I am thinking of building a preban M4gery using a Colt 6920 upper and with a Colt preban lower.  The blue label Colts seem to have a darker Colt grey than the green label Colt prebans, did Colt change the finish color?  I realize neither blue or green labels will match exactly the black matte finish of the new Colts, but I would like to get as close as possible.  Also did they vary the finish among different models such as blue label HBARs and blue Gov't Carbines?

There are probably more shades of Colt gray out there than Cav Arms has colors.   And separating them by model or era won't help- It's as if each Colt employee had their own color and whoever made it that day...

My advice is that if you need a perfect match and don't want to do refinishing, then you will absolutely have to compare the parts in person.  

I generally agree w/Kisara, tho I doubt that it involved each Colt employee[:D].

Basically, Colt started out w/ the lightest of their colors on the SP1 series, and most SP1s are pretty much the same color.  The problems started when Colt went beyond the SP1s.  They apparently started the later prebans pretty much the same color. My own SP1 has a later forward assist big hole upper on it, and even tho the upper is at least 10-12 years newer, it's essentially the same shade as the early lower. Then they started mixing and matching parts from different production runs, and you got mismatched colors on uppers and lowers; and even when the two were color matched, you couldn't necessarily predict which shade they might be.

I've seen little or no evidence that label color played any part in this; except that , the later the label, the more likely (but not certainly) a darker color.  Early specimens of a later color label were quite likely to be more or less the same color as the later pieces of the previous run.

Frustrating, ain't it?

Try Norrells for finish options.  He sells a gray that will match some preban Colts.  He may be able to let you know what to do to darken or lighten it to make it fit your application.

IDHunt

I sent my Colt AR15A2 to John Norrell for re finishing , he has a "Colt" pre ban grey that matches up with my SP1 quite well.

John Norrell- [email protected] TX- 504 378 7110

The rifle doesn't care!  Unless this is a show gun I'd not either.  

I've run *** Gasp *** grey XM16E1 upper receivers on new, very black lowers with out problems.  Rifle functioned perfectly.  And no one snickered when they saw it.  Even works the other way, my black M4 upper on a M16A1 lower!

Spend your money on functionality, not cosmetics.  [8D]

-- Chuck

Yup. Total agreement[:D]