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Posted: 12/18/2013 10:37:39 AM EDT
| I am curious as to the best route to go. Not looking for totally authentic SP1(?), just the best way to go. Never built before, own a Colt HBAR. Dont want to deal with broken/missing parts. Looked at the Sportsmans Guide deal, folks here think it is inferior. How would you go about making a "replica" early model? |
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For authentic retro parts, the M-16A-1 kits are hard to beat for price. Really depends on how authentic you want to go and what time frame build you're trying to do. Probably Royal Tiger Imports or Centerfire systems are the most parts for your coins and limited to M-16A-1 unless you want to trade out receiver. Only real problem I seeif doing a M-16A-1 from a current market / vendor kit is it's a crap shoot on condition of the kits. Doubt seriously if any of them are gonna be truly excellent conditiion but have seen some pretty nice very good plus condition kits. Searching the EE or GB for pieces and parts is fun and bargains can be found just have to be quick on the button for EE envoronment. Auction setting gives a little time to contemplate amount to spend. Should be many more kits coming in near future as a few foreign military's are upgrading to more modern platforms and de-milling existing peices.
For the lower receiver if wanting the true authentic look NDS is the only way to go. Get on their list ASAP since they have a decent waiting period and it's based on time of order first in, first out. It will give you plenty of time to start shopping for other parts. The better the condition of retro parts the higher the price usually. Still deals to be found but lots of competition on the rare pieces. Retro market is limited in bigger picture for AR platform but many members live on EE or spend immediately when deals appear. Best to save coins and have them unhand for a quick purchase. Authentic barrel is going to be pricey for condition IMO but there are excellent condition barrels that come available rather frequently. Using a current production LW profile barrel is becoming very popular and a few vendors offer these in limited supplies. Personally I think this is the future of retro building as it's gonna be hard to beat new barrel performance and they have faster twist rates making build much more ammo / user versatile. Furniture is available and most recommend members Boywonder or Jhud for purchases. They usually have various conditions for various prices. Shopping for furniture has it's advantages as deals are still out there from other private sellers on the cheap. For many this is their hobby and hunting / searching for parts is half the fun. It can easily take 2 plus years to find the parts especially for the rare models. Sad it only takes a couple hours max to assemble and start shooting. Another alternative is search for a complete build as these also come up and can usually be purchased for less than build costs. Re-sale on clone builds isn't top of mark usually. Century also put out some pretty nice condition rifle builds using parts kits and an A-2 lower receiver. Personally think the better condition pieces went to complete rifles and the others are being sold off as kits. Welcome to retroland! Having fun with the hobby is what it's really all about. |
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Quoted:
If I find an SP1 I like, but it has the round handguard. What size is the triangular handguard. Most with the round HG are 20" rifle barrels. In other words, what do I look for if I eventually to put the triangular handguard on it. the round and triangle interchange |
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Triangular handguards will snap right in. Basically all 20 inch barrels have a triangular front handguard cap. You could dress your HBAR up with A1 furniture but if it has a A2 carry handle, it would look a little funny but it could be an intermediate phase before moving the furniture to a build gun? |
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Quoted:
Got a 75 version of SP1, can't wait to see it! Thanks for your thoughts. So............you went out and bought? Smartest thing you've ever done in your life. You start biulding one and before you know it, you're ate up with RBRD, you spend ALL your time checking the EE, GB, and any other site that might have a part you're looking for...........your wallet takes a beating.........your personal life take a beating..........and your wife hands out beatings. YOU DID GOOD!!!! |
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Congrats on purchase. 1975 was a pretty good year looking back especially compared to today for quality of life. People were still fairly moral with integrity and even following nationwide gas shortages an economy shortfalls it was nothing to rival today's mess. Prices did actually come back down in many instances. Looking forward to pics. You won'r regret pruchase or have buyers remorse.
So............you went out and bought? Smartest thing you've ever done in your life. You start biulding one and before you know it, you're ate up with RBRD, you spend ALL your time checking the EE, GB, and any other site that might have a part you're looking for...........your wallet takes a beating.........your personal life take a beating..........and your wife hands out beatings. YOU DID GOOD!!!! This!, except my wife only abused verbally. I really don't think one can go wrong with a SP-1. It's LW and usually very accurate with the 55gr and lighter bullets and looks retro (cool). I never personally got into them as I just bought surplus parts but with the increase in prices over time I'd have been far better off with the SP-1's for re-sale if nothing else, Hindsight! ARG! With clones one has to disassemble to recoup coins. A couple years back SP-1's and parts less lower and barrel were dirt cheap. I remember passing on loads of upper receivers for $40-50 and BCG's for less than $100 as everyone wanted small pin uppers and M-16 BCG's. With somewhat limited production or no longer being produced the SP-1 value has to keep increasing unless Colt brings it back out which wouldn't hurt them in market share or de-value existing pieces IMO. Shame as stated above at some point Unka Samuel is gonna slip an assault rilfe ban through. Probably trade off the our guns for legalized weed and the masses are gonna go for it. Interesting the states that have legal weed don't allow much in the line of AR's. Theie support group doesn't own legal guns anyway! |
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