also remember a fairly large font 12 marking up near the chamber, and I think some 1x12 stamps. The Winchester M1 and the Colt VP are by far the most common barrels. |
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Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: No, that's why I was excited to see it. There was an excellent thread here about 10 years ago with every kind of 601 barrel marking you could imagine and the very late 1x12 barrels had a wide variety of markings to indicate it was a 1x12 twist. I deeply regret not saving all those photos and they're long gone. I also remember a fairly large font 12 marking up near the chamber, and I think some 1x12 stamps. The Winchester M1 and the Colt VP are by far the most common barrels. Ahhhhh, I recognized those, but had never seen 1-12. Whoever bought the 1-12 has a rare beast... |
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Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: 11425 Look at that barrel! https://i.imgur.com/w1ruzlS.jpg https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/11425a_JPG-3032128.JPG https://i.imgur.com/lZmfPlz.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ZfnP18m.jpg https://i.imgur.com/MxCJexP.jpg https://i.imgur.com/WnaarLV.jpg https://i.imgur.com/QrWpIDi.jpg You just did the Lord’s work lol. I’ll add all these pics today. Ill also need to dig through the 1/12 test reports. That rifle with that serial is probably one of the testbed rifles considering that many rifles still came with 1/14 twist well after that serial. |
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid"
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
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Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/601_jpeg-3032114.JPG This was offered for sale over at sturm last year with non-original upper and furniture. Its the highest serial number 01 Ive ever seen and interestingly does not have Armalite markings. You will be interested to read this thread I wrote about these rifles. There’s at least one member in here that owns a VERY similar rifle. |
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid"
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
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Information and pictures added to the OP for rifle SNs: 000598, 000761, 011425, 013156, 014129, 014821, 014857, and 202863. It is really cool when I add rifles to the database and you start to see consecutive SNs come together. Example here is 000598 and 000599. In the case of those two rifles, and those around them, you can see a definite pocket of black "law enforcement" rifles. SN 000761 was two rifles behind another rifle in the thread, and they are quite different. 000759 is a black "law enforcement" rifle that made it into private hands in the US, while 000761 is green and made it all the way over to Sweden. SN 011425 falls into a range of rifles where we begin to see a lot of experimentation. This rifle has a 1-12 twist and I am hoping to find it mentioned in official reports. The next FIVE rifles either WERE experimented with, or could have been experimented with because they either have prototype forward assists, or have a replacement upper (meaning that the original upper may have been destroyed during testing). Enjoy the updates. |
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid"
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
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Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: 11425 Look at that barrel! https://i.imgur.com/w1ruzlS.jpg https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/11425a_JPG-3032128.JPG https://i.imgur.com/lZmfPlz.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ZfnP18m.jpg https://i.imgur.com/MxCJexP.jpg https://i.imgur.com/WnaarLV.jpg https://i.imgur.com/QrWpIDi.jpg Regarding the 1/12 twist barrel on SN 011425: I was able to locate two official test reports regarding the change to 1/12 twist barrels from the earlier 1/14 twist. One report was from January of 1963 from the USAF weapons lab at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. A total of 9x rifles were used in this test. Two AR-15s had 1/14 twist barrels, two had 1/12 twist barrels. They were tested against two M-14s and three Remington 700s with 1/10, 1/12 and 1/14 twist barrels. None of the rifles in this report are named by serial. There is a possibility that 011425 was one of the two rifles tested. The other test report is from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland in April of 1963. All of the rifles in this test are named by serial. 011425 was not among them. |
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid"
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
|
Better pics posted below v Attached File Attached File Attached File I took these at the Rock Island Arsenal Museum in 2015 and accidentally had my camera set to take small pictures, so the quality is poor. But from the inventory, the rifle tagged 6955 is serial number 11,458 and was experimented on by adding a forward assist to the right side. The rifle tagged 6953 is serial number 13,443 and has a 12 stamped near the flash hider. |
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Originally Posted By AmericanSheepDog: You will be interested to read this thread I wrote about these rifles. There’s at least one member in here that owns a VERY similar rifle. The further you dig into this hobby it seems like the more you know the less you understand 
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Originally Posted By AmericanSheepDog: Regarding the 1/12 twist barrel on SN 011425: I was able to locate two official test reports regarding the change to 1/12 twist barrels from the earlier 1/14 twist. One report was from January of 1963 from the USAF weapons lab at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. A total of 9x rifles were used in this test. Two AR-15s had 1/14 twist barrels, two had 1/12 twist barrels. They were tested against two M-14s and three Remington 700s with 1/10, 1/12 and 1/14 twist barrels. None of the rifles in this report are named by serial. There is a possibility that 011425 was one of the two rifles tested. The other test report is from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland in April of 1963. All of the rifles in this test are named by serial. 011425 was not among them. Definition of rare ^ WOW! Imagine finding one of those in Grandmas closet, lol 
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Here is a posting from when 1117 was sold online. https://www.gunsamerica.com/983541814/Colt-Armalite-AR15-601-Very-Low-Serial-Number.htm It came from the City of Santa Fe in New Mexico in early 2000, where it had been in inventory since July of 1961 |
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Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: Here is a posting from when 1117 was sold online. https://www.gunsamerica.com/983541814/Colt-Armalite-AR15-601-Very-Low-Serial-Number.htm I downloaded the images from the original sales ad from gunsamerica for you Andrew.     
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I have SN 013938 feel free to add it to your list if you want… It’s an Apex parts kit from Puerto Rico. I am going to be sending it to Braceman for restoration which will make it the 5th 601 reweld that I know of. I’ve since purchased the correct charging handle for it. Here’s some pics I’ll include the Apex pics and ones I took.                      |
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Well, here’s a little extra surprise. I’ve already added these to the OP, but I saw these come up on Instagram today. The bottom rifle is another one of those 601 anomalies. Attached File Attached File |
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid"
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
|
Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/601_jpeg-3032114.JPG This was offered for sale over at sturm last year with non-original upper and furniture. Its the highest serial number 01 Ive ever seen and interestingly does not have Armalite markings. I found this rifle again, it sold last year at Rock Island Auction. The lower is marked "01" but its a partial fence lower. Figure that out.  Attached File Attached File Attached File |
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Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: I found this rifle again, it sold last year at Rock Island Auction. The lower is marked "01" but its a partial fence lower. Figure that out. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/14857a_jpg-3046280.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/14857b_jpg-3046281.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/14857c_jpg-3046282.JPG It becomes more clear every day that 14,501-ish to 19,999-ish were set aside and produced later in about 1965. This serial range includes rifles tested in the SAWS (Small Arms Weapon System) trials that included the 606 and 607. |
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid"
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
|
Originally Posted By AmericanSheepDog: It becomes more clear every day that 14,501-ish to 19,999-ish were set aside and produced later in about 1965. This serial range includes rifles tested in the SAWS (Small Arms Weapon System) trials that included the 606 and 607. Originally Posted By AmericanSheepDog: Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: I found this rifle again, it sold last year at Rock Island Auction. The lower is marked "01" but its a partial fence lower. Figure that out. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/14857a_jpg-3046280.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/14857b_jpg-3046281.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/14857c_jpg-3046282.JPG It becomes more clear every day that 14,501-ish to 19,999-ish were set aside and produced later in about 1965. This serial range includes rifles tested in the SAWS (Small Arms Weapon System) trials that included the 606 and 607. I agree. 
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Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: I found this rifle again, it sold last year at Rock Island Auction. The lower is marked "01" but its a partial fence lower. Figure that out. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/14857a_jpg-3046280.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/14857b_jpg-3046281.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60275/14857c_jpg-3046282.JPG Partial fence 601 = Mind Blown LOL |
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Originally Posted By 17Liberty76: Partial fence 601 = Mind Blown LOL Several of the last rifles in the OP are partial fences, i just dont have pics of the other side, but have talked to some of the owners, like the one i pulled from instagram. |
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid"
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
|
SN 011700 This rifle sold at auction in Switzerland in 2020. OP already has the rifle and photos but with no other info. https://www.coltforum.com/threads/colt-armalite-ar-15-model-01.380908/ SN 00606 Sold at RIA 2018. It seems like a lot of the real early rifles had black furniture and were sold to police departments. Attached File Attached File |
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SN: 0012969 You already have it listed, but it was up for auction at RIA in 2019 https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/76/1567/colt-ar15-class-iiinfa The barrel description caught my eye: This is truly an unbelievable find for the advance Colt/Armalite AR15 collector or Class III enthusiast. This is an original Colt/Armalite AR15 Model 01 assault rifle. This wonderful example is all original to include the original very early original green plastic handguards, buttstock and pistol grip. This was the first commercial model of the original Army/Airforce designated M16 rifle and was produced in the very first contract run circa 1960-62. This example has all of its original early features such as: the first pattern (M16 type) upper receiver without the forward assist that has the two position rear sight assembly. It is proofed on the front, right side with a small capital "C" inside a square box over the inverted Colt "VP" proof mark. The upper receiver is fitted with the first pattern, non-chrome, steel barrel with the slightly smaller exposed front barrel section with the short three prong flash hider. It is stamped on the left and right sides of the barrel with the inverted Colt "VP" proof and "M" proof between the legs of the gas block. The barrel is not even marked with the twist rate, so you know it's early. It is also fitted with the very first pattern all machined front sight/gas block assembly with the raised "arrow/UP" markings on top, behind the front sight. |
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Originally Posted By AmericanSheepDog: Several of the last rifles in the OP are partial fences, i just dont have pics of the other side, but have talked to some of the owners, like the one i pulled from instagram. It just goes to show that with Colt literally ANYTHING is possible! I thought I had a rare XM16E1 with a 507xxx SN and raised plus on the fence but a partial fence 601 takes the cake! |
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Originally Posted By 17Liberty76: It just goes to show that with Colt literally ANYTHING is possible! I thought I had a rare XM16E1 with a 507xxx SN and raised plus on the fence but a partial fence 601 takes the cake! Originally Posted By 17Liberty76: Originally Posted By AmericanSheepDog: Several of the last rifles in the OP are partial fences, i just dont have pics of the other side, but have talked to some of the owners, like the one i pulled from instagram. It just goes to show that with Colt literally ANYTHING is possible! I thought I had a rare XM16E1 with a 507xxx SN and raised plus on the fence but a partial fence 601 takes the cake! I know its marked Model 01, but in my mind the partial fence rifle I posted earlier isnt really a model 601. I would guess it was made a couple years after production of the model 602 started. |
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Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: I know its marked Model 01, but in my mind the partial fence rifle I posted earlier isnt really a model 601. I would guess it was made a couple years after production of the model 602 started. I concur. When it comes to these unique rifles, I think there is a large distinction between “a 601” and “601 marked.” |
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid"
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
|
11458 Photographed at Rock Island Arsenal. Experimental right side forward assist.   13443 Photographed at Rock Island Arsenal. Barrel stamped 12 near muzzle.   Sorry ASD to keep throwing these at you, Ive gotten re-interested in retro lately.
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We live in a world of lies, and that's the damn truth
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Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: 11458 Photographed at Rock Island Arsenal. Experimental right side forward assist. https://i.imgur.com/9JG5eDj.jpg https://i.imgur.com/LMPEVfE.jpg Parkerized? This the experimental all steel receiver M-16?
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SN 002945 In the collection at the Buenos Aires National Arms Museum   Looks like its been painted black. Also what do you think the chances are that STG44 came to Argentina on a U-Boat in about May or June of '45
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When we were young, how could we have imagined this?
We live in a world of lies, and that's the damn truth
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Originally Posted By Kalahnikid: SN 002945 In the collection at the Buenos Aires National Arms Museum https://i.imgur.com/4pjVUCD.jpg https://i.imgur.com/O2wCQGY.jpg Looks like its been painted black. Also what do you think the chances are that STG44 came to Argentina on a U-Boat in about May or June of '45 Someone's been watching too much of the Hunting Hitler series....
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WTB : KAC FF M4 RAS P/N 20208
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Added rifles 000124 and 00032X. SN 00032X wears rack number 853. SN 000836 wears rack number 858. They may have been 5 rifles apart in the same arms room / same rack! Also shows that rifles may not have been issued in SN order. |
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid"
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both"
“So Freedom Will Reign”
|
Originally Posted By m1sniper: ASD, you've done a fantastic job on this thread. A monumental job and full of incredible info and pics. Figured I'd add my "crate" as you posted the SPAR info of 3 of the 4 rifles that were shipped to SA museum back in 1966 in this crate. This crate was used to ship 4 model 601s from Aberdeen to SA museum. The SA data sheets show they were received (at SA) on 3 March, 1966. Found by a Buddy of mine in Mass. who does mil vehicle shows, militaria shows, gun shows, flea market shows etc . He added the hinged lid and used this crate to transport all sorts of demilled parts to shows. By all appearances, the original lid was 1 solid piece and was nailed down all around the 4 sides. I've enjoyed using this for living history displays and such, but it's time to move it on to someone else who will appreciate it.. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/182845/1_JPG-2552059.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/182845/2_JPG-2552060.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/182845/3_JPG-2552061.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/182845/4_JPG-2552062.JPG @m1sniper would you be able to share photos of the inside of that crate? I'd love to know what it looks like and how they were packaged. Considering a little winter project to make one myself. Thanks! |
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Originally Posted By ringer706: @m1sniper would you be able to share photos of the inside of that crate? I'd love to know what it looks like and how they were packaged. Considering a little winter project to make one myself. Thanks! Unfortunately, nothing to show. No dividers or spacers in it. Buddy who found it does military vehicle shows, militaria shows, guns shows etc came across it in Mass. For a while he toted around demilled gun parts in the box. Top and hinges are not original. There are nail holes all around the top edges of the side boards indicating that the original lid was likely a 1x10 and nailed down. |
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| 012969 is up for auction at Rock Island. Also it’s the same rifle as the one in that Brownell’s video as evident by the white wear marks on the right side of the magwell. Also here’s a link to the James D Julia auction from 2011. |
Colt Model 01 (601) Consolidated Photo Reference Thread (Page 2 of 3)
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