I bought one of the M16A1 parts kits that just hit the market here lately. I heard they were from the Philippines or something. They look like they were carried a lot, but maybe not shot all that much. The outside of the receivers are very well worn, but the BCGs don't look like they have that much wear.

Anyways, what should I do with it?

Since I have a mill, I think I'll go the 80% route and send it off to be engraved and anodized. Who does the best reproduction work for engraving?

Should I just go with an M16A1 or do something more exotic?

This is the kit I ordered:

https://www.centerfiresystems.com/p-77738-original-colt-ar-223-m16a1-parts-kit-vietnam-issue-no-furniture.aspx

You should buy an NDS 80% lower or you could see if Braceman would reprofile an A3 current 80% lower to A1 specs AND engrave it. Then you'll need to get it annodized  or cerocoated.

Which would be the more authentic option?

Before you do anything, decide which rifle you want to 'clone'. There's a couple different directions you could go in.

Do you want to replicate an A1 or maybe an XM16E1? The difference (with regard to the lower) being (mainly) the 'fence'. the XM16E1 has a partial fence while the A1 has the full fence.

The main thing to think about with regard to doing an 80%, is going to be finish. If you want to do an 80%, it's a great project. I've done 5 or 6. But when you start adding up the costs of each process, it's going to be fairly expensive.

An 80 from NDS (the best for a retro build) is going to be around $135. Well worth the price. But then you have to send it out for engraving (before doing any work on it, unless the engraver has an FLL). I don't remember how much engraving generally runs, but just throw out a figure of $85 or $100. Once it's engraved, now it has to be anodized. The best place for that, is Victor at US Anodizing. I believe he now requires any receiver (80% or 100%) to be shipped to him from an FFL and sent back to an FFL. Someone can correct me if I'm incorrect, but that was the last thing I'd read on it.

So, depending on how much an FFL will charge you, that adds an additional fee/fees. My main FFL, charges $25 to ship and $25 to receive.

Then, on top of all that, add the anodizing fee. Will you have the upper anodized at the same time so that they match (as closely as possible)?

I emailed Victor back in September to inquire about stripping and re-anodizing an upper. For that, it was $200. For a lower, it was $125 in the white. So that's $325, if you do both. Of course, you could always go with some Molly Resin, but there's nothing like anodizing.

As you can see, the costs can mount. The lower could easily end up costing you $350 to $400, by the time it's ready to complete the rifle.

Having an A2 lower receiver re-profiled probably wouldn't save you much, if it saved you anything at all. But that's just a guess, thinking about the labor involved. But the person who would do the work would be the best source for that information.

Don't want to take all that time and spend all that money? You could get a completed lower from NDS. I think they're $155. Then add the FFL fee, and that's it. Unless you wanted to get the upper re-anodized to match the lower, then it's an additional $200 (unless Victor has gone up on his prices since September).

But like I said at first, decide which rifle you want to replicate. The XM16E1 or the M16A1? My personal preference is the A1, but I'm biased because that's what I carried when I was in the Army.

Oh, to your question about authenticity, you could talk to braceman about a re-weld. That's where he re-welds an authentic M16 receiver front end (from a receiver that had been cut in half), and the back end of an 80%, and he welds them together.

I believe the only problem that you'd run into there is that I don't believe that the end result could be anodized and have the color be uniform. So painting it would be the only thing you could do (but someone can correct me if I'm wrong).

If I were to chose between an A2 re-profiled receiver and an NDS receiver, I'd go with the NDS receiver (not one from Brownells, one directly from NDS).

I think it's an M16A1 parts kit, so I'll probably stick with that to avoid having to buy more parts.

@braceman
The reweld thing sounds intriguing. What does that run?

An XM16E1 would only need a couple of different parts, if that's what you would want. The lower is different, but you have to buy a lower anyway. You'd need a three prong flash hider, instead of the birdcage, that's very minimal in price ($4 or $5). You could go with the Type E stock, but a Type D would be more correct.

Aside from those few things, Maybe the BCG, but the one that you have with the parts kit would be good to go too.

On the re-weld, I'm not sure on pricing. I saw what someone else paid... or maybe braceman told me a price but I just don't recall now and I don't want to throw a number out there that might be way off. I'd love to have one too, but it was more money than I was wanting to spend.

Here's some threads with examples that you can see...

https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/The-Braceman-strikes-again--XM16E1-reweld-/123-734070/

https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/M16A1-reweld-build-/123-725615/

https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/Received-my-XM16E1-reweld-back-from-Braceman/123-734335/

Hopefully not hijacking the thread, but I’m just wondering about the differences between a lower from NDS vs. one from Brownells? Sounds like there is a difference?

When I was building retros a few years back I purchased lowers from NDS, but thought that NDS is/was involved with Brownells retro program.

Thanks for any answers.

Per NDS,

** WE DO NOT MAKE THE UPPERS OR LOWERS FOR BROWNELLS, ALL WE DO IS SUPPLY THE RAW FORGINGS**

**WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PRODUCTION OF THOSE PARTS**

As was said above, NDS only provides them with the forgings. Brownells either does the milling themselves, or contracts that work out. I don't know that there's any major difference with regard to that, but where I've heard (and seen) that there is a difference is in the color. Well, at one point, there was also a problem with the engraving. Brownells had engraved 'Fire' and 'Safe' on both sides of the receiver (or maybe it was 'Semi' and 'Safe') but I think they've since corrected that issue and it's only on the correct side now.

As for the color, from what others have said, the color is too dark. Closer to black than grey. I ordered one of their XM177E2 rifles, earlier this year, and it was definitely closer to black than grey and the upper and lowers were different shades of 'mostly black'. Because of that, I returned it and am now in the process of building one on my own (which will use NDS receivers). NDS uses Victor at US Anodizing, for the anodizing and I've heard nothing but glowing reviews of his work. Especially with regard to retro XM Grey.

Quality wise, I can't say anything one way or the other on the Brownells receivers. I didn't keep the rifle long enough to form an opinion on them. If the color isn't an issue for you, or you intend on hitting the receivers with something like Norrells, you may get the receiver faster, if they're in stock at Brownells.

If I've incorrectly represented something, someone can feel free to correct me or if someone from NDS would like to add something (or give me free stuff for the endorsement...), again feel free...

I just picked up a Brownells blemished XM16E1 lower for a A1 parts kit I bought from Atlantic last month. The XM grey on the receiver is a pretty close match to the original grey color of the Colt upper that came in the parts kit. Brownells has definitely listened to comments people have made and made improvements.

I just got an XM177E2 upper assembly and the color isn't close. But I bought it knowing that it would be off. I'm going to replace the Brownells upper with an NDS upper, when I get a lower from them. There's a few other issues with it, though. Like having a bayonet lug and a slip ring instead of a delta ring. I'll have the lug removed and replacing the slip ring is simple enough.

A couple of months ago, I bought the full rifle from them, and returned it because of the color. Below is that rifle, with a black PSA lower sitting next to it for comparison.