I have an old AR-15 A1 that my dad gave me for my 15th birthday (1985). It has been replaced in my life by M4 style rifles long ago, and sits in the safe, pulled out for nostalgia purposes every so often.
Anyway, I pulled it out recently, and looked at the markings. Was curious if anyone had any insight into the make on the upper. Is it known crap? Rare or Common? Generic or special? The cast lower was marked ZW and I believe it was an early Olympic Arms product.
Only marks on the barrel at “C MP Chrome Bore”. No twist rate visible. Is that “C” Colt? I know MP is magnetic Particle inspected... I assume an A1 barrel is 1 in 12 twist?
The upper is a rough forge. You can see a line running down the center that looks like the seem of a mold. Only markings at “L” and “M” on the right side of the rear sight base.
The finish looks more like paint than anodizing. Here is the rough seem mark under the carry handle.
Yes, that is a PSA lower on it now. The lower that came with it was a cheap cast lower. It was not anodized, but painted. Rear take down pin hole is slightly off, so you have to tap the pin in and out. They guy who assembled it broke off one of the “ears” where you roll pin the trigger guar on, but it’s fixed with JB weld and paint... [emoji849]. So I got a PSA lower on sale for $39 and installed it. At least it’s in spec.
I was a fool at 15 and bought an A2 hand guard for it, because I thought it looked cool. The original hand guard is lost to time and my parents moving twice. So I plan on getting a brownell’s repro A1 hand guard.
(* If any one has a spare A1 hand hand guard to donate for Karma, I will put it to good use.)
Anyway, if anyone has any insight into that barrel or upper’s origin, I would love to hear it.
Knowing the cheap quality of the lower, I am sure the upper is nothing special. But still thought I would ask since I saw the “C” on the barrel.
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