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Posted: 8/20/2007 4:32:38 AM EDT
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Who made large button FA? Have they always been after market items? I have a rifle that I know is 20-25+ years old and it has a large button FA. Thanks in advance... |
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do believe these came out in the late A1 era. they were then replaced by the smaller round button shortly after the switch to the A2 reinforced lower. some of the large buttons are shaved on the inside to clear the A2 ridge, but these are kinda hard to find. both button types are said to be sturdier than the cast tear drop style. |
Far left: Usually rebuilds at an arsenal or unit level. Transitional between the A1 and A2 versions. Cheaper to manufacture than the "tear-drop" FAs. The earliest ones were a complete circle and were used with A1 lower receivers. The A2 reinforcements prevented the full-circle FA from being able to be pushed all the way in, so they were milled with a "flat" on the side facing the receiver. Then they found out it was just as cheap to machine the whole thing smaller than to mill a flat on everyone. |
While they were used on some rebuilds, the majority of the pieces I've seen were straight from the Colt factory, put on very late A1s, and very early A2s. The big hole commercial A1 style upper I have came w/both a large round, with the inner flat, FA, and a current style dust cover. 
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