So I recently picked up a A1 stock without a trapdoor from a guy off of EE... everything is prefect there except that the stock’s finish that I just received in today’s mail doesn’t match the finish on my 1977 vintage all original Colt SP1 furniture.  The original stock set on my Colt SP1 is shiny black & very smooth/slick, but the finish on the A1 stock without a trapdoor that I just received is a dull black... what did I just receive (didn’t think there was any new production A1 stocks without a trapdoor out there...) & what do I need to look for now to get everything to match up correctly?

A1 stocks have trapdoors.
A2 stocks have trapdoors.
M16 stocks have a rubber rounded buttplate.

You have a M16 stock, not an M16A1 stock.

That is just the natuer of the beast with those , some are very glossy , some are flat , and some are inbetween ,  it is better to hit the shows , and bring one of the pieces you are trying to match and compare them !

Try giving you gun a coat of gun oil on both the upper and lower.  I had the same problem with a new upper once, and after oil treatment, the two pieces matched almost perfectly.  The upper had just been very dry whereas I had routinely cleaned my lower after every shoot.

Quoted: A1 stocks have trapdoors. A2 stocks have trapdoors. M16 stocks have a rubber rounded buttplate. You have a M16 stock, not an M16A1 stock.

Actually, the original M16A1 stocks didn't have trap doors.  The trap door wasn't issued until 1970 because according to Colt, cleaning kits weren't necessary.  

Quoted: That is just the natuer of the beast with those , some are very glossy , some are flat , and some are inbetween ,  it is better to hit the shows , and bring one of the pieces you are trying to match and compare them !

Ah, okay... so I don’t have a new production A1 length stock without a trapdoor then?

Dude , it makes it look more Evil.

Quoted: Quoted: That is just the natuer of the beast with those , some are very glossy , some are flat , and some are inbetween ,  it is better to hit the shows , and bring one of the pieces you are trying to match and compare them ! Ah, okay... so I don’t have a new production A1 length stock without a trapdoor then?

1-Mich.   ,   they made the early A1's with the solid butt ( no cleaning trap) like you have ,  i thought you were more concerned with the "shine & color" not matching ,   ,  were you going for a "retro" old school look? ,  if you wanted a A1 stock with a trapdoor ,  you are still going to run into "issues" with the gloss & color matching your existing plastic ,  as for some reason the shine & color varies on those with trapdoor's in butts as well . ,   so IMO , if i were you ( with a nice rifle like yours) , and i wanted all plastic to "match" perfectly , i would remove the pistol grip , and look at a Gun Show for the buttstock you want and compare the shine & color with your pstol grip !!!

Good Luck !

Quoted: Dude , it makes it look more Evil. img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/AKsrule/SP1done001.jpg

Cool... here's my all original 1977 vintage Colt SP1 in its "from the factory" configuration...







... and here it is with the 3-prong FH installed...











... I don't have a picture yet with the non-trapdoor installed, but I'll post it with confidence after seeing yours now.

(BTW, as you can see from the shape of my SP1 I'm not real hung up on looks ... was just thinking that I had an incorrect non-trapdoor stock was all.)

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: That is just the natuer of the beast with those , some are very glossy , some are flat , and some are inbetween ,  it is better to hit the shows , and bring one of the pieces you are trying to match and compare them ! Ah, okay... so I don’t have a new production A1 length stock without a trapdoor then? 1-Mich.   ,   they made the early A1's with the solid butt ( no cleaning trap) like you have ,  i thought you were more concerned with the "shine & color" not matching ,   ,  were you going for a "retro" old school look? ,  if you wanted a A1 stock with a trapdoor ,  you are still going to run into "issues" with the gloss & color matching your existing plastic ,  as for some reason the shine & color varies on those with trapdoor's in butts as well . ,   so IMO , if i were you ( with a nice rifle like yours) , and i wanted all plastic to "match" perfectly , i would remove the pistol grip , and look at a Gun Show for the buttstock you want and compare the shine & color with your pstol grip !!! Good Luck !

Sorry for any confusion buzgun... my post above this one should explain most of everything, but... basically I was just wanting to know if I had gotten the right non-trapdoor stock or not... was thinking that because of it's "shine & color" not matching that maybe it wasn't of correct vintage... you guys have answered that for me.

AFAIK the "early" furniture was shiney black which I believe most non trapdoors are.  The M16A1 era rifles  had the "matte" black furniture.  My 1964 all original SP1 has the shiney stuff.

Quoted: AFAIK the "early" furniture was shiney black which I believe most non trapdoors are.  The M16A1 era rifles  had the "matte" black furniture.  My 1964 all original SP1 has the shiney stuff.

Actually, most M16. XM16E1, and the very early M16A1 solid butt pieces are fairly dull.  Only the very earliest M16/SP1 stocks were shiny, and yes, a lot of them ended up on SP1s, because Colt has always dumped the stuff they had left over from a change in specs (in this case color composition/finish) on the civie pieces.

And yes, many lots of handguards came out a bit less dull (as opposed to "shiny") than the average butt stock. Same with handgrips.